just one year ago russell hindbrant was working a second job as a night janitor, sleeping in his car to save on gas money. candy stretched their dollar with cheap meals. today they're finishing the last of the hash browns that got them through the worst of it. >> the rahash browns were part your strategy. >> absolutely. this was pretty much a mainstay, when there wasn't any extra money for groceries. hash browns for breakfast, as a side dish for dinner. as you see, soup. and, yeah. >> any way you could? >> any way we could. >> reporter: it's a new age of thrift for them, a strategy that will front and center for the new year. >> we're going to go over our year, the things that we want to get and set up putting money away for certain things. and staying debt free. that's our number one goal. >> reporter: he took five years for the the heldebrants to come out of their six-figure debt. but to hear them tell it, to real savings is more than dollars and cents. >> we found out that you really could do without things. our quality of life did not decrease because life became more simple, you