Woman reveals how a $2 notebook and 'no-buy' hack helped her pay off $34,000 in debt

While most find it hard to achieve the financial discipline to pay off their debt, one woman did it with a notebook and a hack. At the beginning of 2023, TikTok creator Angela Szot ( @dropitlikeitsszot ) decided that she would make it a "no-buy year" to help pay off her debt. Throughout the year, Szot tracked all of her monthly expenses in a notebook, categorizing every dollar she spent. While she initially started with the year 2023, she continued her journey through 2024 until she was debt-free.

Here's how to use the "no-buy" method to get debt-free

Szot told Bored Panda that she worked 40 hours a week as a baker and made $45,000 a year, and she wanted to account for every dollar she spent and save money to pay off the debt. In her first video, she shared that she had been on the no-buy journey for all of 2023 and she had successfully paid off over $19,000. She says she is not a smart finance person and she does not know how to use spreadsheets. "I got this $2 notebook from Walmart. And it’s been my lifesaver," she says in the video.

She then describes how the method works. She says she dedicated three pages per month to track all her expenses. On the first page, she mentions all her bills, paydays, and the hours she gets paid along with her total savings and outstanding debt.

"Any time I pay off something, I give it a checkmark. And that’s perfect," she says.

On the second page, she says she categorizes her expenses in different categories for all of her purchases. She says she writes down the total of every purchase she makes and puts it in the category she feels is right.

On the third page, Szot writes down the end-of-the-month total, adding up all the expenses from the categories. She notes the outstanding debt at the end of the month and her updated savings as well.

In a follow-up video, Szot explained the rules that she set for the 'no-buy' method. In the video, she explains that the rules were super harsh as she wanted to get out of debt quickly. The rules even prevented her from buying any make-up or new clothes unless she needed them for work.

Does the method work?

While the method doesn't seem like much, Szot claims that it has kept her honest about her finances and helped her pay off debt. In an update shared in July 2024, the creator shares that she successfully paid off all of her survival debt which totaled over $30,000 in 558 days.

She says she also paid off her "fun debt" of a little over $4,000 at the same time. Thus, her no-buy journey that started in January 2023 ended in July 2024, with her being totally debt-free.

Szot said that throughout her journey, she got amazing feedback from her viewers. "This girl is going to be a billionaire by 2030. We should all watch and learn," commented one viewer @julesburnz in one of her videos.

In the Buzzfeed report, she shared some advice for people who wanted to try the method. She recommended people set realistic achievable goals and write all of their rules down to help them stay true and on track.

For more updates, vlogs, and more such hacks, follow Angela Szot ( @dropitlikeitsszot ) on TikTok.