The 7 Secrets to Paying off Debt.

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You CAN Do This. And I’m Here to Help

 

“A debt Problem is, at it core, a budgeting problem.”

-Natalie Pace

“Used Correctly, a budget doesn’t restrict you; it empowers you.”

-Tere Stouffer

Who Am I?

I’m a single mom of 3 that has her finances together. I enjoy all things financial: budgeting, investing, saving and more.

How I got here

Multiple friends came to me asking to help them with their finances. They knew I was a single mom, with not much income. Somehow, I was managing well. The truth was simple. I budgeted monthly, kept an eye on my finances and changed things when needed. So, I would sit my friends down and help them put together a budget that worked for them.

But where do you begin? With a budget and paying off debt. Many friends of mine never really sat down and wrote out a budget. This was the first step in helping them achieve their goals of paying off credit card debt and saving for a new car.

I figured if I can help them, maybe I can help people online as well. That’s how Money Moving Forward began. To help give you the tools and information you need to keep your money moving forward in a positive direction.

My Best 7 Tips

“Okay, now with that out of the way, I’m super excited to share the top 7 secrets I discovered on
my OWN path to achieving debt free success. Let’s start with #1

Secret #1: Change your Habits.

Just know, going in, your habits will need to change. What you were doing before wasn’t working. You have to want to change your habits before anything begins. Easier said than done, right? Yes absolutely! I would start by educating yourself on how to change habits in the first place. That way you can take that information and start applying to your life. In this case, you will start applying this mindset to paying off debt. There is a great book called “Atomic Habits” that gives you a great guide on how to do this in easy steps.

Don’t have time to read the book? Here is a helpful article to get you started: https://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-change

Secret #2: Pay more than the minimum

You will need to pay more than the minimum balance to pay off your debt quickly. It could be $500 more or $5 more per month, depending on how fast you want it paid off and how much money you have to work with. When you make minimum payments, you ultimately pay more in interest charges than when you pay your balance with bigger payments. You could save hundreds, or even thousands of dollars in interest just by raising your monthly credit card payment.

Play with some numbers to pay off your credit card with this free calculator: https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/credit-card-payoff-calculator/

Secret #3: The debt snowball

The debt snowball, made popular by Dave Ramsey, is where you pick your smallest debt and pay that off first. Still making minimum payments on your other cards. Then you move to next largest debt using the extra money from paying off the first debt and pay that off…..and so on.

The reason this method works for so many people is you see progress, faster. You pay off that small debt and you feel a sense of accomplishment that encourages you to keep going.

Debt snowball is 4 simple steps:

Step 1: List your debts from smallest to largest regardless of interest rate.

Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest.

Step 3: Pay as much as possible on your smallest debt.

Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full.

Secret #4: the debt avalanche

The debt avalanche takes a similar approach, but you focus on the interest rate first. Meaning, you pick the debt with the highest interest rate first; even if it is the highest balance.

Why do this? It cuts on the interest you are paying and frees up more money to pay other debts.

Pros and Cons of Debt Avalanche:

Pros

  • Minimizes the amount of interest you pay
  • Lessens the amount of time it takes to get out of debt
  • Good for budget oriented people

Cons

  • Takes discipline and commitment to pull off
  • Requires constant amount of discretionary income

Secret #5: Write it out

You need to write out all your debts on paper. You should also have a debt tracker sheet as well to see the bigger picture.

You have to start somewhere and the best place to start is by writing out all your debts, then creating a tracker to see your progress on paying these off monthly.

Luckily, I have already created an individual debt tracker and payoff debt tracker for free.

Secret #6: Start an emergency fund

Before you even begin starting to pay off your credit cards, I suggest starting an emergency fund. It’s recommended to have $1000, but $500 might be a good start if you are eager to start.

Why do this? There is nothing like an emergency house, car or life repair to throw you off and stop you from paying off your debt. If you pay off some of your debt, but then can’t pay for the emergency; you’ll end up charging it again.

Tip: I suggest transferring $20 (or more) a week into your savings account and do not touch it. Set an automatic transfer, so you don’t have to think about it.

Secret #7: Consider debt consolidation

If it becomes too challenging to keep up with various bills and due dates, debt consolidation might be for you. The lender pays off all your debt and rolls it into one new loan and payment.

The interest rate might be higher than some of your other bills, but you might make up for that by making sure this one bill is paid on time and you are avoiding late fees.

To figure out if this is right approach for you, you’ll need to add the combine interest rates on all your debts (in a year) and divide it by the total principal owed.

You Can Do This

I hope theses 7 secrets help you begin journey to being debt free. Remember, you can always adjust and change course….but don’t give up. Keep trying, keep learning, until something sticks.

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