Debate: paying off my smallest debt first vs the one with the highest interest rate

I tried the debt snowball method where you pay off the smallest balance first. It felt good to knock out a $300 medical bill in two months. But then I looked at my credit card with a 22% rate and realized I was throwing money away on interest while celebrating tiny wins. Anyone else struggle with which approach actually works better for staying motivated?

3 comments

3 Comments

annaw731d ago

Have you tried splitting the difference at all? What worked for me was paying the minimum on everything but putting any extra cash toward the high interest card while still celebrating the small wins like canceling a subscription or selling something. I know the math says high interest first is better but sometimes you need that little dopamine hit from a small balance disappearing to keep going. The key is just picking one method and sticking with it long enough to see progress, because switching back and forth will kill your momentum way worse than either approach on its own.

noaht151d ago

Right? My extra money is apparently on a secret vacation every month (probably sipping piña coladas with my forgotten subscriptions).

the_max1d ago

What did you do to keep yourself from just minimum-paying everything and then blowing the extra cash before it hit the debt? I always tell myself I'll do the snowball method but then I get to the end of the month and somehow that extra money just disappears into groceries or gas or some random subscription I forgot about. Like the discipline part is way harder for me than just picking a method.