Various types of debts and payments help
Find a Conversation
| Mon, 05-15-2006 - 12:00pm |
Ok I am tracking our debt in Quicken now.
This weekend I added our savings account as well as some medical bills so that I can get a better picture of what is going on.
Would you also add student loans and your mortgage? These are NOT bills that we are trying to pay off early at all at this point, or in the future as far as I can tell.
I consider these 'good debt'.
Anyhow for our medical bills, there is not any interst. But they are all small bills, under $500 each.
I am still working on a part time job for the summer, my plan is to start with the small bills and work my way up. Would you pay these off first? or save them until last?
They will all be paid in a year or so anyhow. but I would rather cut down on the number of monthly payments I am making.
opinions please.
OH and one of my cc's sent us checks for a no fee balance transfer, so I was able to transfer the high interest rates to this one.
In addition the cc that we actively use, is a 0% card that we also earn points on for free gift cards!
Stacy

When I was starting out paying off my debt I did pay off some of the small debts first regardless of what or if there was any interest being charged. The reason I did this is because it made me feel better to have some things paid off quickly and have fewer monthly payments going out. I think the boost you get from seeing something paid off can really motivate you to keep going. At least for me it did. Next month I will finish paying off over $30,000 in debt in about 2 1/2 years. I can't wait to be debt free! I know some people say to tackle the highest interest payment first, but for me it felt good to have fewer debts. I think it's probably a personal decision though. :) Not sure if that answered your question or not or if it even helped, just thought I would share my experience! :)
~leanne
~leanne
deciding to be happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but that you had decided to look beyond the imp
Thanks leanne, that is what I was thinking, paying things off to get them out of the way and reduce the number of payments going out. And you are right, it makes you feel as if you have gotten somewhere.
Stacy
We've been going from higher interest rate to lowest but part of that is that we had several debts with right around the same amount owed when we started.
I completely understand about the library fines. Our local is cheap for books, but if a movie is late, it is $1 per day, per movie! YIKES one time we owed like $20!
I was very upset. Such a simple thing.
Once a year our library does food for fines, and you can have all your fines removed by bringing one canned good item for each $1 owed or such.
Hugs
Stacy
Hello,
Regarding tracking your debt in Quicken, I would suggest tracking *all* of your debts, whether you are paying them off early or not. After all, when you *do* pay off the credit cards and student loans, you *could* start sending extra principal payments to your mortgage. In any case, it's still a liability and it's still debt.
Start with the smallest debt amount, regardless of the interest rate, and pay it off first. Then roll that payment into the next one, etc..
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished