Paying off Debt

I feel like this is one of those hidden topics that get avoided…kinda like you would avoid the plague.
We’ve all been there in one way or another — sometimes we get into debt because of student loans, credit card purchases, needing to pay bills, etc etc.
But here’s my take on debt:
Pay it off, as fast as you can, but as safely as you can. And have a plan — having a plan is huge. You need to sit down, crunch some numbers and make sure you have a schedule/plan/end-game to paying this all of safely. Don’t just proverbially close your eyes and hope that it’ll all pay itself off without you having to do much other than a minimum payment. I know first hand how that doesn’t work — ever.

What do I mean by safely? There are two kinds of safe in my book.

Safe Version #1: Preventing Stupid Spending
Let’s say you come into an extra $20 or $30 as a random gift or bonus or what have you. Now you have a few options. You can save it, spend it or put it towards your debt. Before you make that decision on where it should go just take a peak at how you’ve been living the last few months. Have you had a tiny splurged recently? Or has it been a while since you treated yourself to either a cup of coffee to go, a pair of shoes or even just a nicer cut of meat at dinner? If it’s been a while may I suggest using that $20 or $30 and get yourself something pretty {Yes…Steak is PRETTY}! Sounds a wee bit odd right? Eh, kinda sorta not really. It’s normal to need a little splurge now and again or else you might go insane and decide what you really need is a new <insert something big that you don’t really need but want and costs a ton>.

So spending that $20 or $30 now as a tiny splurge might save you a lot money {and debt} down the road. You won’t feel as deprived in the long run and probably won’t binge spend if you have a tendency to do so!

Safe Version #2: Giving yourself a cushion.
Let’s say that you come into a lot of extra cash for whatever reason {I’m talking $1,000.00 or more} — The normal reaction if you’re eager to pay off your debt is to chuck it all at it at once {or if you’re not eager to pay off your debt to go spend it on something that you probably don’t need}. But Stop — Don’t move. Hear me out before you do that. You might want to consider throwing half of that shiny new money at your debt and saving the other half as a cushion for yourself. You never know when the car is going to need new tires, the kids are going to need braces or the roof is going to start leaking — am I right?

Mr. Not So Paleo and I have in the past just chucked all our extra money at our debt {yay!} but on the flip side have created the issue where we don’t have money when we need it because we used it to pay off our previous debt {boo}. Which in turn creates more debt for you because you’re going to have to find some way to pay for that new roof, tires and braces right?

So the moral of this story? Game plan how you’re going to pay things off and take a step back before making bigger payments and evaluate your finances. I know it’s hard to do sometimes because you just want it done and over with — but really, taking a few days to make sure it’s all in order and that you’re using the safest course of action. It can prevent some serious over spending / debt accumulation in the future!

And the quicker you pay off this debt without creating more inadvertently, the quicker you can start affording things like better quality meats, better coffee, new {workout} clothes that make you feel like a million bucks and you won’t have to worry about whether you can afford gas for the car or the electric bill this month!

So Voila there you have it. The Liz take on Debt!

Do you have any questions on how to pay it off / need help making a plan? Shoot me over an email or leave it in the comments and I can do a part two blog post!

Happy Saturday!