Your next step to paying down debt - focus on one bill only

**Mom23boys** · 01-08-2006, 02:39 PM

I read this thread when it was first posted and re-read it and keep re-reading it. I am trying hard to get this to sink in. I am the type of preson who wants to pay it all at once. I don't have patience. I pay more than the monthly payment on all my debt. I know that if I focus on just one bill at a time and snowball it, that it will be paid off faster. I just can't get my brain to focus on that! I am going to try really hard to just pay the minimum all my debt and put all the extra to one bill until it is paid! That is my NEW goal for the year!!

I have it written down on the top of my monthly budget so it will sink in to my brain!!

**frugalnana** · 01-09-2006, 06:48 PM

Well I'm a little upset. My son went snowboarding last weekend and something was wrong with the car coming back. Had to have it towed and it had something to do with the belt and it had to have the oil pan replaced and so all charges put my chase card back up over $1207. He was 2 hours away, otherwise we would have had it towed home and Dh would have fixed it. I made an online payment of $207 saturday and today when Dh got paid I did another payment of $25. So now its $975. This is my smallest bill and all quarter chalenge and change challenge will go to this the end of month. Everytime I find an extra $10 or $20 from being paid it will be going to this debt then I'll start going after the next one. I have to change my siggy to reflect the new balance.

**KKCondrey** · 01-09-2006, 06:51 PM

I'm focusing on my ob bill for my delivery last year and my surgery last fall (at least the ob's part)

Next I'll get the surgical center out of the way (where I had the surgery at in Sept) and HOPEFULLY that will be all the medical bills for awhile. (I got all of Paiges paid off last month.)

guest7 · 01-14-2006, 08:28 AM

I'm happy to say that my cc bill of $3200 is paid off this month.
I do have a mortgage- but it's already pretty low, besides husband pays for that.
And finally, my school loans are being paid at triple the amount so that I can pay off in 5 years instead of 20 yrs!

So the only debt I can work on is my twins $10K year tuition bill that I must pay. So, I'm working real hard to get that paid.

**juliek** · 01-14-2006, 11:58 AM

Cathy ~ I read Dave Ramsey (Total Money Makeover) about a year ago, just after adding up our debt total and almost breaking into tears. I had read other books before, but that one got me completely motivated. And wonder of wonders, it did the same for DH ~ who previously wanted nothing to do with "depriving himself" or even thinking about finances. For that reason alone, I will be forever grateful to Dave Ramsey.

If you can get your SO to read the book or listen to Dave on the radio, you will be amazed at the fantastic money things that will happen this year!

We have been doing the debt snowball exactly as Dave wrote in his book, and it has worked! TOTAL FOCUS AND INTENSITY for a relatively short time is the key.

**Mom23boys** · 01-14-2006, 06:32 PM

I am proud to say that this month, I focused on one bill and put all the extra money towards it. It is paid off!! Yippee! I will work on another bill next month.

**rebecca** · 01-15-2006, 09:49 AM

The one debt is my car. They have me financed for five years. I refuse to give five years of my life to a car debt. I have been putting ever dime I can on this. Hopefully I can get it paid off in three years instead of five years. Right now I am three months ahead on my car payment.

**AmyBoz** · 01-15-2006, 10:40 AM

Last year we focused on our home equity loan. Gone!

This year we are focusing on our van loan. It was supposed to last until December, but as of right now, we have it down to being paid off in October. We're gonna keep working on it to see if we can't get it paid off sooner.

**SMILESFRSD** · 02-03-2006, 01:20 PM

OK, I did it! I focused on 1 bill & got it paid. Providian is gone. $859.00 gone. poof!

disappeared. Next up Citicards-$1950, needs to be paid by late July in order to avoid any interest. Currently 0% interest until July.

**chatterweb** · 03-05-2006, 03:25 PM

AMX paid off I owed 66 bucks on it, balance transferred the rest to a 0% ccard.

I keep a tally on my pc desktop of all the debt, and adjust it when I pay on it. So far this month I have paid 226 bucks, which is good for us as we have 2580 in mortgages (temporary until 2nd home gets a tenant)

**SaverGal** · 03-13-2006, 09:56 PM

We just got serious March 1st. Used savings to pay off $63 CC & loan to my father in law @ $925. I hated having owing $$ to a family member. Zero interest and no pressure, but just like DRamsey says I felt like it changed our relationship.

We used some savings to pay off $2033 on one CC today!!! Now comes the really hard part because we have to save to pay the rest off. Have a balance of $2333 but we need to focus. I don't even want to think about the next bill right now.

So far we've cut 12 months out of our freedom date.

**madhen** · 03-13-2006, 10:19 PM

I know what you mean about owing family. My sister opened up a charge account at Macy's near X-mas, and offered to buy my purchase on her card, since she was getting around 20% off for opening the account. Sounded great, and she was great about it. But then when she got her statement, and I asked her what I owed her, she took forever to get back to me, kept saying that she hadn't figured it out yet, that she had to call because she thought maybe there was an error, that she could just take it out in trade from my store, etc. I finally pinned her down in Feb and wrote her a check for the full amount. It was like taking a stone off my chest.

**JaneP** · 03-15-2006, 08:39 AM

Congrats to everyone who has paid off a debt recently. I'm sure there's such a feeling of relief with each one. I haven't gotten there yet but I'm pushing forward. I still suffer from a feeling of being overwhelmed at times. Yesterday was one of those days. Today I've decided to fight that feeling and only focus on the progress I've made and not on what's left. The balance on my targeted debt dropped by $691.42 in Feb. so I am making progress.

**frugalfarmwife** · 03-16-2006, 01:50 AM

I've been working on this, it's so hard tho as our only real bill is the mortgage and it's so hard to look so far into the future but I'm going to do it! Shooting for getting the mortgage paid off in 1/2 the time, now to keep up the enthusiasm!

kj

**MandiDawn** · 03-16-2006, 11:04 AM

I've been doing this and it's wonderful - I paid off so much last year, and my student loan will be paid off in a few weeks (next paycheck).
But - the only one I have left is my car loan, and it's overwhelming me. I told myself to keep up with the snowball thru July and then reevaluate. I'm hoping I see how much I've paid off and that gives me a push to follow thru for another 6 months.