Getting Out of Debt: Part 1! The Debt Elimination Plan!

(Photo Courtesy LDS.Org)

Getting out of debt requires some committment on your part.  You and your spouse need to be on the same page and you should clue your kids in as well.  If you can be dilligent for a set amount of time, you will eventually be debt free and can then enjoy having extra money to do fun things together!!

So if you are ready to jump in head first and really commit to making changes in your finances, it is time!  And I will also share some of the things that our family did to get out of debt as well.  Don’t think that you can’t do it, or are too deep in debt!  This post series I am planning isn’t going to be just a couple posts.  There are so many ways to take control of your finances. So this series will be long and will give you a bunch of ideas.  You can choose to implement as many of them as you want!

So, let’s get started!

First, you need to know how much debt you actually have.  So you will need to make a list. I think it is easy to underestimate exactly how much debt we actually have.  So, this will give you a reality check and a way to see all of your debt in one place so you can tackle it and pay it off.

Step 1:

Type all of your debt in a Word Doc.  You will need to include the name, how much you owe, your APR, and how much your monthly payment is.

For example:

1.  VISA Credit Card                                    $80 Monthly Payment          19% APR             $3,000 Payoff
2.  Furniture Store Credit Card                $60 Montly Payment             24% APR            $1,500Payoff
3.  Kohl’s Charge Card                                $25 Monthly Payment          15%  APR            $100 Payoff
4.  Keep adding them until you have your whole list.

**Your list might be long.  That is ok.  I would recommend typing your list so if you need to re-arrange the order later, it will be easy to move them around.

You can include your Car Payments and House Payment in your Debt list.  However, I would keep it at the bottom.  We won’t want to worry about those until you pay off your Revolving Debt first.  Revolving Debt is the type of debt you can keep putting money on and paying off.  So, a Credit Card would be a good example of that.  A Car Loan is NOT Revolving Debt because you don’t keep adding to the amount you owe, it is a set number.

Step #2:

Now that we have your list of debts, we need to order them by amount owed. What we will want to do is pay off your debt by paying off one item.  Once we do that, we can use the money that would have been going to that payment and apply it to the second payment on the list as an “Extra” amount on top of the minimum amount that is required.

For Example:

1.  Kohl’s Charge Card                                $25 Monthly Payment          15%  APR            $100 Payoff 
2. Furniture Store Credit Card               $60 Montly Payment             24% APR            $1,500Payoff 
3. VISA Credit Card                                    $80 Monthly Payment          19% APR             $3,000 Payoff 

Since Kohl’s payoff is $100 and I have 4 $25 Payments.  That is the least amount of payments to pay off that card. So that will be at the top of my list.

You will want to keep paying all of your normal monthly payments.  It is very important to keep paying those on time so you don’t accrue late fees or penalties!

Step #3:

Now that I have my list organized by Fewest Amount of Payments left, it is time to understand how the Debt Elimination Plan works.

As soon as my Kohl’s Charge Card is paid off, I would use that $25 Minimum Payment and apply it to the next item in the list.  So with the examples I have been using, the Furniture Store Card’s normal payment is $60 each month.  Once Kohl’s is paid off, I take that $25 payment and add it to the Furniture Store payment for a total of $85 each month.  I keep doing that until the Furniture Store Card is paid off.

Then, take the Kohl’s Charge Card payment and the Furniture Store Card payment and apply it to the VISA Card debt you have.  The monthly payment for the VISA card each month would be $165.

Keep following this method down the list until you have ultimately paid off all of the debt. 

** I realize that this will take some time- especially if you have a lot of debt.  But I don’t want you to get discouraged.  The first few debts take longer to pay off.  But once you have rolled your paid off debt amounts into the other debts a few times, the payoffs start to happen very quickly!

IMPORTANT: Some of you may decide you would rather pay off the cards in order of the Highest APR first. I know that some people prefer to do that because it will pay off the highest amount of debt you have first.  So, you might want to consider doing a comparison to see which one will get you out of debt faster.

The most important part of this entire thing is to make sure that you don’t accrue more debt back to those cards!  Once you have paid them off, keep money off of them until ALL of your debt is paid off. (I will talk about how to use Credit, Raise Your Credit and Credit Cards Wisely in another post coming up….)

Another tip:  Depending on your income, when you first start the Debt Elimination Plan, try to add more than the minimum payment amount.  That first line might take awhile to get paid off if you are only paying the minimum.  But if the minimum is all you can afford, then stick with it. 

With this method, it took about a year and a half for our family to get out of debt.  Yep, it took awhile and it took a lot of dedication. But, it is so wonderful to not have that hanging over our heads.  Plus, now we can use the money we were using to pay off our Credit Cards on other fun things.  We have money in savings and we have room to do fun things with our family- like going on vacations!

Stay Tuned: The Next Post in this Series will be about “Finding Extra Money”. You can use that Money to pay off your debt faster!  And over the next few weeks, we will be talking about Credit Scores, How to Fix Them, What Types of Credit Cards You Should Have, To Pay off Your Mortgage or Not?, and a ton of other things all having to do with your finances, saving money and getting out of debt!