Forgoing manicures was one thing, but canceling the housecleaning service made Angelina Altishin downright queasy. “I thought, ‘Oh no, not the maid,’ ” she recalls. But she and her husband, Mike, got rid of the cleaning service and many other luxuries to pay off $168,000 in debt, create a savings, and build investmentsﾗall in less than four years.
The Altishins, sales associates with Realty Executives of Nevada, thought they were doing fine financially. It was 1996 and the couple, then in their early 30s, took pricey vacations, ate at nice restaurants, and paid to have their Las Vegas yard perfectly maintained.
Despite earning a gross income of $150,000, the couple racked up debt, paying only the minimum amount due on their monthly bills. Saving never crossed their minds. Then in early 1997, at the urging of a client, the Altishins agreed to see a financial adviser. “We thought, ‘What have we got to lose? We’re doing well,’ ” Mike says.
The financial adviser said they we were one step away from financial ruin. “He was brutally honest,” Angelina says. The adviser suggested they save an emergency fund equal to six months of bills, then come to him for financial advice. The couple was taken aback.
After reading The Richest Man in Babylon (Dutton, 1988), a book by George S. Clason, which urges readers to save money and live within their means, Mike was inspired. “I put a note on the bathroom mirror in June 1997 that said we’d be debt free by June 2000.”
Angelina had to adjust to the idea. “I liked my lifestyle and didn’t want to change,” she says. But after reading the book at Mike’s insistence, she did just that. She and Mike wrote down expenditures, such as teeth cleanings, the gym, and gas money. “Then we cut unnecessary spending, even cable television,” Mike says.
They also gave up their rented office and an assistant, saving them about $1,500 a month. Now, they work from their home office.
Doing without the luxuries wasn’t easy at first. “I had emotional issues. I felt the manicures, the office, and the car represented who I was,” Angelina says.
The couple created a budget that allowed them to save 10 percent of their combined income for an emergency fund while paying off bills. The first bill to go: a $300 department store bill; the last: the $118,000 mortgage.
There were challenges along the way. “The bills loomed so large, it seemed like we’d never pay them off,” Mike says. “But when we paid off a big one, it inspired us because we’d reached a milestone.”
The Altishins finished paying off their debt, including their house, in March 2001. They extended their deadline so they could buy investment properties. They built up an emergency savings fund, and now they’re enjoying some luxuriesﾗwithin their means. “We take nice vacations, but we still don’t have cable,” Angelina says.
The couple has also acquired some of life’s priceless intangibles. “We’re better people,” she says. “We don’t have money stress. We have security. And working toward this goal has brought us closer.”
Financial strategy
Live within means, pay off debt, and begin saving for the future
TIME: The Altishins became debt-free in four years.
BOTTOM LINE: The couple own their home outright, have investment properties, and save 10 percent of their income.
SUCCESS SECRETS: Write down goals and post them in very visible spot; pay off smallest bills first; create a budget that allows you to save an emergency fund equal to six months of bills.
