Your next step to paying down debt - snowball, snowball, snowball.

**Sasha** · 08-21-2006, 02:51 PM

very helpful!! Thanks

**PennyPinchinPam** · 09-20-2006, 04:59 PM

Thank you for posting this. I just sat here and put everything in and found out we can be totally debt free before we retire from the military if we stay focused for the next year and a half. Woo!Hoo!

**sheidi** · 09-20-2006, 06:35 PM

hi all - this seems like a good place to start!

i have one cc bill which i took a loan to pay off, but they keep adding charges anyway! its $77, i intend to pay that today and go to the bank and close it properly

my other bill is $19500 - a loan i took out to combine my car loan and the cc, which got up to $14000, the last four thousand was interest and late payments only, which were so high i couldn't even dent them and so each month i got charged about $1000. i hate cc! i was so scared i thought i'd be sent to gaol or something, until i got my loan. the loan is for the next 7 years, i really want to pay it earlier, as i will end up paying 32000 for it otherwise! i can't believe what crooks banks can be. oh well.

so i saw this emergency fund idea on here and i'd like to do that - so my plan is

1. pay off credit card - $77
2. save for EF - $500
3. reduce loan by paying an extra $100 per fortnight

i'm going to try and do this by cutting my grocery bill in half. we'll see how it goes - i'll join the challenges that fit my goals - hope you don't mind me posting this stuff here, i'm still finding my way around

**sheidi** · 10-30-2006, 02:55 AM

so i transferred $1000 to my ING account today - my BEF is complete

i am paying extra on my loan as of 2 November

**rosebron** · 11-01-2006, 07:56 PM

I use what'sthecost.com to snowball.

**marie_squared** · 11-18-2006, 12:32 AM

what a AWESOME IDEA!

im loving this and cant believe ive never heard of it before..or even just thought it through for myself.

**rosebron** · 11-18-2006, 04:06 PM

I love your spirit!
It's not about the gifts!!

**Jennys2angels** · 04-30-2007, 12:08 AM

I use the debt snowball, and have been able to get 2 CC paid off in the last 3 months. Now I am working on paying of my last one... then all the money from those will go into our house payment.

It is a great feeling, seeing yourself coming out of debt.

**AspiringToBeFrugal** · 03-16-2008, 11:37 AM

Thank you so much for the link to JimnKim's website. I've copied a couple of their spreadsheets and hope to customize a budget/debt spreadsheet to our needs.

I also really like the idea of snowballing. It's what I've been doing but haven't had a name for it until now! As soon as I pay off my car, I hope to "snowball" the payments on DH's car or his student loans!

**ShawnaRae** · 05-11-2008, 03:33 PM

Thank you for the great advice. I have been terrible, for years and years. After writing our debt on paper I am very focused on it. That is an excellent suggestion! We just paid off our small credit card ($890). We haven't even used it for years, but because the min. payment was small, we didn't pay much attention to it. It feels so good to be rid of it. We thought about putting that money towards our other cc ($3,798), but paying the smaller, unused one off first was the way to go for us. Another excellent point you have made, is making more than one payment a month. I had never even considered that. Thanks so much!

**paintedsky** · 12-23-2008, 02:07 AM

The links were very helpful. Thank you!

**Engel11** · 03-04-2009, 12:31 PM

All,
If you look under the Sucess Stories section of this site, I posted the snowball char that I use.

**Cyrano** · 05-29-2011, 11:19 AM

Thank you ladybugdream, you are a sweet heart

**misteryu** · 07-01-2011, 03:02 PM

It's interesting on why everyone loves the debt snowball. Debt stacking is without a debt more effective.

**mndtrp** · 07-01-2011, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by misteryu

It's interesting on why everyone loves the debt snowball. Debt stacking is without a debt more effective.

Explaining why you say that would be helpful.

As far as I can tell, there isn't a difference between the two terms. I'd appreciate some clarification as to why you would say such a thing.