She's On The Money - How Victoria Devine Went From Hiding $40k Debt to Financial Freedom (And Lessons You Can Steal)

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

You know Victoria Devine as your finance hype girl… but for the first time ever, she’s sharing the part of her story you’ve never heard. The one where she was $40k in debt, lying awake at night wondering how on earth she’d dig herself out, and how she turned it all around.  This week, we’re going behind the scenes of V’s own money glow-up. How she went from maxed-out cards and money anxiety to complete financial freedom, and she’s not holding back. You’ll get the exact mindset shifts, money moves, and game-changing lessons she used, so you can steal them for yourself. Inside her debt-free playbook:💸 The moment V realised her debt wasn’t going to magically disappear (and what she did next)💸 The first game-changing move she made to start turning it all around💸 How she stayed motivated when the numbers felt way too big💸 The sneaky spending habits she had to break... and the ones she kept💸 The mindset shift that made paying off $40k feel possible💸 The money habits V still uses today to stay completely debt-free Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+.And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Natasha Bamblett, I'm a proud First Nations woman, and I'm here to acknowledge country. Tii, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawaman daman imalan, mumibangada boma ininyalan waka, gaunan yakarumja, wutunadanar. Hello beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. we thank acknowledge and respect the aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see she's on the money podcast acknowledges culture country community and connections bringing you the tools

knowledge and resources for you to thrive she's on the money she's on the money Hello and welcome to She's On The Money, the podcast that proves being financially savvy doesn't mean you've always been financially flawless. I'm Bec Syed and with me is the woman who might actually kill me when she realises what we're doing today, Victoria Devine. What are we doing today, Bec? We're going for a run. I'm just kidding. How would you feel if I was like, let's just get up and run? Do you know, I used to run and it's not for me.

No, I understand. You've got to keep yourself entertained for a long time. It wasn't even that. It just ruined my body. Yeah, it's true. It was so, like my knees always hurt. I ended up with like stress fractures in my shins. I was just not made, my body's not made for running.

She's not a runner. I wish I could say, Bec, I have a Pilates body, but like I have a body that's meant to do Pilates and I don't. Not I look like I have a Pilates body. I wish it was the latter, you know? Well, I think you look plenty Pilates. Thank you. But no, we are doing something a little bit different that is almost as bad as running.

You are back in the hot seat by very popular demand. Well, everyone loves it. Do they? You love it. I love it because- You're all sadistic, that's why. So last time we got the juicy details of your money story. You did, yes.

But today we're digging into the actual strategy, the good stuff. Not that it all was- Do I have strategy? I think you got some strategy. My strategy is fly by the seat of my pants. Hey, that might work, actually. So far, so good. Yeah, that's fantastic.

So we all need to know, how did Victoria Devine get herself out of debt? Oh, that's a good question, actually. That's a very, and you know what? It's really hard. Like, it was really hard. Yeah, well. Am I just answering that question straight out, or have you got a list of questions written down?

I actually do. Unfortunately, I do have a long list of questions. I knew you would. I can see some hope in your eye. Like, that's the only question. Are you ready? as ready as I'll ever be. Great. Okay. We talked about this in great detail last time, but just in case anyone needs a refresh to kick things off, can you paint a quick picture of what life looked

like when you realized your debt had to be dealt with and what were your very first steps? Yeah. So let me go back a little bit further and tell you how I got into debt really quickly, quickly. And then also, I guess why I got into debt. Cause I think that people are always like, well, why? And people who haven't been in debt are often very much like, well, why'd you do that? That's so silly. And at the time you just don't know what you don't know. So I was working in consulting. I had finished two degrees. So I'd done my undergrad in psychological science. And then I had just finished my like post-grad in organizational psychology. And I had what I thought was my like big dog, like my big dog consulting job. And I remember my contract,

I think it was like for $55,000 plus super. And at the time that was the most amount of money that I'd ever earned. Like prior to that, I was just working part-time and I was like, I would say I was pretty good. Like my work ethic has always been, I would say fantastic. Like I'm the type of person that's like, not like if I've got some spare time, I would just do it. So I was working like retail jobs. I was working hospitality jobs. There was a time where I was like a swim teacher in between that. I was like doing some tutoring of some other people at uni. Like there was just like lots of bits and bobs floating around but even though I had all of those jobs I think people who go to uni can probably resonate with that you feel like you work like a dog day in day out like

you go to uni and then like straight after uni I would like go to my like hospitality job that night and work until midnight or 1am and then you look at your tax return and I'd be like oh I've worked my butt off and then like I remember one year I think it was like the year before I got this big dog job. My like taxable income was like $32,000. Yes. Yes. And like in my head, I was like, but all I did was work. And I mean, that's minimum wage for you, right? Like that's exactly how it works. Anyway. So I get this big dog job and I start to feel like I really want to fit in. And like, this is just upon reflection at the time you're not thinking, Oh, I really want to fit in. Like, that's just not it. And I remember I got this virgin money credit card. And to me,

that's kind of I don't know why I'm telling you it's virgin money I think I'm telling you it's a virgin money credit card because it didn't feel as real as like a nab or a comm bank or a west pack credit card because it wasn't a real bank do you know what I mean but also kind of like gives some validity to it it's like if you had a bloody I don't know what's that one that's like latitude yeah like a latitude with like yeah virgin money it was a proper credit card yeah and I remember the interest rate on it was probably like 22% because I was just like, well, I'll never pay that obviously. Like, so that doesn't matter. And it had, I think just, this is just me reflecting, I could be completely wrong, but I think I had like a 45 day interest free period. You know how

most credit cards have a month. This was like a little bit longer. And I'm like, girl, that's helpful. And I remember the first credit card I got was like $500. And that felt like a lot of money at the time because like, I don't think I often had $500 in my savings account. Like, you know, it comes, it goes, I would pay rent and then it'd drop back down. So I got this $500 credit card and very quickly they sent me an email or like a letter after that. Can't remember how, but I remember it going up to a thousand. And I remember thinking four figures like that, like it starts slow and it starts small. Right. And I'd maxed that out, just buying things to fit in, I suppose. Like I'd bought a new suit from Saba and I had bought like a couple of pieces

from Scanlon Theodore and then bam, like the credit card was maxed out. Like we're not talking RV, like you would using it for costs, like the living costs or anything like that. It was literally like clothes that I otherwise couldn't afford. And in my head, I was like, if I put it on the credit card, I can just pay it off. And then I get nicer pieces. Like in my head, I was like they're investment pieces for work, like this will be good. And yeah, things started to like snowball from there. The debt didn't feel too bad. I was paying the minimum repayments. It was probably like $52. I feel like in my head it was like $52 a month. And I was like, that's fine. I hadn't done the maths on what that actually meant for me over the long term.

Spoiler, I was basically never going to pay that credit card off if that's all I was paying, right? Of course. And so it starts snowballing and then I'm in this big dog job and I say big dog job because at the time I felt very cool. And I think March the next year rolls around and I, it must've been before that actually, I find out that I got into a master's of business administration. So I get into my MBA. Like this is so cool. Like this is the coolest thing ever. And like I start doing that and I'm studying and I'm working at the same time. And it's so hard. And at this time I didn't have any other debt. I'm just like paying off this credit card. And I reckon it would have been

about mid-year. Like I got offered to travel to a place called Glenob in the South of France to study. I was able to go and do two units, kind of a, not an exchange, but like a, I don't know, you go overseas and you study for a little bit. And it was over that Christmas period. Like it was like a Christmas like semester where it was going to be two full-time units. I was over there for about three months and I knew that I could take that period of time off work. Like I would negotiate, whatever. I couldn't afford to do that, Bec. Like my university did, I think, subsidize the education component. Like I could put the actual course fees on my HECS because it was like an exchange thing with RMIT and the university over there and that was fine but I still had

flights I still had accommodation and then I remember my car blew up and I used to drive this old Toyota Avalon and whenever I turned right because it had been converted to LPG for some reason something in the car would cut the LPG and the car would literally stop if you turned right too hard I see yeah it was really cool um and so you'd be like getting onto the freeway or something and your car would cut out and I remember just being like this is so unsafe and like I'd taken it to a heap of people and they're like oh you'll have to replace the whole LPG thing and I'm like no absolutely not like that's so expensive so I kept putting up with this car and my dad I remember was like Victoria like you need to get something safer like we have to get something safer and so

I was like, oh, okay. Like I can't really afford, like I had no savings. I had no income that would support a new car and an overseas trip. And I thought, why don't I just get a loan? Like I can just get a personal loan. Like I was already looking, like, I think that the car thing was the thing that started my thought pattern on the loan situation. Cause I was like, I'll get a car loan and I'll get a better car. And I bought a secondhand car. I bought a little two-door Mercedes. She was very cute. Um, Beck, I haven't been able to get rid of her yet. I still have her. Oh, cute. I mean, I do have another car because I have to be an adult and drive my child around in a car that is relatively safe. But my little two-door still lives down at my parents' house

and I just, I probably need to sell it. But like, I just have an emotional connection to her. anyway I decide that I'm gonna get a car loan and then what's wrong with just putting a little bit more onto that car loan making it a personal loan so that I can go do this thing in France yeah yeah and I remember the car was I think fourteen thousand dollars and then to study and you know organize flights accommodation three months in Europe and obviously I wanted to have a good time too. Like I ended up going to the snow over there. Like, dude, I was like skiing in French apps. Like I spent some time in Paris. I spent some time with friends in London. Like very cool. All of that meant that I got a $40,000 personal loan. Sure. Sure. And at the time that didn't

feel scary. That actually felt like, I remember signing the contract and being like, this is so freeing. I'm getting exactly what I want. Yeah. And like in my head, $40,000, that wasn't my annual income. So it's not that bad. Right. Right. And I guess like you're kind of thinking, oh, I'll never like, I will get there eventually, but if you're giving it to me all right now, and then I can just like, kind of, I can pay it off, pay it off. How hard would that be? Yeah. I totally understand how that would have happened. That's not that hard. No. And like, I remember then, and like, this is actually really funny because I have since, I since joined a class action and I actually got all of the money that I paid on that loan that loan's insurance back

really because ages ago nab like I remember my loan was with nab and I went down to the bank and it was so easy like we're talking 2011 2012 maybe I got this loan and I just remember walking in and then being like oh have you got pay slips and I was like yeah and like I had them on my phone and I emailed them to them and then they're like oh sign all of these things yeah we'll call you tomorrow. And then the next day I had a personal loan. That's crazy. It was so easy. And I was like, oh, maybe like, I remember thinking at the time, maybe I should have gotten more. I know. I know. Maybe I should have gotten more because like that freedom felt good. And like, that's not freedom. That's delusion just to be very clear. Anyway, got this loan and lived my

best life. Went overseas. When you get a personal loan, it's not like a line of credit. They actually put all of that cash into my bank account. So I paid for that car and then I had what I would say a very healthy fund to go overseas with. Yeah. And I made a lot of financial decisions while I was overseas that were definitely aligned to not my income. Cause I'd be like, well, I've got heaps of money in my account. Why don't we go to Heston Blumenthal's like restaurant? Why don't we go to these expensive places or why don't I buy? And I remember you guys have probably seen it online because like I do wear a lot of clothes that I have had for years and years and years. And there's these beautiful, I think it's beautiful, Ted Baker dress that I have, right? And it's this like,

it's red and it's a midi dress and it's quite high cut and it's got this beautiful orchid pattern on it. Gorgeous. I love it. I bought that in London for an exorbitant amount of money at the time, but I was like, I have heaps of cash in my account. So like, does it matter? Yeah. Didn't matter. No. And even just the whole experience and stuff like that. It's like, you know i don't encourage anyone to get into debt no this is terrible i'm just i feel like i need to talk about how i got there because so many people would be like oh how'd you get out of it and getting out of debt is very hard but i think also coming to terms with the idea that i remember all of that right i come home and i had a little bit of savings so even when i got home the pain wasn't

like the pain of being in debt wasn't there because i could still make the monthly repayments really easily and they were 853 i think dollars per month and that was easy because like there was still that cash in my account from the actual loan so I was like no there was no pain right totally and that dried up really quickly yeah and then all of a sudden you're back home all you've got in your pocket are experiences and I had a really nice dress I had started to live paycheck to paycheck again and when you're on a $55,000 salary $853 a month means you don't have any extra money that's like like I remember my rent was about the same and like I had good rent because I I took the smallest bedroom in this share house I lived with my best friend and her brother and I

had the tiniest little bedroom back and I had 853 dollars I think of debt repayments and my rent was like 850 a month and that's wild between that food like there was not much to spare no like there was just nothing and like by the time you pay for petrol and your train tickets every day and you know the odd coffee at work like I just didn't have any extra and I just remember how suffocating that felt yeah like I started to go oh my goodness like what am I going to do about this debt thing but I bury my head in the sand yeah I didn't tell anybody I'd taken that loan out because like I kind of like at the same time as not caring about it I also knew that there was some level of shame involved in it. Yeah. Like it's frowned upon. You don't really know why. Yeah. Like I didn't want

to tell people I had it. And at that point, my financial literacy was not very good. Like keep in mind, I wasn't working in finance. She's on the money didn't exist at this point. And yeah, like I just buried my head in the sand for a very long time about it, paid the minimum repayments. I remember looking into getting it refinanced. So, cause I was like, if I, you know, lower the monthly repayments maybe life will be a bit more comfortable but I actually couldn't get it refinanced because like no one would refinance a personal debt why would you refinance a personal debt it's not like I had oh and I still had that credit card that was outstanding yeah um at that point I remember going oh wait hold on and I think because I'd had a taste of quote the good life

yeah I'd had cash to dispose of like I'd you know done this stuff in London I'd been to Paris and I had all of this cash and you know when I got home it wasn't that bad I was going out for brunches with my friends I was shouting them like it was fine but all of that was on the debt like that was the personal loan money yeah and then all of a sudden it just got really tight yeah and then that feels suffocating that feels really hard and I just I I didn't tell anyone my parents didn't know my like literally my family and friends didn't know and they'd be like oh we should I remember like at the time it was like the cool thing to do and probably still is a cool thing to do right Bali trips for New Year's yeah like my girlfriends were like let's go to Bali for

New Year's and I remember thinking like I would love to but I can't afford that like I don't have any cash like I couldn't afford and at the time like return flights to Bali were like 800 bucks oh my and I remember thinking like that's my debt repayment yes seriously like I do have like I quote have the money but it has to be allocated to something else like because that was direct debited out of my account so it didn't feel like I even had a choice you know so I just felt like I wasn't gonna get anywhere and then I started to go well maybe this is my life and I kept looking around at the people at work and being like how are they doing it like are they just earning more Do I need a pay rise? Like what's, what's going on? Um, and I mean, I still had that idea that

I wanted to go out for brunch and I wanted to still, it's not the coffee. The coffee's not going to ever get you out of debt, but like, I wanted to have that lifestyle where I was still out and about, but like to live live. Yeah. Because the reality of getting out of debt is hard. You do have to restrict, you do have to pull back. I just wasn't ready to do that. No. Okay. So I'm picturing little you, you're paying so much money every month. What were like the first things you did to get yourself out of it? Continuing to bury my head in the sand, if I'm being honest. And I did that literally for years. Like we're not saying, oh, I buried my head in the sand for a few months and then I just got my stuff together and got out of debt. I feel like

that's a sunshine and roses story. And that comes out of our community all the time. And I think that I wish I had the resource that was she's on the money at the time to go hey like doesn't mean you're a bad person because I felt like a bad person yeah I probably did that for three years back couldn't sleep properly was really stressed about it like you know I would be able to scrape together a few things to do like trips here and there like but not anything stupidly extravagant it wasn't until I started to realize that everybody around me was able to live their lives and I wasn't, I got a pay rise. I remember I went from get this $55,000 to $60,000. And like that feels big. Like, and I'm not being condescending when I say that I promise like at the time I was

like, Oh my God, like I'm 60 grand plus super. Like to me, that was such a big deal. And I remember going, oh, I'm going to have so much more cash to pay back this debt. And like, that was the point in time where I thought, do you know what? I can probably do something about this. And you shouldn't wait. And I wish I didn't, but I didn't know, Bec. You shouldn't have to wait until you have more income to be able to pay off a debt or prioritize debt reduction, because there are so many strategies you can implement. But like, I just didn't know what I didn't know. So I worked out how much per month I was getting additional. And I started paying that off my debt and acted like I was still on the same salary. So that was working really well. And then, you know,

my income started to increase and I started to get excited watching the numbers come down. Because when you start to pay a little bit more than the bare minimum, you actually do start to see movement. Even if it's like $50 a month, you do actually start to see movement. And that to me was really motivating. I was like, oh, hold on. Like instead of the monthly repayment, And then you get like this, I remember getting the letters in the mail and like, it would be this graph of how long it would take me to get out of debt. And I'm like, I never changed. I was like, oh, hold on. Like it's starting to change. Like this is really exciting. The amount of years have like started to come down. It's like, oh, okay, hold on. Like, what if I, you know, what

if I got a job at a cafe or something? And I'm like theorizing other ideas. Anyway, at the same time, I was like, I can't do this on my own. And I decided to see a financial advisor because in my head. I was like, if I go see a financial advisor, like they'll tell me what to do. Worst decision of my life. I think I've told you before, this guy was so condescending, so rude. Like he got out this like whiteboard and started talking me through like, oh, what are your debts? What's this? And I told him about my credit card that I still hadn't paid off. And I told him about my personal loan and he was like, oh yeah, like you're never going to be able to like really invest. And like at the same time, and this is silly again, I had savings set to

the side. So over this time, I, instead of adding absolutely everything to my debt, like I got this pay rise and I added that to my debt, but like on the side, I was like putting $50 here and there into savings. And I remember thinking, oh, I've got some money and I could like make some investing decisions with this. And he was literally like, girl, you can't afford to invest if you've got this debt. I remember being really disheartened by that. I was like, what do you mean? I've got all these savings. What do you mean I can't invest? Yes, I can. I want to get rich. I want to get wealthy. I've started doing my research. I've started looking at YouTube videos on superannuation. Like I get this and girl, I'm so sorry. If you have debt and you also have savings,

you actually don't have savings. You're just putting off your debt. But like, I again, didn't know what I didn't know. And like, I guess that's what kickstarted me onto this pathway of understanding finance and then working out how cool that was. And, you know, I started watching YouTube videos and that was basically the only financial literacy at that time that was available. There weren't finance podcasts to listen to. There weren't Instagram accounts of people like, you know, getting out of debt that you could follow to stay motivated. Like that just wasn't of thing. And so, yeah, I decided to do that. Anyway, I won't bore you with the whole story because I feel like I've spoken about it before, but one thing led to another and I decided I did

have a passion for financial literacy. Yes, I was benefiting from it because I was getting out of debt myself, but I was like, oh, this is so powerful. Like if my friends knew about this, or if my friends knew about contributing extra to super, or I remember thinking about my best friend who I lived with, I'm like, she's not that I was aware of. She's not in any debt. Like imagine how much she could save or she could invest because she doesn't have to do what I do totally she doesn't have to pay off her debt like that's crazy like imagine you're putting 800 a month away for oh my goodness savings or investing I don't even want to talk about what I could have done for myself at that point so yeah that's I guess what kick-started it and it was like

honestly it was me getting a pay rise and realizing that oh actually contributing more to your debt does start to have an impact even though it was like I think like 50 bucks a week or something Okay. So what advice would you give to someone trying to choose the right repayment strategy for this situation? What motivates you? For me, I just liked seeing it come down. And I mean, when you're picking like the snowball or the avalanche method, often they're really aligned to having multiple smaller debts and you pick, you know, with the snowball method, you pick the smallest debt and try and pay that off as quickly as possible so that then you have less total debts. And with the avalanche method, you're picking the debt that has the highest

interest and paying that off aggressively and then moving down from there. And there are financial benefits for both. And there are also like motivational benefits for both, right? Because if you're feeling good about paying off your debt, I actually don't care if it costs you a bit more interest in the long term, as long as you're prioritizing it. Because look at what I did. For more than three years, Bec, I did not pay more than the minimum repayment. In fact, I wasn't even looking at the total debt. I can't remember ever looking at any statements or logging into the online account. I didn't want to know what the total was. And if during that period of time, you'd said, how much debt were you in? In my head, all I had was that $40,000. Like I

didn't know how much had been paid off. I didn't know what that $853 a month was doing because like I was just kind of scared to look, but also embarrassed to look and like, you know what it's like. You just don't want to, like, you don't want to look. I know. So I think for me, the best advice I have is not picking a strategy, but picking yourself up and going, do you know what? Debt doesn't make me a bad person. I don't think anybody would look at me now and go, oh, V, when you're in debt, you're a terrible person. Or Beck, when you were in debt, awful person. I was still me. I was judging myself harder. I was being so harsh on myself. I was not kind in the way that I spoke to myself, like, sorry, I deserved so much more than that. And do you know

what? By looking at my debt, I would have been able to go, oh, I could get out of this. I could have gotten out of it so much easier. Like I literally didn't get out of that debt until after I met my husband. And I remember that was so embarrassing to me. Like, you know, when people are like, oh, do you ask about finances on the first date? Absolutely not. If he had asked, honest to God, I would have lied to him. Yeah. Oh, do you have any personal debt? I'd be like, no, you're an idiot. That's a sexy question. But neither of us asked because it turns out we were both in personal debt when we met each other. That's so comforting for some reason, you know? Do you know what? I remember like we were together for a while and it didn't ever come

up. And then we moved in together and we had separate finances and that was fine. And we'd both like, you know, agreed on what rent we could pay. And at that time I'd started earning a bit more money. So like there was a little bit more to like wiggle around with. And we got this little apartment together and it was all sunshine and roses. And then I think it was him that brought up, oh yeah. And I had this debt repayment. I remember being like, sorry, what? Like me judging him, calling the kettle black. Like, I don't remember being like, wait, you've got personal debt. And then asking about it. And like, he had like probably, I don't know, like a $10,000 a personal loan or something for something along the way. And like, I don't think anybody ever goes

into debt being like, do you know what I really want? To be in debt. Yeah. Like it's always out of necessity or need. And I remember being like, oh good. He's also got this debt. And that made me feel comfortable to tell him that I had it. And then we spoke about, well, if we ever want to buy property together or have kids together or do this stuff together, we're going to have to get rid of that and so we both kind of knuckled down on our own debts and like we were paying all of that out because I think at that stage we realized we do really love each other we've just moved in together this is all sunshine and roses and we would love to start saving for a house but we can't start saving for a house until we get rid of these debts so we were doing that but

delusional me I still kind of had that little savings account to the side with a little bit of cash in it and again don't do that you can have an emergency fund that's fine but I remember being like, oh, that's so that's for the future. I should have just put it on my debt. But anyway, hindsight is 2020. And yeah, it wasn't until then that I really, really wanted to knuckle down because if I'm being honest, I didn't have the motivation to pay it off because I didn't have any carrot that was worth paying it off for until I realized, oh, I actually want to build a life with someone and debt's not going to get me there. Debt's not going to help me. We can't get a home loan we can't you know save for our deposit we can't do any of these things until I get my shit

together yeah for sure I think that is so relatable sometimes you just don't have the motivation until there's something that you really want you can see when it was just about me but then it's about somebody else I don't know I I get it I'm not saying that you should wait for that in fact I wish that I had entered that relationship you know completely debt-free and super financially empowered and all of like, I wish all of that for baby me, but you know, it didn't work out so badly. Totally. And you just need to find your carrot. Let's go to a really quick break. And when we get back, I want to get into what Vy actually cut from her budget, whether she hustled for extra cash and the mindset shift that changed everything. Alrighty guys, we are back and I want

to get straight into the juicy stuff. So Vy, I want to know what your budget looked like. What did you slash and what were your non-negotiables that you kept? Long story short, I think after I got that credit card and was splashing on like the Scanlon Theatre pieces and that suit from Saba, I kind of got scared of it. And I wasn't really spending big, but because I didn't have a massive salary, most of my income was going to debt reduction. So like quite slashing things from my budget wasn't really helping. I wish I could be like, oh, yep, I slashed this and this. I remember sitting down with Steve my now husband and we were like okay cool like where can we save some money so that we can both pay off our debts a bit better and at the time I think in that first

you know two years of our relationship we were eating out a lot like you know when we were cooking dinner together we weren't necessarily cooking budget meals he was always like calling me before he got home from work and would be like oh what do you want for dinner and I'd be like oh I don't know like salmon or something from the supermarket and like salmon on a this is so niche but like that would be one of our go-to meals yeah before we started planning to get out of debt salmon's like at least ten dollars fourteen dollars at the moment per packet for two pieces of fish and then he'd get sides and we'd always get broccolini and that all of a sudden becomes a 30 plus dollar dinner yeah even though you're just quote swinging past the supermarket I know

So it was things like that where we were like, oh, we probably should be more planned with our meals. We probably should be better at, you know, meal planning and meal prepping and whatnot. So I think once we both got the clarity that, oh, hold on, we both actually have personal debts. We probably should be prioritizing this. It was much easier to cut out brunches on the weekends. We'd eat at home and go for a walk and grab a coffee. And like, it sounds so silly because I tell you guys to do that, but that's because that's what worked for me. Like we would, And we still, even though we are very financially secure now, to this day, do this. We're always like, oh, do you want to have a piece of toast? And then we'll go for a coffee walk with our son,

Harvey. Like we always say that we'll go for a coffee walk because historically when we were getting out of debt, the coffee walk was like our treat and our in-between of not going to brunch anymore. So we would sometimes jump in the car, drive to the tan, grab a coffee and then do the walk around the tan. And that was like our mid-morning activity on the weekend. Or like now we live in our, like the area that we live in, we just like, you know, go for a walk around that area. But yeah, like the whole idea of a coffee walk for us really originated from not going out for brunch, not going out for lunch, trying to save on the weekends, but also being people that love dining out, being people who love a cafe coffee, being people who still want to feel

like we're not restricting ourselves. So that really worked for us. Would it work for you? who knows? But I think thinking about what are you going to replace that with was really helpful for us. Yeah. Swap don't stop, they say. Yeah. And I think not going, oh, well, we can't go out anymore. What are we going to do? Sit on the couch and twiddle our thumbs. Like I'm not saying don't spend money, but can you swap it for a cheaper activity? Can you work out what you could do? Like, you know, I'm not saying that the cheap Tuesday movie night tickets are going to save you heaps of money, but if going out is a really big priority to you and having a date night once a month is really important, how can you make that as cost-effective as possible? And we started

thinking like that. And when you start to think that way, it kind of becomes like a game. It kind of becomes fun. I totally get it. Yeah. Like the steak night at the Spread Eagle Hotel became, it was back when we were getting out of debt, it was much cheaper. I think it was like $18 and it was like steak a drink so you could have like a beer or a wine or a soft drink or whatever it was steak and sides and like it was a really nice night out and I remember it was like a date night that we could go on maybe once a month we'd go out for a fancy dinner and it was less than $50 for the both of us right yeah and so I wouldn't say gamify it but it was kind of like a game where you were like okay well how could we go out have a really good night and we kind of still felt like we were

winning yeah I think that's really cute and I guess if you are already like you can't cut anything from the budget it's like well do I just stop eating like I literally am on ends meet here I've just there's so many fun things you could do with your own like you have a deb mash and a bloody sausage and you just write it down on a A4 paper and pretend it's a menu and you can just like make some fun out of it you know and like I think a lot of that still because we were doing that together, that stuff still sticks with us. Like it's become part of what we just default to now. And I like, I find that some people in our community have said, oh, you're not relatable anymore, Victoria. And it's because I'm now not in the financial situation that people can relate to,

but like, I'm still the same person. Like I still love cheap steak night. I still love going for my coffee walks, I still find brunches that cost more than $40 absolutely exorbitant. Just because I have more money does not mean that I'm a different person. It doesn't mean I've lost my way or lost my ability to understand a cost of living crisis. Like I see it, I feel it. It's why I'm so wildly passionate about continuing to create the content that we create because nobody deserves to be in the position that I was in and feeling as guilty and bad about themselves as I did. Like it's why she's on the money was born and continues to be there so I just I look at it and I go oh I don't think you guys realize that yes I drive a really fancy car now but do you know how much

I appreciate that because of where I've come from I think that when you have been in debt when you have lived below your means and once you get out of that and once you learn that you can actually keep yourself out of that, you don't want to go back. Yeah. Like once you taste financial freedom and once you realize what that gives you, and once you realize that financial freedom doesn't mean being rich, it means having choices and being able to make a decision. You go, wow, this is really cool. This is what I want for me. And I'm willing to sacrifice a lot because Beck, if I lost absolutely everything tomorrow, you best believe I'd be back in a cafe working behind the bar. I would absolutely hustle my way back up to make sure that I had my emergency fund to make sure

that I had the ability to put food on the table and be able to make choices. Totally. Now this leads me to my next question, because I know that we're having talking about like cutting things from the budget, but did you boost your income while paying off your debt? Like a side hustle, extra work, things like that. I wish I had the capacity to do so. I thought about it a lot of times. I remember going to a job interview for a cafe because I was like, oh, what if I like just worked on a Saturday or a Sunday? And I remember like Sunday rates were really attractive. I was like, oh, what if I did that? But honestly, during that period of my life, I was working full time. I was trying to start She's On The Money. And I didn't at the time think that She's On The Money

was like a side hustle. To me, it felt like more of a, I want to say community service, but I was not doing it because I thought I'd make money. I didn't think I would make money. Sure. I didn't think it would become a podcast. I was doing that, but I was also studying full-time. I was doing my MBA. So like that was a lot to take on and I just simply didn't have the capacity. That's so fair. I wish I'd known more about like AirTasker. I wish I'd known more about all of these kind of like hustly apps where I didn't have to commit to every single Saturday. Like I wish that I'd had, I don't know, like maybe I was a casual at a cafe and they text me occasionally said, oh, do you want a Saturday shift this week? I would have loved that because like, you know,

some weeks you've got the capacity, some weeks you don't. Or I wish I'd been able to jump on Air Tasker and like take up tutoring or something, but I didn't know that was an option. I don't even think it was an option then, but like, I wish I had more flexible side hustle options because I know I would have taken them if I could have, I just didn't know they existed. No, I totally get it. Well, we're almost done by the way. We are almost out of time. I am so sorry. No, no, no. Born to, yeah. This was my, this is my warning to you, but just so you know, you're almost off the hook. I have two more questions for you. Okay. So this one is, you've seen so many people get out of debt and turn their money stories around. Is there one habit or change made that you constantly

see in those who are successful? Yeah. Consistency. Yes. Okay. They're so lame, right? Like I wish it could be like, oh my goodness, it's this one sparkly thing. But getting out of debt isn't sexy. Getting into debt can be. And I think that's why you want getting out of debt to be equally fun, right? Because like getting into debt, no word of a lie, I had a great time. Oh my God. Not going to lie. Not going to lie. Like, sorry, I walked like, let's just frame this. I walked into a bank, Bec. I gave the minimum paperwork. They gave me $40,000. I got to spend it based on free will. And I sure did. But do you know what I mean? Like getting into debt is fun. Getting out of debt is the hard slog. That is not what you pay. Like, that's not what you

signed up for. I don't think anyone goes, oh, I didn't realize that. We just don't think these decisions through properly. I think if I was talking to somebody about like what one change or habit, I think it's a bit of a mindset shift. So it's realizing that you're not a shitty person because you're in debt. That is not a reflection of your self-worth. And for so long, I genuinely saw my self-worth as being deeply tied to the fact that I was in debt. I felt shameful about that. I felt like that should be a hidden part of me. I mean, I literally didn't even tell my boyfriend that I had debt until after I'd moved in with him. Would I ever recommend that to someone in my community? Absolutely not. Fair. I was absolutely relieved when I found out he was

also in debt at the same time as being like, what the hell? What do you mean you're also in debt? Like now we both have to get out of this anyway. So I think when it comes to mindset shift, really understanding that it's not tied to your self-worth, but then also it's about consistency. And we're not saying it has to be the same amount of debt repayment each and every single month. If you mess up one month or you make a decision one month, that means that there's less. Great. All I care about is that next month you go, yeah, I'm prioritizing it again. I'm stepping back up. I've spoken before on the podcast about this concept of grit. There is this fantastic book by Angela Duckworth, and we can put the link in the show notes for you guys. It's not about debt

reduction, but it's about what creates successful people. And it is not your intelligence. It's not who you know. It's not even what you know. It's actually about how many times you get pushed over and you're willing to get back up. Like the most successful people in the world, whether they are entrepreneurs, or they are just average people like you and me, they are the ones that just go, that didn't work. All right, I'll get up and try again. Oh, that didn't work. That doesn't mean I'm a shitty person. I'm going to just try again. Like, and I don't know about you, Bec, but I have so much respect for my friends who do that, who are like, oh, it didn't work, but I'll just give it another crack. Yeah, absolutely. You know, when you're just like, I asked a friend the other day,

she had an interview and I said, how'd that job interview go? She goes, I didn't get it, but like, there'll be another one. I was like, oh my God. Like, I remember going to job interviews and if I didn't get it, I'd see that as a like personal reflection of me not being worthwhile. I know. That's not the truth at all. And she was just like, yeah, yeah, yeah. There must've just been somebody that fit the role better. Yeah. Like she was able to separate it and just be like, oh, get up and just do something else. Absolutely.

What an icon. But like that, I would say is the defining factor of what I see our community doing and what I see our community learning, they seem to be going, oh, actually my self-worth isn't tied to debt. I can keep trying and I can keep plugging away at this. And maybe one month you have an extra 200 bucks and you throw it at your debt, but that's not wasted. Like we see it as consistency. So for me, I would say it's just slow and steady wins the race. Okay. I like that. I like that. And I do want to acknowledge that some people do have aspects of their identity that make it a little bit harder to get by in life, but just, you know, we all got to just keep doing what we're doing. And if it takes you a little

bit longer, it's a little bit harder. That's something that we just acknowledge. And then I've never met one person who I would say was an inherently good person who would judge someone based on being in debt. No, totally. If you judge someone based on them being in debt, you're kind of a shitty person. So I actually, I just don't have a lot of respect. It's a weird thing to judge someone for. And like some of the best people in my entire life, like you, right? thank you you've been in debt oh yeah but like does that change the situation no does that make you a worse off human being no I would say you're better than most people that I come across it's so sweet but like you've got a better moral compass you know I see what you're saying you're the type

of person I want to surround myself with as opposed to these sweet do you know what I mean it's just I know you're saying I know you're saying that's so sweet thank you I agree don't give themselves enough credit for that. Yeah. It builds a lot of, you know, multi-layered personalities. So I don't know, I really like it. So how do you feel about debt now? And this is the last question, by the way, how do you feel about debt now? And what is your approach to credit and loans? I'm so angry about debt. I just, I still hold so much anger about it. I think because I remember my journey and I just don't want anybody else to have to go through that, the shame, feeling awful about it, feeling like you're not getting anywhere, feeling like you're missing out

on life. Like I remember just thinking it was a very big period of my life where I was like, well, I'll never be able to afford property. Like that's just not a reality for me. That's fine. And I remember like framing it as though that didn't matter. And you don't have to have property. You don't need to need that. But I remember trying to justify it to myself because like in my head, the reason I would never have property was because I was bad with money. Right. And it was because I would never be able to save a deposit. And it's because I would always have personal debt. And in my head, this was just going to spiral for my entire life. So I don't like debt. I also would like to acknowledge that for some people, debt is such necessary

evil. Like it is a necessary part of getting through. We're in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Do you think I am so naive to think that the single mom who is earning 50 grand a year and has three kids that she needs to get through school is not going to go into debt to do that because she's got some deadbeat dad on their side. Like we are doing the best that we can. And if you are in debt or you're about to go into debt, I think it's just more about understanding that sometimes it can be a tool. Sometimes it is a necessary evil, but we're just all doing the best that we can. So I think my approach to credit and loans is if you don't have to have them, don't get them. I never needed it. You've heard my story. At no point did I say,

Beck, I needed it to put food on the table. Beck, I needed debt to pay my rent and put a roof over my head. Beck, I needed it for my medical costs. Those are completely different situations. Mine was all vanity. Mine was, I'm going overseas and I'm traveling and I bought a car. I did not need any of that. I should never have gotten into debt. But if my story was, oh, medical costs, or I was in hospital for a long time and I ended up with a whole heap of debt, because I had to pay for my rent. Otherwise I was going to lose my house. That's a different story. And that needs to be treated differently as well. So no, I don't like debt and my approach is to avoid it at all costs. But I also am very aware that there are a lot of

people in our community that use debt and need debt to get by. And I see it as my job to educate you on how to use it as responsibly as possible and how to get out of it when you need to take those steps. Like when you're ready, I'm here. I've got all the tools and I've got all the resources and I will be your best friend. I'll be your biggest cheerleader, but I'm never going to judge you for getting into debt. That is so beautiful and so empowering. And I think that's a perfect place to leave this if you feel satisfied. Yeah, because I would love to stop talking about it. Okay. So you're officially off the hook. Thank you so much for letting us deep dive into how you became debt free. I'm always willing to overshare when it comes to hopefully

benefiting our community. Yeah, thank you. And just to reiterate everything that I've been saying, if you're in debt right now, please know that it literally does not make you a bad person. It does not mean that you are bad with money. It doesn't mean you failed. And it definitely does not mean that you can't turn things around. We hope this chat gave you the tools, the courage, or even just the permission to start tackling your own debt without the shame. And of course, if you love this episode, please share it with someone who might need it. Leave us a review or slide into the comments and tell us what you want to hear more of. Bye guys. Bye, guys.

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