How fast to pay back?

makinganeffort

Anyone got any tips or advice on how fast to pay back debts?

Is it best to pay absolutely every penny one has on the debts to repay as fast as possible? The risk here is that there is no spare cash, life is tight and there is no buffer for emergencies.
I have been stung by overpaying before and that set me back.

Or is it best to pay in a slower, sustainable way, keeping on a low or 0% rate even if the debt takes longer to clear? The advantage of this I guess would be that there is some spare cash and there is the option to make addtional lumps where possible.

I don't know what to do.

I am finding that since I have committed in my head to pay these debts off its my every waking thought and its making me feel ill. I want to chuck every penny I have at it to make it go away. But we have children withn growing feet and a house that urgently needs renovations and I cannot decide how to balance the priorities.

Any help welcomed.

mandz1

Maybe separate your money equally into different groups, one for debt, one for household eg food, petrol, decorating and one for savings.

As your savings build up, if you dont need it then pay all or half of it towards the debt.

I can see all of your debt is on 0% cards, which means you could pay the minimum and save up for a final payment when the 0% finishes. I am not an expert on cc's so hopefully someone will be around to help you a bit more.

Just remember you cant live on nothing!

MusicalLawyer

As most of your debts are on 0% until september, you could start by paying off the minimum, or just over. And putting some cash aside for an emergency fund.

Then when the interest starts to accrue, put less into your emergency savings, and more on to your debts?

Do you have anything you can cut back on at home? i.e. if you have Sky, do you really need it, could you not do with Freeview for a while and use that extra bit to pay on debts or something?

Just an idea like I hope you figure it out!

camuk81

I stash my cash away in cash and leave a float. The bonus is if I have the extra £50 at the end of the month I can pop this toward my debts I too have become very paranoid about going the wrong way and getting into more trouble by trying to be good!

blacksta

if the renovation can be delayed then i will focus on clearing the debt