We all want to get out of debt but it can seem like a long and hard road to financial freedom. In reality, it is not difficult as long as you follow a few steps and remain dedicated to the cause. This is a list of ten tips to help you find your financial freedom.

10 Face Facts

Before you go any further, you need to sit down and work out exactly what you owe, to whom you owe it, and what interest rate you are paying. This information will be very helpful with the rest of these tips. It is very easy to think of all of our debts as small payments each pay, but when you add them all up they can amount to a massive debt. This can be a very scary task but unfortunately it must be done. If you need to, get a friend or family member to sit down with you to help you go through old bank statements to make sure you miss nothing out. The good news is that once you have done this, the hard part is over. You have faced the debt and now it is time to kill it.

9 Stop Spending

Be satisfied with what you have. For the next few months you are not going to be able to spend money on treats. It is very important to be able to resist all of those wonderful things that we all want to have. If you are always wanting to buy new things, you are going to find it very hard to stick to the tips in this list and that can lead to failure and, even worse, more debt, unless you can start being satisfied with what you have. Chances are, shopping is what got you in to this predicament in the first place, so nip it in the bud now. You absolutely must stop acquiring new debt.

8Increase Your Income

While this is not always possible, you should certainly try to increase your income (even if by only a small amount). The more money you have to put on debt, the faster you will eradicate it. You can take a part time job at a supermarket, at a fast food restaurant, or even just offering to do odd jobs around the neighborhood. There are a huge variety of part time jobs available in all manner of areas.

7Pay Yourself

It is very important that you give yourself enough money to spend each pay cycle. If you try to skimp in this area, you will break your budget and undo all of the good work you have achieved. This is not to say that you should not be trying to reduce expenses, which is also very important. When working out your “play” money, be sure to include everything you might normally spend money on. If you leave something off you can put the whole budget out of whack.

6 Stop Saving

Until you are out of debt, stop saving. In fact, if you have savings put aside, you should immediately transfer the full amount on to your debts. Your savings account will be making you far less interest than the money you will save by reducing debt at high interest. Here is a very basic example:

Savings @ 5% : $10,000 (Total interest earned in one year: $500)
Credit Card @ 21% : $10,000 (total cost of debt for one year: $2,100)

By putting your $10,000 on to your debt, you are saving $2,100 in interest charges at the expense of $500. It would be utterly foolish to leave your money in the savings account.

5Consolidation Loans

Unless you have managed to get so deeply into debt that you can’t make minimum payments on all of your loans and cards, you should definitely not get a consolidation loan. If you are in such a bad state that you simply can’t afford your debts, a consolidation loan may be the only choice you have short of bankruptcy. Make sure you shop around and get the lowest rate possible. You should also try to keep the term down as it will become a part of your debt budget (item 1) and you want to clear your debts as soon as possible.

4Reduce Expenses

Frugal living can be very rewarding. Not only do you save money, but you learn a lot about survival and taking care of yourself. There are some very simple ways you can reduce expenses. For example, perhaps you go out on the town twice a week – reduce it to one night and have the other night in – you can still enjoy yourself but you won’t be paying bar prices for liquor. If you always buy brand goods at the market, start buying generic – you can save a lot of money doing this. You should also consider buying in bulk as bulk buying is almost always cheaper. Keep your eyes out for good deals and coupons. While this may seem like a difficult step, you will eventually find that you prefer to live like this because of the many rewards that come from exercising your brain in seeking out ways to reduce spending. A very beneficial side-effect to this (which I have personally experienced) is that you can dramatically reduce the amount of trash you produce by buying only what you need and buying in bulk. This can be looked at like a game. When I was following this plan, I found myself trying every week to reduce the amount of money I was spending. The less I spent, the better I lived (as a result of home cooking and pride in my efforts). Do not buy pre-packaged or prepared meals – you are paying a lot of money for nothing. You should also be aware that certain meats, like chicken, can go up in price dramatically when you buy skinned and boneless. It does not take much time to do this yourself.

3 Credit Cards

Credit cards can be as good a tool to get out of debt as they were to get you into debt in the first place. If you have a credit card with a low interest rate that is not maxed out, consider moving a higher interest debt (or as much of it as you can) to the card. The interest savings may seem low, but every penny counts.

If you have maxed your cards out, the first thing you need to do is cut them up. You will not be using credit cards on this plan (and if you absolutely need one for important internet purchases, get a pre-paid credit card).

2 Budget

First of all, this budget will include all of your income and all of your expenses, but, it will not include any of your debts – they will go on your special debt budget (see item 1). In this budget you should list your total income, your total outgoings, and your total surplus. As a part of this budget you should also include your required spending money (item 7). It is imperative that you stick to this budget – it is your lifeline. If you are not honest when creating it, you will find the whole thing collapses within one or two pay cycles. Include every expense.

1 Make a Debt Budget

This is different from your regular budget. Your regular budget will tell you how much money you have left after all other expenses have been paid, the debt budget will tell you what you owe and how much to pay on each debt.

Transfer the total surplus from your budget to the debt budget. This is the most important money you have – it is the money that will give you financial freedom.

Next you need to itemize all of your debts in order of highest interest paid to lowest interest paid. Pay the minimum amount required on all but the highest interest debt – this is the only time you should be paying minimum payments. Keep doing this until you remove the high interest debt entirely. Once this is done, put 100% of the money you were spending on that debt to the debt with the next highest interest; keep doing this until you have paid all of your debts off. This creates a snowball effect and you will be amazed at how quickly your debt is reduced. It is one of the best motivators for people working on debt reduction. You should remember to do this in conjunction with item 3 (transfer highest interest debts to lowest interest debts where possible).

Once you have paid all of your debts off, start putting the full amount of your debt payment money into savings and investments. You were already living without the money – why not keep doing so and save it for something special.

Riches. Fame. Wealth. Power. These are the things that come with amassing copious amounts of money—money that not every average person can achieve in their lifetime. While everyone’s, or at least most people’s, dreams are to be wealthy, there can only be so many successful people. For the rest, we can only observe and learn from their financial habits and hope to get there someday.

It’s not strange to hear a certain billionaire has invested in a sports team, bought a mansion, or owns a yacht. It is what society expects the upper class to spend their cash on. On the other hand, spending hard-earned or trust fund money on gold-plated toilets, ghost detectors, and dinosaur skulls may seem like eccentric splurges to most people. Here we discuss ten of the strangest financial habits of the rich, from the frugal ones to the frivolous ones.

10 Dogs Day Out

Remember the “Touch My Body” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” singer? Apparently, all the pop singer wants for her dogs is for them to have a “soft life.” In an interview, Mariah Carey, a talented musician with a net worth of over $320 million, admitted that she spends over $34,000 per year on her pooches. Wait. Hold up. $34,000 on dogs? We all love pets, but even if we had the money, few would figure out how to spend that much on their dogs—not so for Mariah Carey.

The singer’s pets have a full-time groomer, chauffeur, and occasional trips to the spa. If you add the monthly standard cut and blow dry services the pets get, the cost can easily surpass the said amount. This is a habit we won’t be jotting down notes on.

9 Warren Buffett Still Lives in His Original House

A self-made success, mentor, firm believer in investing, and more importantly, an ordinary billionaire. I know. It’s disrespectful to put the words billionaire and ordinary in one sentence, but Warren Buffett embodies this. With an estimated net worth of over $82.7 billion, the 88-year-old business mogul can afford to live in any lavish house he pleases. However, believe it or not, Warren Buffett still lives in the 6,000-square foot house in Omaha, which he purchased in 1958 for $31,500.

Understandably, $31,500 in 1958 wasn’t a small amount of money. However, Warren’s ability to shake off the “trends” and stay true to his principles allowed him to remain true to his course. He can afford any modern house with a beachside view, but still, he insists on living in his old home.

With his billions, when asked to give a list of his best investments, he values his house at number three. Can you guess the first two? Twenty yachts and 15 private jets? Wrong! The first two are the wedding rings he bought for his first and second wife. Warren embraces other frugal and strange financial habits, such as looking out for buffet coupons and affordable hobbies. Interestingly, he used a Nokia flip phone for a long time, even after smartphones hit the market.

8 Mike Tyson Tigers

There is Warren Buffett, and then there is Mike Tyson—two rich people with opposite but equally strange spending habits. Nicknamed “Iron Mike,” Tyson is one of the greatest boxers ever to grace the ring. While you would not expect him to have regular kittens or Chihuahuas (no disrespect) as pets, owning tigers might be farfetched. To begin with, tigers are wild animals; they eat their prey whole—domesticating them requires you to match their appetite.

With an estimated net worth of over $400 million, Tyson purchased three Bengal tigers, costing around $70,000. He then hired a trainer for them who was paid $125,000 per year, according to reports by the International Business Times. Tyson also bought a $2.2 million, 24-carat gold bathtub for his first wife as a Christmas gift. He later divorced his wife and filed for bankruptcy in 2003. While we’re not in a position to classify Mike’s spending habits as “stupid,” they are, however, strange.

7 Ghost Detectors

We all agree ghosts are creepy; nobody goes to bed hoping to encounter one. However, there is only so much we can do to deter them. For instance, if you are religious, you can say a prayer or put a sacred book under the pillow. Not for Lady Gaga, though. She doesn’t take any chances with ghosts. In fact, her phobia is so strong that she invested in a $50,000 ghost detector. At 34, the Grammy and Academy Award-winning musician and actress has a net worth of around $150 million.

With such money, you would expect her to spend on her brand, fashion, or investments, as is the norm with many rich and famous. Lady Gaga embraces eccentric behaviors; this ghost detector simply highlights her type of person.

6 Saving Meals for the Next Day

David Cheriton is a Canadian-born businessman who was among Google’s first investors. He gained wealth by investing in the giant search engine and other investments. With an estimated net worth of $10.1 billion, Cheriton can afford to have meals in different countries every day, but he opts not to. If anything, he does the exact opposite.

Reliable reports show that the businessman saves half of his meals from restaurants for the next day. If this was another person, we could have assumed that he couldn’t afford to buy meals regularly or didn’t like to cook. But for a man of Cheriton’s status, cooking or buying food doesn’t sound like something he can’t afford.

Furthermore, he has been shaving himself for the past decade. He has never paid a cent to a barber. No wonder the rich stay rich; they don’t spend their money, to begin with. We’ll be keeping these strange strategies in our back pocket.

5 Another Ticket for the Hat, Please

What can’t you leave your house without? Favorite jacket? Phone? Wallet? Keys? Surely you won’t go far without keys. But are you so attached that you pay for a plane ticket to go get the item you forgot at home while on vacation? Maybe we would if we could!

Bono, a renowned musician and guitarist, is famous for spending $1,700 on a plane ticket for his hat. You might think the amount was equal to purchasing another hat from wherever he was. We are, too, but Bono knows best. He wants his favorite hat; he gets it. With a net worth of over $700 million, you can afford to charter a flight to retrieve your precious clothing article. Just maybe don’t make this one a habit.

4 Living in Space

Elon Musk is a man that continues to divide opinions. With a net worth of over $220 billion, we cannot question him much but wonder why he makes strange financial decisions. For instance, he recently sold all his houses and now “owns no home.” As it stands, Elon Musk now sleeps at his friends’ places. For someone among the top five wealthiest people in the world, you would expect him to own as many homes as he wants, but he chose to do the opposite.

Considering Musk is the co-founder of Tesla and his recent investments in Space X, chances are he is no longer interested in residing here on Earth. If anything, he has been looking at the possibility of relocating to Mars.

3 Kim Basinger Purchases an Entire Town

“Alright, everybody, listen up. As of today, this town is private property. We urge everyone to remain calm as we await further instructions from the new owner.” We can’t help but imagine that the residents of Braselton, Georgia, woke up to such an announcement when Kim Basinger bought the entire town in 1989. In her mind, she wanted to convert the area into a tourism attraction center and promote large film festivals.

Following lengthy negotiations, she was finally allowed to purchase the town for $20 million. It is safe to say this was not only a strange financial decision but also a failure. Five years later, she was declared bankrupt and resold the town for $1 million.

2 Drinking Water Made from Poop

While some parts of the world face water shortages, consider how far you’re willing to go to solve the problem. For billionaire Bill Gates, he decided to drink water recycled from human waste to push his agenda. Of course, he invested in Waste Management, Inc. and owns 18.6 million company shares, but was drinking poop water necessary?

The billionaire could have simply invested and let other people do the drinking. After all, he had already made a significant contribution. But Gates’s campaign paid extreme dividends. He assembled a team of top scientists and sanitation professionals worldwide to create transformative technologies and commercialization by reinventing the toilet for the poorest of diverse peoples and places. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.

1 Divorce

“After much thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have decided to end our marriage.” Does this quote sound familiar to you? Yes, this was the first statement Bill Gates made when he announced his divorce from Melinda Gates.

For most, it’s impossible to look at divorce as a cost, but for all those billionaires and millionaires, they know it doesn’t come cheap. For example, Melinda Gates ended up with billions worth of stock in various companies following her divorce from Bill Gates.

Nobody goes into marriage hoping to divorce. On the other hand, it is hard to ignore that 35 out of 72 billionaires who have tied the knot have since divorced and spent a lot of money in courtrooms. This means that 35 people were willing to part with some of their hard-earned cash just to see the divorce through. It is a strange financial habit because not everyone is willing to share their money with people they no longer have relationships with.