[Music] hey you guys so a recent survey found that 28% of credit card users are still paying debt off from last Christmas yeah that means they're still carrying their balance from Christmas of 2023 now I know the holidays that can come with a lot of stress and expectations but whether you're stuck with maybe some Christmas debt or maybe you're just craving a new start here in the new year I want to share three simple steps to get rid of debt fast and avoid being part of that statistic in the future okay before we dive in make sure to subscribe and send this episode to a friend all right first I want to talk to those of you who are currently in this boat of credit card debt listen do not beat yourself up okay I mean I think it can be easy to get caught in this like shame spiral of like oh my gosh I can't believe I did this or we did spend too much now I'm regretting it whatever it may be you're okay you are okay people that have credit card debt can pay it off I'm telling you you can do something different and if you're not happy with where you are financially that change can occur I'm telling you that you know I talked to so many people and they decide that they become someone completely different when it comes to their money and they get different outcomes and Christmas and the holidays it is a stressful time so you are not the only one racking up credit card debt and a lot of people don't have a lot of margin either when it comes to their money so going into credit card debt for for a lot of people that is their reality it's what happened so just want to give you some encouragement you can do something different if you don't like where you were all right let's talk about how to get out of debt so if your pain is greater than the inconvenience of changing your habits that's where you're going to see change meaning a lot of people just kind of maintain credit card debt they just kind of pay the minimal payments and it's on autopilot it's not a big deal and they don't really have a lot of pain to it it's a you know they're kind of numb to it again they run some numbers do calculations and they're just kind of like yeah we're fine so if that's you there's probably not going to be a lot of change but if you find yourself realizing oh my gosh we are paying so much in debt maybe it's car payments and credit cards and a personal loan and a helck and a student loan like it just keeps going and you feel like we are running so fast in life and we are making no progress when it comes to our money and our spending is out of control because we don't know what we're spending we're just charging everything on a credit card and I'm tired I'm tired of working so hard and having nothing to show for it like or or maybe you're losing sleep at night maybe your stress is so high like whatever that pain is that happens that usually has to hit first in order for change to occur around on Ramsey we call it i' the I've had it moment it's like this moment of I'm done I'm so tired of what I've been doing I need to do something different so that is really key to all of this when it comes to paying off debt because it's going to take some sacrifice which leads us to number two the way to pay off debt this method is so crucial it is the method of the debt snowball way of paying off debt so some people pay off the highest interest rate first but we have found that it is way more effective when you start with the smallest debt first because you will realize that in order to change your behavior like we were talking about you have to have some quick wins you have to have that motivation to say oh yeah what I'm doing is working so by paying off that smallest debt first that's what happens you realize oh I can do it maybe it's a $700 credit card payment you know debt that you have a bill you pay it off and you're like okay I did it and then you go over to the second smallest debt and as you keep going too what happens is you're freeing up the minimum payments on all the debts that you've already paid off which leave you more margin to put more of that money towards the next debt so it is powerful so list out all of your debt smallest to largest regardless of the interest rate pay minimum payments on everything and pay that smallest one off first so that is how to get out of debt if you want to your pay has to be pretty great because it's going to take some sacrifice and then number two start with the method of paying the smallest one off first and also I'll throw in there you know get an extra job get a side hustle you know add an extra 800 bucks a month or more to your monthly budget in order to throw this at the debt cut expenses do a budget and say we're not eating out we're not going shopping we're not doing any of this we are taking all of our money we have and throwing it at this debt all right before I share the next step I want to tell you about one of our sponsors delete me I saw a headline recently that really caught my attention 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every single year and maybe you start buying gifts on Black Friday right in November like you know this stuff is coming so just put a reminder on your phone in May to set some money aside right or even July that gives you six months till December to plan and set aside some money so when December comes and you start shopping you have the money for it so this is called a syncing fund when you look ahead for large expenses coming up in the future and you do you know you you save a little bit every single month and so this is really really helpful so I would say planning for that is big and then also planning for emergencies this is why the emergency fund is key I want you to start off with a $1,000 emergency fund and then once all your debt is paid off you can bump that up to 3 to six months of expenses but being able to plan knowing that things are going to happen things are going to come up and instead of going deeper in the credit card debt for those things you have money in the bank saved and that's really really key so so planning for the future is really really important so you can do all of this saving for Christmas next year even you know having the goal for an emergency fund you can do all of this in the every doll app so the every doll app is a fantastic because it's helping you budget every single month and I'll put a link in the description check it out but you can build your first budget for free and I love this app because it goes with you everywhere you go because your phone is always attached to you and you're able to see okay what money do we have left in each category we're able to plan ahead you're able to do these syncing funds within it it's really really great it's a very very helpful tool so make sure to check it out now that you know how to get out of debt if you are curious about how to pay it off even faster I have an episode all about that you can check it out right here or if you're listening on podcast click the link below all right you guys remember to take control of your money and create a life you love
