Welcome to FightingDebt.com, your source for systematic debt reduction. What you will find here is a method for getting out of debt that is based on existing tried and true methods. The differences lie in the details.
Conventional Wisdom says that doing the following is the wise way to get out of debt:
1) Live below your means.
2) Pick the smallest loan that you owe, pay two to three times the minimum balance on it each month and pay the minimum balance on all other loans. Repeat until all debts have been paid.
3) Consolidate loans where it is reasonable to do so.
This is the method I used when I started trying to get out of debt. After a while though, I started feeling like there was something missing. For instance, how do you live below your means without being miserable? Is the smallest loan determined by the smallest payoff amount or the smallest lifetime amount? Do you always want to pay off the smallest loan first or are there times where paying off a larger loan first will save you more money? Is consolidation ever a bad idea? Do you ever want to have any kind of debt or can you ever get completely out of debt? These are the types of questions that we try to answer here at FightingDebt.com. So read on, try to use the information you find here to your advantage and if you have any questions, contact us.