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tres

brrr!

August 2016

Debt Check – 15%

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I bet by now you’re wondering what my strategy is. What’s my method for getting the debt gone?

Two words: Debt Snowball

Here’s an article that goes into more detail about how this method works:

How The Debt Snowball Works

Basically the premise is:

1. List your debts smallest to largest by amount owed.

1. Pay minimum payments on all of the debts except the smallest one. For the smallest one, allocate as much of your monthly budget as you can to eliminating this debt. We're talking gazelle intense, sell-out, get-this-thing-out-of-my-life-forever energy.

1. Once it’s gone, take the money you were putting toward that debt, plus any extra money you find, and attack the next debt on the list.

1. Once it’s gone, take that combined payment and go to the next debt. Knock them out one by one.

So that’s pretty much what I’m doing. Now I know some folks are skeptical about this method because it doesn’t take interest rates into account. Well, I thought about that too. About 70% of all my debt has an interest rate within 1% of each other. And I recalculated it based on interest rates from largest to smallest…. It ends up saving me $25. Yea so no. I need those little victories of paying off debts one at a time to stay motivated and I know that the snowball method will give me those little victories!

Case in point: Little Victory # 2

Another One Bites the Dust!

I want to get personal for a minute, because sometimes this journey will have you unintentionally hurting the ones you love and portraying you as selfish, boring, and even aloof. This plan is very aggressive and requires discipline that’s on another level. Like when everyone’s Instagram is popping (#SummerSixteen) with pictures of vacations (plural), concerts (plural), and other general “fun-ness” and you’re looking up free activities that are drive-able. Planning ONE major vacation per year and budgeting to pay for it months in advance. Manipulating invitations to go out to dinner into settling for a night in with food that’s already cooked. Buying one article of clothing on clearance instead of those outfits you love from the new collection. And most of all, telling people NO. *gasp*How dare YOU!

Let me make this clear. Not everyone will UNDERSTAND why you are doing this, nor will they SUPPORT you. They can’t see their way out of debt and financial instability so they want to stop you from getting out and joining the debt-free club. Crabs in a barrel. Sad but true. I can’t begin to tell you how many harsh words I’ve been on the receiving end of because I made a decision to do better, to BE better - better than I was before. But you know what, it comes with the territory and that’s just fine.