My Happiness Project: Week 7

This week for my happiness project I am going to focus on eliminating my debt.  Like most Americans, I have fallen into the rabbit hole of credit card debt.  I thought I'd turn to one of the experts, Suze Orman, in order to figure out how to get out of my credit card debt.

I went to her website and followed the links to find her "Paying Off Debt" advice.  Here are her 10 tips to paying off debt:

1. If you are in credit card trouble, you must cut up all of your credit cards now, with the possible exception of one card for emergencies; do not carry this card in your wallet, however.
   
2. You must pay more than the minimum payment every month, as much more as you possibly can. If you owe a credit card company $5000 at 18 percent interest and all you do is pay the minimum each month it will take you over 30 years to pay it off.
3. You must pay off the credit card with the highest interest rate first, and the rest in descending order.
4. You must negotiate for yourself the best interest rates, even if it means switching credit cards every six months.
5. You must understand everything about how your credit card works--all fees, how the company charges you, all about the so-called grace period, everything.
6. You must honor all your debts equally--whether it's the money you owe Visa, or the money you owe your brother.
7. After you pay off one credit card, you must apply the money you have been paying that particular company to paying off another credit card.
8. If you doubt that you can do this yourself, you must get in touch with a wonderful nonprofit agency known as the Consumer Credit Counseling Service; they can be reached by calling 1-800-388-2227. They will help you organize and consolidate your debt.
9. You must never let this happen again.
10. After your debts have all been paid off, you are to apply the money you were paying all those months toward creating your future.

Now that I know what steps to take, I am going to implement her advice and make my own debt repayment plan based on her steps.  Next week, I will start looking towards the future and make a savings plan to follow.