I once heard the saying ‘cash is king’ and now after spending years in credit card debt, I can finally understand the meaning. If I used cash, there would be no debt. Debt can be debilitating. It can cause stress, anger, anxiety and limit upward mobility.

For example, let’s say that you have $15,000 in credit card debt at 15% interest. It could take about ten years with a payment of $242 a month and over $14,000 in interest before the debt would be repaid. You would have paid for your purchases twice! If instead, that money was invested in a Roth IRA, after ten years of contributing $242 per month at an 8 percent, your investment would be worth $74,452.

That’s a whole lot better than repaying debt! So how can we get back to cash. It’s simple. Just do a little less.

Instead of buying breakfast every morning, you could buy twice a week. Same goes for snacks and eating out. Just limit what you do. And use cash.

Start by using cash at the grocery store and gas station every week. Then on other regular purchases such as the hair salon or barber shop, tip with cash, eat out with cash. When you have to physically part with your hard earned money it hurts a lot more.

Let’s say you pay $1,000 monthly to repay your debt. If you were to save that same amount of money, you would have $12,000 in your bank account by the end of the year. Do this for three years and have $36,000. Five years will give you $60,000. And for eight years will give you a whopping $96,000!

You can’t afford not to save as the alternative is usually being in debt. When you have the cash to pay for whatever life throws your way, you are able to cope better with the challenges it will bring you. Just saving for a few years could provide you with financial freedom the likes of which you have never felt before.

All you have to do is a little less.