Credit Card Debt: The Rebel’s Guide to Paying It Off 10x Faster | 73

All right, hello and welcome to the show. OK, so today we are going to be talking about paying off our credit cards faster because faster, especially when we're talking about getting rid of credit is so much better than slow, right? So I'm going to teach you some of the things that I learned along the way that are going to help you eliminate that debt, but help you stay laser focused, be strategic and also be a little bit rebellious with your budget. So if you listen to this show or if you've been around for a little while, the Debt Rebel podcast is about eliminating debt and learning to live a debt free life.

And so I'm super passionate about teaching families how to do that. I'm Jules the budget nerd. If we haven't had a chance to meet yet, Julianne Colbrand's my real name, but a lot of people call me Jules the budget nerd. And so one of the things that I love, I love to teach is this right here because this is where the real progress is made when it comes to changing our financial future, where it comes to changing our family's future is eliminating debt, paying it off, getting rid of it, not using credit cards to live.

So stick around. I hope today's episode is something that is exactly what you need. All right, hello, Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. I do want to acknowledge the fact that I did not get an episode out last week. First time in over a year of doing this podcast. I did not release an episode and I wanted to 1 come clean about that, but two, also, I wanted to share a little bit behind the scenes why I didn't do it because it wasn't intentional. It was life just happened. We were getting ready.

My daughter and I went on a girls trip with her best friend and her mom and we're going to be taking my car and my car decided that now it needed a new alternator. So it was just kind of a crazy week getting ready for a trip and having some car issues. And I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in a future episode about our car because that isn't another place that our finances can get off track. And so I just didn't get to the episode that I had planned this one right here. And so I just want to remind you that you know what, we can set goals for ourselves and life happens sometimes.

And I could have beat myself up and go, Oh, my gosh, someone's going to notice. Or I felt really bad that I missed one episode. And so life goes on. That's what I want today's episode. I want this to be something that's really helpful for you, just like I want every single episode to be something that is worth your time, worth your attention. Thank you so much for joining me. And I want to send a special welcome to Morgan. Thank you so much for your message on Instagram. And I hope that this episode is a huge blessing too.

Today we're going to be talking about paying off credit cards faster. How do we do that without all of like the the gimmicks that shame, You know, I was just talking about about not recording an episode last week. We can feel that same way about our budgets. And then just completely just throwing our entire lifestyle just in the trash. And that's not what this is about. This this podcast, this episode is about getting real about where we are with our money.

Welcome to the Debt Ripple podcast where we discuss the insurance and outs of personal finance for families so you can eliminate the burden of debt, create financial margins, and learn a new way to interact with your money. I'm your host, Jules the Budget Nerd, and I have been in your shoes. My husband and I have paid off over $107,000 in consumer debt until we finally threw in the towel and decided it wasn't for us. Throughout our journey, we learned another way to do life without debt, and that's my hope for you.

You can learn more about our story and see full show notes on my website, julesthebudgetnerd.com. That's JEWLZ, the budget nerd.com. Now let's dive into today's episode. Today we're going to be talking about paying off credit cards faster. How do we do that without all of like the the gimmicks, creating a plan that's going to work for you and your family to move past this? This is just a stage. It's just a season in life because so much of our world says, hey, we need credit cards to survive on a daily basis.

If you're in my household, credit cards kind of a bad word because it just makes me cringe now because it has brought so much devastation and stress and just not pleasant experience to our family. As I want to help you move past that, get past that so that it is in your rearview mirror and you no longer have to use credit cards to fund your day-to-day life. The first thing that we need to do is just get real and know what your numbers are. So if you haven't taken a look at your bank statement or excuse me, your credit card statement or maybe your credit report lately, I highly recommend doing that.

So one of the things is just coming face to face with that number. It's very important to understand where you are because just like, you know, getting going off on this little mini road trip with my, with my daughter and our friends that we to get to our destination, we needed to have a little bit of a plan, right? We would decided, you know what we, we changed it up a little bit on our return trip, but we needed to know how to get there, how to get to our Airbnb. So we had to create a plan. And that was just looking at a map.

And that's what your numbers are when it comes to looking up all of your credit card balances, minimum payments, that kind of stuff is that is just your, that's just your map. That's what it looks like to say, Hey, this is this is the the thing I'm going to tackle. So if you've been avoiding your statements, now's the time. This is that first step of reclaiming control over your finances. And then pick a pay payoff method. So I teach the debt snowball because that's what worked for us. It is, I feel like for myself and the way my brain works, it was so much easier for me to just knowing that I wasn't going to be going back to using debt again.

I just wanted to pay it off and be done with it. So it created opportunities for our family to get some really quick wins to see that momentum. And then we were, it was easier for us to stay motivated. There's some other methods out there if you can look up, you can look up the avalanche method and that's if you're worried about interest and all that kind of stuff. But I teach the debt snowball because I felt like it is the most helpful if you're going to be eliminating debt all together and not just paying it, paying it down so that you can rack it back up again.

So the debt snowball method is just paying off the smallest balance first while making minimum payments on the rest. And then once that one's paid off, you just roll that payment into the next card, the next card until you're all done. The key there is whatever method that you pick, stick with it because if you're switching back and forth one, it's going to just boggle your brain. I can't even say that, right? It's just going to boggle your brain, but also it's going to inhibit your progress. So pick a method, stick with it.

Within the alliance membership, I teach the snowball method and that is, like I said, the most effective method for our family to just stay, stay focused and eliminate that debt. And then we create a no nonsense or survival mode budget. So we use 0 based budgeting. My favorite app for that is Every Dollar because it's just so much easier to just see things going where they need to. But Every dollar has a job and every single dollar that comes into our household goes out and A and it's labeled a certain way.

So when it comes to creating that no nonsense or that survival mode budget, you're going to pause or slash any of those non essential things to help you get towards your debt free goal faster. So some of the things that we eliminated were subscriptions. We stopped eating out those kinds of things, just like the random like trips to the store. But we also budgeted and fund money because you don't want to make it so that life is just so restricted that you feel like you can't breathe. And so that fun money was that kind of designated money so that we're not sabotaging ourselves.

So if you wanted to use that for, you know, that random trip to the store, you could or if you wanted to use that money for that subscription because that's what brings you the most joy, do it. And the next thing is finding any extra money that you can without having with it, without just taking on. I mean, you can take on another job if that's helpful for you. If you're a busy parent, which I'm assuming you are, that might not be what's possible. So some of the things that we did, we sold a lot of things on Facebook Marketplace and on different online marketplaces.

And so one thing that I hear a lot is I don't have anything that people will buy or that I don't have anything to sell. If you have something that you would normally have donated to Goodwill or local shelter, that means that someone will buy that. And so because someone is going to buy that, if you donate it at Goodwill, someone's going to buy that. So maybe it's and you price it accordingly. Those things, there's always something within our home that someone else is going to find value in that we no longer find value in.

And that's absolutely fine. Use that money when you sell those things to put towards your your debt so that you can get there faster and then check on your recurring expenses. So if there's any of your bills that can be renegotiated, I know I called our Internet provider and asked for a lower a lower rate. And it's possible these little things will add up and help you find even if it's just an extra $100 a month, that can make a huge dent in your, in your debt. As long as we're consistent with that.

The next thing is now this is a hard 1. And I absolutely understand. And I hear you saying, but OK, so stop the swipe. So freeze your card if you have to do it in water like we did, which I froze it in a like a soup can. And so if I wanted to use it, I had to take it out of the freezer, put it in the kitchen sink because you can't microwave it and let it thaw. So if that's what you need to do so that you're not using your card to do it, but remove them from Apple Pay, from online stores, that kind of stuff and switch to cash or a debit card.

Because when our brain registers when it are hurts to spend, that is a good thing because that makes us stop and second guess our decision that we're about to make. And so credit cards have made it super easy and super convenient to just buy whatever we need whenever we want it, whenever we need it. And so it doesn't give us the opportunity to just pause for even just a few seconds to say, hold on a SEC, Do we actually need this? Can I live without this? Is this helping me get closer to my goal?

The next one is pause any new debt. This is just like trying to bail water out of a boat that still has a hole in it. We want to hit pause on any new credit card use so that you know, talking about talking about stopping the swipe. We also don't want to add any new credit cards. So you get those, you get those offers in the mail. You can get on the Do Not Call registry and you can eliminate some of those. But if there's businesses that you do business or if there's companies that you do business with such as banks and things like that, they can market it to you.

So if you go to their website and look for their opt out area, you'll be able to sign up to opt out of those in the future. You're not going to eliminate all of them, but it will help. It will help reduce the temptation. Another temptation that we want to overcome when it comes to getting out of debt faster and not adding any new is those buy now pay laters. I know that's super easy when you're checking out online to just say, oh, I'll take this in 4-4 payments, right? But then we forget about those four payments and then it just keeps adding up and things are going to be so much cheaper when you pay for them right away when you purchase them.

And also store cards. This one right here is just when I was working retail, I do remember having to offer, it was part of my job. I had to offer credit cards to people and you know, they would get, you know, an extra 10% off. And so when you do the math, even if they're spending $100, they're getting $10 off. But knowing what happens when someone has a store credit card, the reason why they offer those to you is because you're more likely to come back to that store and purchase there. And so that is just going to continue that cycle and continue that additional spending that you might not necessarily need.

Now if it's a store that you absolutely love, that's great. That 10% isn't going to make or break you. But if you don't have a card there, you can still use your debit card. There isn't that great and you don't have to worry about years and years of debt in the future. So and that's another another big one. And then the next is to get some accountability. So maybe that's a trusted friend, join a challenge or, you know, potentially working with me as a coach, as your coach and get some faster progress.

That's one of the things that in our journey, my husband and I, when we decided, you know what, being debt free was very important to us and going through that process, this is 1 area that we didn't have. And that's why I'm so passionate about what I do is because it helps to have someone else outside your situation to just check in and cheer you on because the rest of the world is not going to be excited when you cut up your credit card. They're going to be like, you're weird. And here I am, I am, I might cry because it's such a amazing experience.

It's very terrifying the first time you do it, but it is so freeing to know that you're not going to be going back to that situation and no one else is going to cheer you on like I am. So couple of things that are going to help with with this whole process is just remembering that this is a, this is a new mindset shift now, like I said, people are going to think you're weird. I had friends in my life, I had family in my life that thought we were crazy that but we decided, you know what debt wasn't for us anymore.

And we were going to do this new way of living without debt and we were going to be paying cash or using our debit cards for everything, including car rentals, which that's a whole nother topic. That's a whole nother episode. But it is very possible to live life without a credit card and that's exactly what our family is doing. But remember, it is a mindset shift and it's going to take some, it's going to take some dedication on your part, but also some accountability and help to get to that that destination.

And remember, this is not a bad debt, is not a math problem because it is about behavior and a mindset challenge of ourselves and our way of the previous way of doing things. So if you might have had the thought before that, hey, I'm just bad with money, then that is a self sabotage. So we can start by shifting that mindset and saying I'm learning a new way of interacting with my money. All right, so listen up. Minimum payments are your credit card company's best friend and your biggest enemy if you're trying to get out of debt because that's how they make their money and that's how we lose our money and our control.

Paying only the minimum on a $5000 balance. So maybe you have $5000 on your credit card and you're only paying the minimum. That's going to take you 17 years to pay off 17 years. So 17 years. That's like my child going from kindergarten all the way through college, and I still haven't paid it off. I'll have paid it off if I was paying the minimum that entire time. Not only that, it's going to cost you way more than $5000. So today's episode is about getting really crazy intentional and getting focused in on eliminating that debt as fast as possible.

So why do minimum payments keep us broke? So credit cards keep keep us spending because it makes us feel like we, we have room. We are stuck in this slow, expensive loop. You know, say for instance, you have $3000, a $3000 balance on your credit card and you're paying $75.00 a month a full year later, so you've made 12 payments, but you still owe $2800. It is like just this slow, slow, slow just, and it feels like you might be doing everything right, but the system is not set up for us to succeed when it comes to making those minimum payments.

That's so that they don't start finding you and doing all these other crazy things that creditors can do, but it is how they make their money. So that is exactly why minimum payments exist is because that is how the credit card companies are making their money. It just covers the interest and it's barely touching the principal that initial balance. So three ways that you can pay off debt faster there. You can do the debt snowball or debt avalanche. Go ahead and Google that avalanche if that's something you're interested in.

But I, I'm super passionate about teaching the debt snowball because it is the thing that it's the method that my family used, but also it is the way that made it. So this would stick. Just put all of our, all of our, all of our balances from smallest to largest. And then we attacked that first one as much as we could. We put as much money towards that and pay the minimum on the rest. So even if you're making, you know, several small payments every single month to that that first debt, do it because every single every single payment that you make is giving you an opportunity to make faster progress, but you're paying less interest.

The other thing is cutting out spending and redirecting that towards towards your debts. So some really easy ways, I like to call them low hanging fruit is just selling things that are no longer serving you in your life. Now I hear this a lot because people are like, well, I don't really have anything that someone would buy. If it's something that you would donate and not throw away, someone will purchase it. So it's a matter of taking some, a few good photos. Cameras are on our phones are really great right now.

You can just take a few photos, put it on Facebook. Even if you only make 5 or $10 on the item and someone gets a really great deal, the world's a better place because of it. But also your debt, you have 5 or $10 that's going to be put towards your debt, which it might feel like a really small amount. But when you're doing that for multiple things and you're lowering some of your, maybe you're pausing some of your subscriptions for a little while and you're getting in tents for a short season of time, then you're going to be able to pay off that debt so much faster.

So, you know, I've heard stories of people they have sold a second car. That's a crazy one. If you live in an area like I do where it's really hard to travel or to get around without an additional car, then that might not be the right thing for you. But maybe it is a selling a car that has that's not serving your family well. And I'm going to talk about that little bit more in a future episode. You know, maybe it is getting rid of and a car that's expensive and that's causing a financial strain for your family.

Maybe you pick up a side hustle. And so that could look like a ton of different ways. I have a whole series about ways that you can increase your income and help get to get to that debt free status faster. And if you want some more ideas on some side hustles or some ways to increase your income, check out episodes 54 through 62. Those are some quick rebel resets that are going to help you create that additional income that you need to knock out that debt faster. So it's not going to be forever. This is for a little bit of time so that you can get some momentum and you can knock out that debt.

And one of the things that was really helpful for us is to just keep track of what is most important. And I talk about this in the the five day challenge, creating that value based budget is what matters most to you and your family because that is going to help guide you and remind you why you want to be debt free. And so when this gets challenging is you can circle back to that and go, hey, this is This is why we're doing this. We're doing this because. It is not worth the stress anymore. It's not worth the all the things that go into maintaining debt and keeping it going and just feeding a monster that doesn't.

That's not helping you anymore. Now, one of the things that's really important and this is something that I didn't do when we were going through our debt elimination process was we, my husband and I, we did this alone. We didn't have people that were cheering us on and accountability for us because we had a lot of shame about it. One thing that I have overcome but was previously something that caused me a lot of shame was we had that $107,000 in debt. But I have a degree in economics, like I should know better.

My parents taught me how to spend what I make and not use credit the way that we were. I had a lot of shame and there was a lot of things that were going into that. I just felt super overwhelmed and stressed out. And so I want to want you to hear me say that when you look at all of this information, it can feel overwhelming. So know that you're not alone. But it's not about being perfect. It's about creating progress for you and your family. But with a plan, and that's why with financial coaching like I do, it is that accountability and that clarity and someone outside of your situation to say, hold on a second, you might not be seeing it the way that it actually is.

Because when we are in it and we feel shame and regret and just all kinds of the emotions and the things that are happening in that, that we sometimes can miss the big picture. And so that's one thing about our journey that I wish that I would have done was to reach out and say, hey, I need some help. Because that extra accountability would allowed us to become debt free faster and just be able to put that behind us faster. That's why I've created the alliance coaching membership. So if you are tired of just continually paying the minimum payments and you just aren't feeling like you're getting ahead or you're not seeing that balance go down, come join us inside the alliance membership.

We're going to help you create your own debt payoff plan. You're going to have access to monthly coaching with myself accountability and you're going to save years and thousands in in interest because you have this community of people that are going to be cheering you on that are going to understand the situation that you're in, But you're also going to be getting and education and coaching that's going to help you in your situation right now. You can go to my website, jewelsthebudgetnerd.com/membership.

That's JEWLZ, the budget nerd.com/membership and join the membership there. We'll get your credit cards out of your life faster with a plan and support you every step of the way. So thank you so much for making this show what it is today. Want to say thank you so much for listening. Thank you Morgan for your message on Instagram. If you guys have any questions, I would love to hear from you. If there's an episode too, I'm really really want to hear about this specific topic. Send me a message on Instagram.

I love recording listener requested episodes. But until then, stay rebellious and I will talk with you soon. Thank you for listening to the Debt Rebel Podcast. Now, if you want to take your next step, check out my website, julesthebudgetnerd.com. That's JEWLZ, the budget nerd.com. I've created a bunch of resources just for you. So hop on over, check it out and we can connect more there. If you love today's episode, I would be honored if you would hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. And remember, every step towards financial independence is a rebellion against debt.

So stay strong, keep pushing forward, and fight the good fight until next time. Debt rebels stay resilient.

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