Tips for sticking to a budget and paying off debt?

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If you're serious about paying off the debt start with doing an analysis of your spending for the last year and categorize it into categories like Bills, Groceries, Shopping, Restaurants, Bars etc. You can download your activity in excel from all bank and credit card websites. This will help you understand where your money goes.

Then use this information to make a realistic budget. If you spend $200 on food every month, that will be hard to cut back. Meanwhile if you were spending $500 on online shopping etc. You can cut that back and pay your loans down.

I highly suggest you start paying your credit cards off in full at the end of every month. So you know exactly what you spent that month. This is like being on a cash basis.

Lastly, for an effective budget to work it has to hurt. Saving and paying your debts is going to take commitment and if you're not saving until it hurts you aren't gonna make much progress.

likeupliftinghelpful

Make more money?

likesmart

Why didn’t I think of that??!?

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We recently started using cash for certain spending categories (i.e. restaurant, clothing, etc.) that we were more susceptible to go over budget on. When the cash is gone, we’re done spending in that category for the month. I found using a CC or debit card for certain spending categories made it significantly easier to overspend for the month.

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I’ve been using mint.com to track my family budget, it has helped a lot! I know what I can expect to spend and what we might have extra at the end of the month

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YNAB budget app- it costs money but it’s well worth it.

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Everydollar

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+1 for Every Dollar. Dave Ramsey is over the top, but the app is quality and has really helped me get a handle on my spending!

I have 2 bank accounts. I have $X of each paycheck to into my “spending” account for gas/food/fun and the rest of my paycheck go into a different account where my student loans and car payment come out of. The remainder of that is my savings

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I do this as well, I have a checking account for basic spending, a checking account for bill payment, a savings account for backup money in case I go over my budget a little, and then an “extra savings account” that is my true savings were I have a couple months of expenses saved in case of emergency. I also use stash to save small increments weekly.

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FIRE community (financial independence, retire early) really makes you look at your finances differently. There is a flowchart for where to put excess cash. There is a bowl for it. Good luck!

Eat canned tuna.

🤢

Something to look at it’s the 401k, there are new rules regarding withdrawals and penalties waived/postponed due to Covid. So make an assessment of your debt and your gains and of your interest on debt is way higher (more than double) the annual rate of return, then it could make sense to pay off debt with a 401k withdrawal.

However, speak with a financial advisor from the firm and/or a tax professional to guide you.

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