One thing that helped me when I had a car loan was I forced myself to think about my routine purchases. $6 at Starbucks or an extra $6 towards my car? $10 for lunch out or $10 extra towards my car? At the grocery store $4 for Oreos or an extra $4 for my car? Every time I made the decision to not purchase something at pay extra towards my car, I transferred that money immediately to my savings account.

When my payment was due I would make my regular payment + whatever I transferred over extra that month from not buying something else. It usually wasn’t a small amount between $100-300 a month because I have a serious caffeine addiction. On the flip side my car got paid off faster, I cut my Starbucks habit, cut my going out to eat habit, started eating healthier and it made me much more aware of how much useless spending I was doing. It changed my whole mindset on how I spend my money and what truly is a need not a want.