I seem to be talking a lot about Dave Ramsey this week but his show had quite a powerful impact on me. I think the reason I liked him so much is that he talks about universal truths. Things that can’t be argued with.
So, for example, you’re never going to get out of debt if you’re working on a minimum wage and you can’t even cover your costs. So that’s got to be the first thing you aspire to.
Then he talks about saving up so you’ve got a $1,000 emergency fund, so that if anything breaks or you need a new boiler, you’re pretty much able to cover it without having to make your debt situation worse.
Then he talks about attacking your debt one by one.
Making a list of all your credit cards and debts and tackling the smallest one first because that’ll give you a big sense of achievement. Then you can work on clearing the next one.
So you’re paying the minimum payments on all of them but any spare money goes towards clearing the smallest one first.
He says that’s the most motivational way to do it and the way to ensure that you stick to the plan.