The Better Budgeting Podcast
The Better Budgeting Podcast is your go-to resource for mastering your finances without the stress. Hosted by Danielle Reese, this podcast breaks down budgeting, saving, and smart spending into simple, actionable steps. Whether you’re tackling debt, building wealth, or just looking to make your money work smarter, we’ve got expert insights, real-life success stories, and practical tips to help you take control of your financial future. Tune in and start making your budget work for you—without sacrificing the things you love!
The Better Budgeting Podcast
Pay Off Your Credit Cards Faster
Struggling to get a handle on your credit card debt post-summer? Tune in to this week's Better Budgeting Podcast with me, Danielle Reese, where I share tried-and-true strategies to help you pay off that looming balance faster. Discover how the snowball method can give you those quick wins you need to stay motivated, and learn practical tips for negotiating lower interest rates with your credit card companies. These actionable insights will equip you with a clear, achievable plan to tackle your debt and regain financial control.
I also encourage you to become an active member of our supportive community. Check out the show notes for additional resources and connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. I'm excited to hear your questions and provide personalized advice, whether you choose to reach out anonymously or not. Your inquiries may even be featured on the podcast! Thank you for your continued support, and I can't wait to share more budgeting tips in next week's episode.
Danielle is a money coach helping women and couples who have been trying to figure out their finances FINALLY create a clear plan so they don’t have to worry about waiting to refill their bank account the next payday.
She is the founder of The Financial Freedom Society on Facebook and her signature money coaching program, The Better Budgeting Playbook. You can sign up for her newsletter by clicking here.
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Hello and welcome to the Better Budgeting Podcast. I'm your host, danielle Reese. I'm a money coach and the founder of the Better Budgeting Playbook, and this is my one-on-one coaching program for women and couples who have been trying to figure out their finances, finally create a clear plan so they don't have to worry about waiting on payday anymore. I became a money coach in 2020 and couples who have been trying to figure out their finances finally create a clear plan so they don't have to worry about waiting on payday anymore. I became a money coach in 2020 after paying off over $60,000 in debt, rekindling my marriage, becoming financially free and wanting others to experience the same. If you'd like to work with me, you can check out the link in the show notes there. Also, we have the Financial Freedom Society on Facebook. It's a free Facebook community focusing on debt payoff, saving strategies, budgeting and money mindset. You can find the link to that community in the show notes as well.
Speaker 1:Today's episode is all about credit cards and paying them off faster. This seems to be the topic after summer, year after year, and I'll tell you why. People go crazy in the sunshine, and I am no stranger of that. Definitely, in my years of building debt. Summertime was the best you think about. You go on vacation. All of a sudden, if you got kids right, all of a sudden you're like, oh, my goodness, you sprouted nine inches in the last year. None of the clothes that I saved last year fit this year. We got to go do all that. We've got summer camp. We just all of a sudden have all these expenses, okay, and I find that if people aren't budgeting, then you're going into debt for these things a lot of the time. So I'm giving you some ideas on how to pay off a credit card faster over the next year.
Speaker 1:Tip number one is to have a strategy. Okay, have a strategy, please, please, please. You did not just wander into debt. You are not going to just wander out of debt. When clients come to me, their strategy is oh, I put extra money on that one, extra money on this one, extra money on that one.
Speaker 1:I actually talked to a couple one time that they were planning to get kind of a extra paycheck. I use air quotes on extra paycheck because I want to tell you no, paycheck is actually extra. Okay, it's not extra. It is part of your yearly salary. It is not extra. It might feel like it's extra because of the way that it falls in a month it might be on August 1st, august 15th, august 30th. That August 30th might feel like an extra paycheck, but it's truly not. So they were telling me oh, I'm just going to take that whole paycheck and I'm going to throw it at this credit card, and whenever I throw it at that credit card, it's going to pay that credit card off. And I said, okay, well, what are you going to do to buy groceries? Or what are you going to do to buy gas? And they're like oh well, I'll use this other credit card and I'll buy that.
Speaker 1:It is just a mess to keep after of other strategies out there and I go through them in that podcast episode, but the real difference maker that I found as a money coach is that snowball method. It helps you get some quick wins really, really fast and, unlike the avalanche method or the velocity banking method or all these other methods that are out there, this one seems to be the most safe and sustainable and I really really like that. So the snowball method has you listing your balances from smallest to largest and paying minimum payments on all cards except for the one with the smallest balance, not smallest monthly balance, but smallest balance overall. Okay, so you're going to pay all extra money to that balance and, once it's paid off, roll that money over into the next smallest balance until it's all gone. So those of you that are throwing $5 here and $5 on that one, and an extra 20 here and $100 on that one, please stop. Okay, let me help you. Let me help you and just go use the snowball method. List them all out, take all that extra money that you were throwing at all these other cards and throw it at one. You're going to see that one disappear much faster. So that tip is have a strategy. My strategy that I really love is the snowball method. Not all of my clients start on the snowball method, but it's like I said, it's the one that's the most popular and it works the most for a lot of people. So that's why I'm saying to you give that one a shot first.
Speaker 1:The next tip I have is to negotiate lower interest rates. Please, please, do that. And actually, before I even recorded this podcast, my client texted me and she said hey, I was at the dealership this last week to get my oil change for my car and and I was talking to them about my interest rate and they ran my credit and they were actually able to lower her interest rate by 3%, which saved her a lot of money from a monthly perspective, which is fan-freaking-tastic. So you may not know this, but negotiate those lower interest rate with these companies. Call your credit card companies and say, listen, you're charging me 30% interest, and this is crazy. I've made all these on-time payments. Can I get a break, please? Me 30% interest, and this is crazy. I've made all these on-time payments. Can I get a break, please? And whether they lower that indefinitely or if they just lower the interest for a short amount of time, temporarily fantastic, that helps significantly on these cards.
Speaker 1:I had a client a couple weeks ago Now. She was actually behind on cards, on payments for these cards, and she calls them and says listen, I had a financial hardship, I'm trying to get things reworked here, what can you do for me? And they're like yeah, if you can make these payments three payments of $100 over the next two months or something like that we'll lower your interest rate to 6%. Okay, yes, yes, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. So you don't know, unless you call these people and I find that credit card companies. They are willing to work with you. Here's the thing they want money and if you're not paying them any money at all or you're paying late, or even if you're a good customer and you've been paying on time and you just want help getting rid of this debt and getting that interest rate down, call them. They are more than willing to help you.
Speaker 1:So that's what I would do if I was in the situation and I needed to get credit cards paid off faster. I would be calling them all of those creditors, every single one car creditors, credit card, personal loan, even my mortgage. I'm calling them all and seeing what they can do, because that is really where you lose the most amount of money is paying them back for allowing you to borrow the money interestest. The higher the interest is, the worse it is. So please, please, please call them and have them lower those payments or at least ask.
Speaker 1:All right, here's the next tip that I have for you. And here's the thing just caution. Caution to everyone that is about to listen to this. This is so far out there, but it works if, if, and only if, you have an accountability partner. You have a strong determination to get out of debt and you are stopping at nothing to do that. If you go to last week's episode, please listen to that and then come back and listen to this section about what I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 1:I hope I'm hyping you up and, like this feels like a big secret and everything, but I'm really, really, really really wanting you to know that this is not the quick option. This can go sideways very quickly, but if you do it correctly, it will save you thousands and thousands of dollars, and that is considering to use debt to pay off debt. So hear me out, I am not anti-debt. I am anti-conformity of there only being one way to do something. So let me just put that out there. So let me just put that out there. I really do think that debt is a tool that you can use to really build wealth and build big amounts of money that you've always wanted and the life that you always wanted. But we got to get out of consumer debt first in order to have the option to leverage debt for wealth. So let's talk about what this looks like.
Speaker 1:I think balance transfer credit cards are great. I think personal loans are great options in helping overall interest to reduce all of that. It can even help reduce the amount of time that you're paying on things, because if you're not paying so much in interest, it doesn't take as long to pay stuff off. Right, I am putting this at the end of the episode because if you don't have a strategy first and you don't have the accountability, the drive, the determination, the why, this ain't going to work All right. And I'm going to be real raw and honest.
Speaker 1:When I was a young little baby money coach, I would say, hey, this is a fantastic way to do this, let's do it, get into it, get that card, open it up, transfer the balance. Fantastic, they ended up paying it all off. And guess what More off, and guess what? More than one client got back into credit card debt because they had an available line of credit. So, as an experienced money coach, now this option is not even on the table at the very beginning as a way or means to pay off debt.
Speaker 1:Because I gotta know, I gotta know are you working hard? Are you being determined? Do you have a strong? Why do you have the accountability partner that you need? And if you have all of those set up and you were like I'm just trying to find ways how to create cash flow, and I need to get rid of this debt. This is a great option. This is a wonderful option.
Speaker 1:Using debt to pay off debt is a great option. Now, it does not mean that debt is just gone. If you owe $25,000 across five debts and you consolidate into one, you still owe $25,000. It's just, we are trying to lower interest rate and we are trying to lower monthly payment so that all extra money and cash flow can go over to that. So I'm sharing this with you because it is a really, really great hack. You got to be determined, you got to have the discipline that goes with it, but it will work and I will tell you.
Speaker 1:Do you ever think that Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, jeff Bezos, or all these other people that are well known and well wealthy you think they borrow debt Abso-freaking-lutely? They do, but they are so dang strategic in how it happens, and that's what I'm asking you to do with this system right here Be very strategic, okay. So if you need help with this, if you feel like this is a good option because I see it all the time I'm in a mom's group and I see it all the time thrown around. I wanna consolidate debt, I wanna do this, I wanna do that and you end up right back in debt and I don't want that for you. So if you need help with this, the Better Budgeting Playbook is where it's at you about this.
Speaker 1:In a couple episodes ago, I've revamped this program, so it's really great. There is a price point for every person. There's a different level of accountability for every single person, whether you want me on top of you saying listen, you said you were going to do that and why didn't you do that? All the way down to it's DIY, you get the information that you need, you go through the system and you implement all of that. You don't need the extra accountability. You've got this, so I've got a wide range for you to be able to become successful in your finances.
Speaker 1:So if you want to learn more about that, just go down into the show notes, click there. You can even message me on Facebook or Instagram. I love when I hear from you. But also if you want to be anonymous, at the very top of the show notes it says send me a message. It shows up anonymous. Ask your questions. I'll answer them here on the podcast and get you the help that you need. All right, thanks so much for listening to this week's episode. We'll see you next week, take care.