How To Pay Off Debt Quickly With The Debt Snowball Method
In the last few years, the quick debt payoff has become a popular topic – at least when it comes to consumer debt, especially among Millennials and the following generations.
There are multiple reasons for this: the ever-growing student loans, average salary not keeping up with inflation and lifestyle where living from paycheck to paycheck has become the norm, influencing Millennials negatively.
Millennials are getting married at an older age and a lower rate than their parents. They are even slower to start families and buy homes. Most have seemingly decided that being saddled with another long-term debt, like a mortgage, isn’t intelligent while already paying off their student loans.
And Gen Z is expected to follow in their footsteps – starting investing, obtaining property, and having kids even later. Let's discuss how using the debt snowball method can help you pay your bills, tasks to do before making the payments, why to start an emergency fund, and how title loans, also known as title pawns, can assist you.
What Is The Debt Snowball Method?
Paycheck-to-paycheck living isn’t exclusive to the younger generations, however. Multiple surveys have shown that that’s exactly how most Americans live across all age groups – over 60% of them couldn’t come up with $500 in cash to handle an emergency.
This is why movements like Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps and FIRE are so popular. People wish more opportunities to do stuff with their money as they want to – instead of sending it to different financial institutions.
The debt payoff methods most popularized by the so-called Debt-Free Community (you can find them through their Instagram hashtag) are the Snowball and the Avalanche methods. The Snowball method prioritizes debt payoff from the smallest to the largest, while the Avalanche method prioritizes debts according to their interest rates.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to pay off debt quickly using the debt snowball method.
How Can You Pay Off Debt With The Debt Snowball Method?
1. List Your Debts From The Smallest To The Largest
While arranging your debt payoff plan, you need to list your debts according to their amount: not the minimum payments nor their interest, even though both options might be tempting.
2. Apply Your Disposable Income To The Smallest Debt
Disposable income is the money you have left over after paying for all your essential bills and living needs. Whether large or small, we encourage you to calculate your disposable income and apply it towards paying off your smallest debt.
This is where you need to make some changes to your budget: you need to cut down on spending and free up as much money as possible (cut the cable, stop eating out, quit smoking – you get the gist).
Then, you’ll start putting all that freed-up money towards your smallest debt while only making minimum payments toward the others.
3. Repeat These Steps With Additional Debt
When your smallest debt is paid off, you add that money to the minimum payments you make on your next smallest debt.
This makes the debt snowball method so effective and speeds up the debt payoff: with each debt repaid, you’re increasing the monthly payments on the next debt with the money that went towards the previous ones.
That’s a minimum payment (sometimes multiple) plus the extra money.
Say your minimum payment towards your smallest loan was $100 a month, and you managed to knock it out quickly by adding another $100 towards the payments each month. That means you’ll be adding $200 to the minimum costs of your next smallest loan, accelerating its payoff – until all of your debt has been repaid.
FAQs
Why Should You Choose The Debt Snowball Method Instead Of The Debt Avalance?
The main appeal of the debt snowball method is the psychological effect: seeing your debts being knocked out one after the other is a powerful motivation, which helps you keep the zeal, even if, down the line, you’d be able to save more money with the avalanche.
You can, however, incorporate some of the avalanche elements even if you’re using the debt snowball method: for example, say the difference between two of your smallest debts is less than 1k – you can prioritize the one with the higher interest in this case since it’s not likely to postpone repayment for too long.
What Should You Do Before You Begin Debt Repayment?
Before you start paying off your debt, make sure you have a well-funded emergency fund covering at least a month of your expenses.
This will help you deal with financial problems if you encounter any without resorting to additional debt.
What Should You Do If You Don’t Have An Emergency Fund?
Debt repayment can feel daunting, which is why having an emergency fund is essential.
Depends on how quickly you need the money. You could try to make some on the side, but if you need it right now, you might have to resort to short-term fast title loans.
How Can You Find A Title Pawn Location Near Me?
You can apply for title pawns online by going to GeorgiaAutoPawnInc.com and completing the online inquiry form. Once you have finished that step, a store representative will contact you to set up a meeting.
At the meeting, you’ll need to provide them with your car, the car’s lien-free title in your name, and a government-issued ID to prove you’re over 18.
The representative will examine your car and documents to determine your loan eligibility. They will accommodate all types of income and won’t be asking about credit scores. If you’re approved – you’ll receive the cash right away.
Get Started With Your Debt Repayment Today!
Paying off debt quickly can sound easier said than done, but with a good plan and maybe the help of an auto pawn, you can get it paid off sooner rather than later.Note: The content provided in this article is only for informational purposes, and you should contact your financial advisor about your specific financial situation.