A couple of months ago I used to owe a lot of money. The situation became horrible after an accident. As a result of the situation, my debt skyrocketed to:
- Ambulance bill: $500
- Hospital: $3000
- Bank account overdraft: $1000
Total: $4500
I take home on average $4540 net per month that is $1135 per month.
Typically, many financial advisors or personal finance specialists will recommend the debt snowball method. Basically, you start with the smallest in my case $500. Then, you move to the next smallest $1000 bank overdraft and you finish with the largest in my case, hospital $3000. The method has proved to be effective for many based on reviews.
However, for me, I couldn’t afford to choose the snowball method. Because I like to visualize things horizontally. In addition, I need cash flow to take care of bills such as rent, food, commute, phone line.
Consequently, this is how I paid $4500 of debt in 3 months.
- Decide on the amount to allocate towards your debt
I decided to go hard and I allocated $500 per week toward my debt after carefully analyzing my budget.
- Debt to ratio
Determine the ratio per debt over your total debt. For example bank overdraft (1000/4500) x 100
Bank overdraft represents: 22.222%
Ambulance: 11.111%
Hospital: 66.6666% - Allocation
Multiply the debt to the ratio by the respective percentage. Consequently:
Bank overdraft: 22.222% x 500 = $112
Hospital: 66.666% x 500 = $333
Ambulance: 11.111% x 500 = $56
That is the amount I was putting down every week for each item.
I was able to pay off everything in 3 months. Equally, when you are working towards paying your debts, it is important to utilize a method that works for you. That is why, in my case, this method actually helps me a lot. By spreading my payment every week, I was able to actually see how everything is decreasing.
If you have any example or method that you used to pay off your debt. Please share with us we will love to hear from you.
