Forget the Joneses Day 14: Come up with a Debt Paydown Plan

I have been using one for years.   

I have them ordered by what I want to pay off first.

A. The Credit Card which has the Highest interest rate

B. The Auto Loan Decent rate but if the credit card was at zero imagine how freeing it would be to be without this.

C. Medical Bill. Sticking with a payment plan. It charges no interest so since they let me put it on a plan I am happy taking my time.  The Medical Bill was also one I managed to get adjusted we applied for assistance and they wrote off 80% of an $8000 bill it never hurts to try

D. The Student loan. It is the largest debt but at a 2% interest rate and that interest has tax advantages. 

So there is always a reason for the order of them. 

I also set up a bar graph in excel. One with two sets of data Minimum payments, and an aggressive pay down where I have said I am spending x amount on debt.  Kind as a visual 

I started with 26K in Debt, down to 23K currently

Min Payment will have me with 12K in 3 years

Accelerated will have me with 6K in 3 years.

Another thing is I leave paid off debts on my list. Seeing that I paid off a bunch of things is another visual 

I don't have a spreadsheet but I do have a pay down debt sheet all written out. I think I might just scan it onto my computer 

In the front of my budget notebook I track my debt paydown. I have them organzied to pay off the higher rates first. 

My Debt sheet continues going down just not as fast I had hoped 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ember15 

My Debt sheet continues going down just not as fast I had hoped 

This is me as well. There always seems to be something coming up that slows me down.

Using Mint.com we have established payments to the couple of loans we need to pay off. It sends us reminders of when things are due plus we set it up with our bank account so those payments are taken out automatically. 

After filing bankruptcy a few years back we have been sticking to cash purchases. If we can't pay for it cash, then we can't afford it. Bankruptcy was a wake up call that we were living way beyond our means.