My husband and I have been able to pay down about $10k in debt by living "cheap" and he only brought home $8k last year as a flight instructor! We gave up DirecTV and opted for an antenna ($70/month), I clip coupons and we don't spend more than $40-$70 every two weeks for groceries. We also use a "cash" system. We take cash out of the machine for gas, groceries, etc. We find it's a lot harder to spend cash than it is to just pop out a debit card.