i 25F am looking for some advice. I’ve managed to take $10k debt down to $4k but now I’m running into some issues.
On one of my cards I have a 0% Apr and am making weekly small payments so I can have that paid off. this card isn’t the big problem.
my big problem is my discover card that has a higher Apr. i feel like every week I get paid I make a huge payment towards the card. get it down to $800-$1000 but then I’m out of money by the end of the week and have to use my credit card and then somehow have spent a lot of the payment I just made. I’ve been trying to budget and stick to using my debit card. (admittedly the rising gas and grocery prices are making this more difficult). but if anyone has any insane tips for absolutely not using your card- would love to hear 😭
I also have some anxiety about not having my credit card on me for emergencies. So I’m not sure if making my card fully inaccessible is the right path either?
How to stop paying off and then using my credit card
byu/Korobeiii inpersonalfinance
Posted by Korobeiii
16 Comments
Two issues:
1. You have a spending problem. List your expenses and income.
2. Why are you spending money on a credit card with non-zero APR when you have a 0% APR card?
Cut it up. Physically. If you can’t control yourself, that’s how you fix it.
I mean… there’s no magic. You say you are “trying to budget” — does that mean you’re trying not to spend excessively, or you actually have a written budget that includes the plan to pay off the card and not carry a balance on it going forward?
If you don’t have a full, written budget so that you can account for the money coming in and all of the money going out, that’s the step forward. Congrats on getting your debt down to $4k. Share the details of your budget and I’m sure folks here will help you plan out the path to 0.
Find the book I will teach you to be rich. Read it. Honestly, the parts about credits was enlightening to issues i had
first step is cut up your credit cards.
second step is to get your budget set
You HAVE to find a way to reduce your spending. That’s the only way.
Don’t pretend you are helpless when you are entirely in control.
10lb bags of rice and beans are incredible values and with some cooking skills, delicious. Eggs are still cheap. While gas is essential, not every trip is.
As said, spending needs to be below income, not above it ‘when convenient.’
Semi-Fasting is actually healthy with amazing benefits. Research it.
Real simple. Cut costs. No going out. No Uber Eats. Eat rice and beans metaphorically, cut your entertainment expenses to ZERO! Put Netflix and whatever on hold for a few months
Go to the library and check some books out for you — perhaps on finance.
You are not addressing the problem, you are dealing with the consequences of your actions instead
I don’t think you need a life hack to pay off the credit card. You need a life hack to reduce your spending. Make a list of all of your fixed expenses (rent/mortgage, utilities, car payment, etc).
Make a list of all your variable expenses (food/groceries/gas/etc).
For the next 30 days, try to use your car less, to and from work- no more outings unless you’re catching a ride. Live off of grocery staples only (literally just beans and potatoes), try not to buy household cleaners, even tp or anything like that.
Cancel all subscriptions.
You could easily pay this off within a month or two- you just have to be extreme.
You need to cut it up. Call the CC companies and tell them you can’t afford this anymore and ask for some sort of plan or something. I forget the exact wording but they will eventually just give you simple\smaller payments to make to pay it off. Maybe someone else can give you the exact working to use. My wife had to do it she had a similar problem like you. Later found out she learned it from her mother who had about 3-4 CC’s with 3-4k on all of them.
Budgeting is simple.
1. Figure out your monthly take-home income. Use what actually hits your bank account after taxes, insurance, retirement, etc.
2. List your fixed expenses. Examples:
Rent/mortgage,
Utilities,
Insurance,
Phone,
Internet,
Debt payments,
Childcare
3. Estimate your variable spending. Examples:
Groceries,
Eating out,
Gas,
Shopping,
Entertainment,
Subscriptions
4. Look at your real spending habits. Review the last 1–3 months of bank and credit card statements. Group purchases into categories.
Notice patterns.
5. Decide what matters most. Ask:
What do I want my money to do for me?
What am I willing to spend more on?
What do I want to cut back on?
6. Create simple categories. A beginner budget might include:
Housing,
Utilities,
Transportation,
Food,
Debt,
Savings,
Fun money
7. Give every dollar a job. Income minus expenses should equal zero:
Spend,
Save,
Invest,
Pay off debt
8. Start tracking consistently. Use:
A spreadsheet,
Notes app,
Budget app,
Paper notebook
9. Build a small emergency fund. Start with:
$500,
Then $1,000,
Then 3–6 months of expenses over time
10. Expect to adjust every month.
Your first budget will not be perfect. Budgeting is less about restriction and more about awareness and intentionality.
Pay minimum on the cards for a little bit and build up a balance in your checking account so you don’t have to depend on credit cards.
Just make sure the card is actually “0%” APR. If it’s a real Visa/Mastercard from a bank it probably is, but most store credit cards are not.
Destroy your cards and removed the numbers from any eWallet or if stored at shopping online.
DeluxeXL is right you have a spending problem. You need to make a budget that reflects your earnings and debts, not your wants.
It can be tight, I know, I’ve been there. As long as you are using those cards they will never get paid off.
One trick I have when I get into this kind of situation is that I log onto my bank and credit card app EVERY SINGLE day and make a small payment to my card very frequently. This doesn’t directly result in the card being paid off, but it gets you in the mindset of prioritizing the card payment.
The other thing is….as nice as they are, if you are trying to do anything with point churning on your card….stop. Its not for you. Whatever $$ you are gaining by using the card you are losing by having an interest charge. Once your income is better and you can keep your balance low, you can change this but for now, just use the one with 0% rate.
I failed at budgeting for a long time. In 2019 I was introduced to Zero based budgeting and things started to click. I had been tracking my spending for about two months before then so I had info to go on.
Basically with Zero based, when I got paid I sat down and asked. “What does this money need to do for me before I get paid again?”. So basically what bills/expenses do I have between paychecks. I then used a budgeting app and assigned my dollars to those categories. When the bill came , I had the money set aside to pay it.
In the old days it would have been called an envelope system where you physically put cash in envelopes labeled for specific uses.
Then I repeat that process the next paycheck. Eventually I had my regular and non regular expenses identified which allowed me to set funding targets. It also helped me identify spending waste to cut out or reduce so I could pay off debt.
My main success with Zero based budgeting was you only budget with money you actually have to use, not what you think you will be getting. It really helped me change my behaviors and how I made spending decisions.
Lower your credit limit as you pay it off. You can also freeze your card so you can’t use it.