I paid off £12k worth of debt at 22 in just six months thanks to the ‘snowball method’ & I still ate out and socialised

A WOMAN has revealed that she paid off almost £12,000 at the age of just 22.

Not only did Dominique Jonae pay off her credit card debts after finishing her education, but whilst doing so, she still went out for meals and socialised with her friends.

A woman has shared how she was able to pay off almost £12,000 of debt in just six monthsCredit: TikTok/@dominiquejonae

Dominique Jonae explained that she swears by the snowball methodCredit: TikTok/@dominiquejonae

She revealed that budgeting and cheap hobbies are keyCredit: TikTok/@dominiquejonae

The savvy saver took to social media to share the three tips she recommends for those looking to pay off debts.

From using the snowball method to creating budgets, Dominique also stressed the importance of cheap hobbies.

She explained: “My name is Dom and I'm a 28-year-old remote software engineer living in Washington DC.

“Today I'm gonna share three tips on how I got out of debt fast as a new grad at the tender age of 22.

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“These three tips directly resulted in me being able to dig myself out of $15,000 [£11,800] of consumer credit card debt in six months.

“Let me first practice these tips by saying that how quickly you can pull yourself out of debt is directly proportional to how much debt you have and also how much income each month you can put towards paying off debt.”

First of all, Dominique swore by the snowball method, as she shared: “Tip number one for me was to use the snowball method of debt repayment, rather than the avalanche method.

“The avalanche method is generally considered the more financially savvy way to attack debt, because it has you attacking your debt with the highest interest rate first, which saves you more money in the long run.

“My highest interest debt happened to be my highest amount debt as well, so it took me a long time to really chip away at that debt.

“I ended up just getting discouraged at a certain point and I just didn't really make any progress.

“When I ended up switching to the Snowball method, it was just really motivating and satisfying to see debts being cleared immediately.

“My lowest credit card debt at the time was a maxed out card that was like $500 [£394]. I was able to wipe that out in one month.”

Not only this, but she also recommended creating budgets, as she added: “The second tip that I used was to create a budget - a very bare bones budget, meaning that I listed all of the bills and all of the obligations that I had each month, and I really didn't budget for anything outside of that.

“I kind of lowered my entertainment budget, my eating out, and take out all those extras. I kept that to a very bare minimum and I put every extra penny that I had towards my debt snowball.”

Finally, Dominique revealed that you can still have hobbies whilst paying off debts, as she concluded: “My last tip would be to really get into free or cheap hobbies.

"The goal here is to keep yourself preoccupied, because for me at least, I know that I start spending money when I'm bored.

“The more money that I'm spending on entertainment or going out and things like that, that's less money that I can be putting towards my debt.

“Preferably you want to get into some more budget friendly hobbies - things like hiking and camping can be a really good budget hobby, especially after the initial investment of camping equipment.

“I am a nerd, so I love playing board games and I play Dungeon and Dragons with my friends and those are all free.

“Video games are another hobby that's pretty cheap for me. That's guaranteed entertainment for the next two years.

“Those are my tips for how to get out of debt very quickly.”

Dominique later explained: “I did save a very small amount, maybe $100 [£78] or $200 [£157] a month (which I realise might be a lot for some but was small relative to my income).”

The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @dominiquejonae, has clearly impressed many, as it has quickly amassed 359,300 views.

Social media users were thankful for the advice and were eager to express this in the comments.

One person said: “Congrats. So wise.”

Another added: “Thank you so much for the information.”

A third commented: “Great tips! Thanks for sharing.”

At the same time, another user penned: “Yesss. Budgeting is so helpful and really helps see where you’re spending money.”