Dave Ramsey’s seven baby steps are a foolproof way to stop bad habits, start budgeting, get out of debt, and build wealth. As mentioned in a here, the first baby step is to save $1000 to prevent you from going into debt. The second baby step is to start aggressively paying down all debt (besides your mortgage) as fast as you can.
How is this best accomplished?
A debt snowball is the best way to pay down debt according to the baby steps. You can do a debt snowball to pay off your debt by applying the following actions:
- List your debts smallest to greatest. Use a spreadsheet or something that can help you organize what is owed. Undebt.it offers a great tool to help you organize and calculate for free.
- Start making payments. Make extra payment to the smallest debt, while making only minimums to the rest of the debt. Once this first debt has been paid off, apply that same payment to the next debt, and so on. This will keep you motivated to pay off all your debts as fast as possible! If there are two debts similar in balance, make payments to the debt with a higher interest rate first.
- Once the debt is paid, celebrate! You are on your way to Baby Step 3, and closer to building wealth!
If you’re having a hard time coming up with a strategy on your own, we are here to help! Stewardship has a Dave Ramsey certified coach on staff to walk you through your budget and help create a debt reduction plan. Contact us now!
