the factor on since it money is on our minds tonight the holiday season is long gone but some people are playing catch up with paying all of that credit card debt down joining us now hit the studio is certified plus public accounted it Guard no so and first of all let's look at what we did should we have spent money for the holidays on credit cards if we did not have to remember during the pandemic many people had lots of savings that they had saved up because they weren't going out as much only doing home improvements. But they had those savings that were available should we have been spending the credit cards for the holidays and down the road should we do that first of all well I don't think people should do it down the road in fact I'd say it for down the road a lot of us waste ten dollars a week. And if you start putting away ten dollars a week now by the time Christmas game. With your shopping you have four hundred fifty plus dollars would next year you can actually pay cash that old Christmas savings account the ode saving ha ha but you know a lot of people got in the spirit of- just.

Buying stuff because they want to give to the family and friends. And unfortunately when we go out shopping we don't always spend our money wisely. But right now for people who have credit card debt the first thing that you need to do is make a list. Where they have who they go with the interest rate is then they might consider calling to the credit card companies to see possibly if they can lower the interest rate. You'll be surprised how many times people be able to get the rates lowered. And then there are several methods that they could do and paying it off before they start paying it off. There what they need to look at setting up a budget. To see where they're spending their money. You know a lot of times we have subscriptions that we- subscribe to a lot of things. And we really don't use. And then we go out we spend money a lot of times we got to stop the bleeding.

Right now people want to get out of credit card debt. They need to not go out and have more debt with credit cards because a lot of time people spend money. To impress other people. And it's so important that we- help our family we help ourselves. By paying off your credit card debt. So there are a couple methods that people can use once called the avalanche method. And what happens is we take the highest interest rate. And we start paying that off first. Then there's another method called the snowball method. Where maybe you have a smaller debt that you have maybe a couple hundred on a card. It may not be the highest interest rate. But go ahead and pay extra and pay that one off first. Because you know when someone goes to reduce their weight. They feel good when they- lose the first five ten pounds. So the same way if you start paying off your credit card then you start feeling better. And then of course. There's a method called the blizzard where you pay the highest and the lowest at the same time.

But where you pay the minimum payment. Maybe start doubling the minimum payment. You'll be surprised a five thousand dollars on a credit card about eighteen percent. If you pay the minimum you're gonna end up paying about another five thousand an interesting. And then of course maybe cut back on some things. I have one client recently. That went out into a coffee shop and they bought every day. Coffee in. And I had them stop doing it make it at home they saved over a hundred fifty dollars a month. While whoa it's important to look at the different things that you do. And again don't buy just to impress other people. And another important thing is you have to set a savings you have to save an emergency fund. So at the same time safe first. Before you spent. Absolutely and it if you know what it it took for me to actually go. And look at the credit card look at the details. Of the bill.

And then you see what percentage of your- minimum payment or your monthly payment is going to. The principal amount and the and what's going to enters and you're like what the hell is going on here right. And so it will make you a jobs and either pay more or demand a lower interest rate. And it the same way there are sometimes specials that you could have with credit cards we consolidate them. It may be for a period of time you pay no interest. But you need to read the fine print. Because sometimes if you don't pay it by a certain time you have a balloon interest payment. Can win for losing ed Gardner always thank you for joining us here on the factor on since and w.