During the twenty years I carried consumer debt, I made several attempts to change my habits. Every time I decided to lick the debt monster, I would follow the advice in the financial books: I'd arrange my debts in order, listing the one with the highest interest rate first. I'd pay extra on this bill for a couple of months, but then give up in frustration because I didn't seem to be making any progress — $100 extra on a $12,000 balance doesn't make a dent.
Eventually, I read Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover. His debt snowball method changed my life. Ramsey writes:
Personal finance is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge. The Debt Snowball is designed the way it is because we are more concerned about modifying behavior than correct mathematics…Being a certified nerd, I always used to start with making the math work. I have learned the math does need to work, but sometimes motivation is more important than math. This is one of those times.
Humans are complex psychological creatures. We're not adding machines. If we were adding machines, we wouldn't accumulate consumer debt in the first place! My debt wasn't acquired logically — it was a product of emotional and psychological responses. What I needed to get rid of it wasn't a mathematically ideal model, but a psychological “hack” — I needed the debt snowball.
With the debt snowball, you don't start with your highest interest rate obligations, but those with the smallest balances. You attack the debts you can eliminate most quickly. This may be counter-intuitive — in fact, it really bothers some people — but it works. (Here's more about the debt snowball method.)
I recently discovered a clever extension of Ramsey's snowball metaphor. Jaimie at I've Paid for This Twice Already practices what she calls “snowflaking”, an idea that seems to have originated at the iVillage debt support group. (This group looks like a great resource for those struggling with debt, by the way.) Jaimie writes:
What are snowballs made of? Snowflakes! Every month without fail, I pay a fixed amount to debt that is above my minimum payment due (about $800). I also try to collect little bits of money wherever I can, and to apply those to my top priority debt (my credit card).
I take surveys online, I sell possessions on craigslist and eBay, and I have yard sales. Any money I get from these endeavors goes directly to my debt. I also keep a strict accounting of all the money that comes in, and everything left over at the end of the month not earmarked for future expenses also goes directly to debt. These are my snowflakes. I have averaged over $200 extra going to my credit card debt every month due to these snowflaking efforts.
Many small snowflakes make a snowball, and no amount is too small to snowflake.
In December, Jaimie shared her five golden rules for snowflaking:
-
- Snowflake early and often. Start now and make it a habit. If you get accustomed to this, it can become a game. Snowflaking can almost make debt reduction fun.
- No amount is too small to snowflake. “I have snowflaked as little as $1.04 and as much as $1313.74 and everything inbetween,” Jaimie writes. “Any amount can be a snowflake, and any amount can make a difference”
- Anything can be a snowflake. Did a friend repay $5 she borrowed last week? Did you take cans and bottles in to redeem the deposits? Did Aunt Marge send you $20 for your birthday? Was your tax refund bigger than expected? All of these can be snowflakes.
- Snowflake as immediately as possible. This is key. Apply your snowflakes to debt as soon as possible, before you have a chance to spend the money. I know from experience how easily those extra dollars become books or videogames or new clothes. Snowflake when you get the money.
- Keep track of your snowflakes to use as motivation. “A lot of small amounts may not seem like a whole lot if you don't keep track of them,” Jaimie advises. “Keep a running total once a month to see how those small amounts add up.”
Though I didn't have a name for it at the time, snowflaking is the technique I used in the final stages of my own quest for debt elimination. I enjoyed taking any extra cash I had and throwing it at my home equity loan. It made me feel good. (It even felt better than buying comic books, believe it or not.) This was how I knew my relationship with money had improved and was almost healthy.
Just as the notion of the debt snowball seems absurd to some of those who have never fought with debt, snowflaking may appear a little obsessive. But I believe both are valuable tools. As someone who struggled with debt most of his life, I'm grateful to have heeded Dave Ramsey's advice. I'm also glad to have discovered “snowflaking”!
(Note: The debt snowball and debt snowflake concepts can also be applied to other financial goals, such as building an emergency fund, saving for retirement, or paying down your mortgage. I'm currently using these techniques to save a cash cushion so that I can completely quit my day job to blog full time.)
Photos by gluemoon.
Great overview of the snowflake method! Thanks so much for your interest and support of my motivations. :) Down with debt, up with savings!
Note you can get Dave’s podcast free on iTunes or at his site (www.daveramsey.com). It’s the first hour of the full three-hour radio show. You can get the full show, but you’ll need a membership, which, I assume, means forking over some $$$.
Also, he’s got a TV show on the Fox Business channel, but I unfortunately haven’t had the chance to see yet.
In any case, you can’t go wrong listening to or reading Dave. Getting out of debt and living successfully is simple–it’s not easy, but it is simple.
Loved this post. This has motivated me to move some of my languishing snowflakes into my Roth and mortgage.
Many years ago when struggling with multiple debts, I did a spreadsheet to determine which debt to pay down first. No matter which way I cut it, it was always best to do the lowest balance first.
Great article. I’ve just started snowflaking- my first goal is to finish the month in the black, and as of February 1st, I’ll be using snoflaking (in part) to build my emergency fund. Then on to the debt!
My husband and I have been using the debt snowball method for the last 6 months and if our calculations are correct we will have paid off all credit card debt by the end of 2008.
We have also established the E-fund as suggested. (It paid for the removal of a dead tree in December that threatened to fall on our home.)
The next step we have decided to take and begin applying is taking every little bit of extra $$ (Christmas gifts, bonuses, tax-refunds i.e. “snowflakes”) dividing it in half and apply half to debt and half to savings. I don’t know why but, it seems to feel a little better than putting it ALL toward debt or ALL in savings.
Much as I love Dave Ramsey (and I do – i watch his show every day on Fox), the idea of paying the lowest balance rather than the highest interest just would not work for me. I understand his debt snowball strategy has helped a ton of people. For that reason, I think it’s great advice for those people, but not necessarily for everyone. I have no credit card debt but i graduated from law school five years ago with more than $100,000 in student loan debt. My strategy was to pay off my $60,000 private loan (at 6.5%) first, and make minimum payments on my consolidated federal loan (3.25%). In meantime, I have also been maxing out my 401K and an IRA. I have also built an emergency fund and am saving for a down payment on a home. All of this is completely contrary to Dave Ramsey’s advice, but it works for me. Last year I completely paid off my private loan and have $40,000 to pay on my federal loan.
Now I’m faced with a choice. Do I pay off my federal loan this year (which I could do with savings and increased monthly payments) or do I keep paying the minimum and continue saving for my down payment. Dave Ramsey would say I should pay off all my debt before saving anything more than an emergency fund of $1000. However, the benefit I have received (in terms of taxes, capital gains, and employer match) from my retirement investments far outweighs the benefit of eliminating a 3.25% loan (in my view). Similarly, I think there are benefits to saving for a down payment, rather than paying off the loan.
Nevertheless, I do respect Ramsey and I think his ideas work for a lot of people, so that’s the only reason I am even considering varying my plan this year. I would call into his show and ask his opinion, but I know what he will say.
Sorry for the long – slightly off topic comment – I just don’t know what to do and none of the “experts” I’ve read out there seen to really know the answer.
Jeez, Nicole. You and I have pretty much the exact same debt profile. I also started out with no credit card debt, but with six figures in law school debt with roughly the same proportions at high(er) and low interest rates. My paydown strategy is also very similar to yours (though this year I am really focusing on wiping out all of my remaining student loans, but at the same time I am continuing to contribute the max to my 401(k) and put a little bit of money in savings every month).
I think you have to consider DR’s audience. He really isn’t geared towards people who have only “good”, low-interest debt and are able to make their debt payments comfortably while still meeting other financial goals. His audience is people who are struggling with high-interest consumer debt, having trouble making their minimum payments, and possibly even incurring more debt as they go along. I’m guessing your federal loan payment is around $200/month? That is a really manageable number and not something that should cause you to postpone your other financial goals IMO.
Do you feel like a slave to your debt? If not, I think continuing to pay the minimums (maybe a few bucks over a month just for fun) while you save for a down payment and retirement is a fine plan.
Anne – you’re pretty much spot on – my monthly payments are about $213. It is automatically taken from my checking account and I barely notice it. I definitely do not feel like a slave to debt.
About listening to Dave Ramsey online. You can get his whole show without signing up for anything you just have to listen to the comercials. Signing up gets you it comercial free.
Nicole,
You are looking for a personalized answer, which you won’t find from an article. Dave Ramsey’s method works because it is simple and focused. Of course, there are ways to improve the financial benefit if you can maintain the same focus and discipline.
You benefited by paying off the higher interest rate first. If you received a company match on some of your 401(K) investment, you benefited from that as well. On the other hand, how would things look right now, if you hadn’t done the 401K and IRA investment?
Judging by the numbers you gave (60K of debt paid in 4.5 years), you have been paying $1,284 per month on average. To max out your IRA when you began your debt repayment, you were setting aside $250 per month ($333 in 2005-2006 but we’ll keep it easy by just saying $250). To max out your 401(K), you were contributing roughly $1,250 per month pre-tax (if your salary was $100K). This would have been $912 per month after the 27% tax you would have paid in 2002. So, you could have paid $2,446 on your $100,000 debt, which had a weighted average 5.2% interest rate.
With these numbers, you would have paid off the entire $100K in 45 months. Then, for the last 15 months you could have saved the $2,446 per month in retirement, emergency, and house savings accounts. If you earned 5% annually, you’d now have no debt and $37,779 in the bank (plus 401(K) matching). When comparing this to your current balances, remember the 401(K) will be taxed at some point.
As far as what should come next, there are many questions that come in to play. “When do you plan to buy a house?” being the first. Without that information, I would lean toward getting rid of the debt first. This will reduce your risk. When unexpected life events happen, you can always sell houses and other assets you can’t afford, but the debt payment is due regardless.
Because of your focus on debt payment, you are far better off now than the vast majority of your peers. I bet your average classmate still has $80K+ in student loans, plus $300K+ in mortgages, plus $30K+ in car loans, plus $5K+ in credit card debt. This debt load requires around $3,300 in minimum payments.
I love Dave Ramsey! My husband and I read his book back in October and started our Total Money Makeover November 1st. Our budget is extremely tight even with frugal living and couponing. Other books I had read and tried to follow always say to pay down the highest interest rate debts first, but our 9 unsecured high-interest debts have balances ranging from $500 to $10,000 and I was frustrated working on that largest one as it happened to also be the highest interest debt. As we are just starting our first serious attempt to get out of debt, snowflaking an extra $50 a month (all we can afford right now, really) just doesn’t give any psychological payoff. The other really great point that Dave makes is about having that emergency fund. I read a book by another popular personal finance guru about 5 years ago which basically said that it was really stupid to have money sitting in savings earning, at most, 4% interest while you carried debt at 17%. For the last five years, that has rung in my ears and we have used every penny to pay down debt only to find, of course, that no emergency of any size was affordable without using a credit card. Whether it was a $200 car repair or a $4000 medical bill, we paid with plastic. Obviously, our debt only increased, from $4,000 when we moved in together 6 years ago, to about $49,000 today. Our snowball may be small right now but the great news is that we haven’t used a credit card since October 15, 2007 (a record for us) and we have our $1,000 emergency fund thanks to an unexpected Christmas bonus! I heard about snowflaking a few weeks ago on PaidTwice and I’ve been doing that for the last month on my first and smallest debt. Since it is such a small debt, the little snowflakes really are making an impact!
Fantastic article! We have been practicing the same methods and as of 3 mintes ago we (((finally))) paid our IRS tab off ;) And, our personal loan will be paid off by the end of this month. It feels like a slow process, but once you get that ball rolling, it does roll faster and faster.
I have been snow flaking towards savings for years. Even ever I get a rebate or “extra money” I automatically put it into savings. Sometimes my husband wonder why I even bother with a $1 rebate from Rite Aid. If I see a $1 lying on the street, I would pick it up, so why not get the $1 rebate? Besides with rebates these days, you can enter the receipts online, it is not that inconvenient. I know he thinks it is a waste of my time, but I do not think time spent in front of the TV is well spent either.
I find snowflaking a really exciting idea. I especially like something Jaimie mentioned in one of her budget-related posts.
Every budget item you don’t spend completely is another snowflake.
We used the Dave Ramsey debt snowball method to pay off $55,500 in unsecured debt in 12 and a half months. We even did some snowflaking along the way, $100 or $50 payment in between our larger payments. Our last debt was very low interest (good debt, my husband’s MBA student loan debt) at 3 1/2%. The snowball really worked for me but we did modify Dave’s Baby Step #2 by continuing to contribute to our 401ks.
Excellent article! My wife and I have been working on paying our debt off for about the last 18 months. We expect to be debt-free except for the house in February. We are avid followers of Dave Ramsey. We are meeting with a one of Dave’s Endorsed Local Providers (ELP) for investing in the coming weeks so we can start building wealth!
J.D. – How does it feel to be debt-free?
Great article. One of my new years resolutions is saving. I have a 5 digit debt on my credit card that I’m planning on paying off in 16 months. I used this snowball method to get rid of 3 other smaller debts and now I’m ready to attack the big one. It does make it easy for you to focus on the sole target.
Small things do add up. I recommend everyone to track every penny for at least 2 months or so to see where your money is going. I’m using this spreadsheet template you can download from here:
http://cruisenews.net/independence/indpt.php?name=expenselog
I stopped eating out. I bring my lunch to work everyday – mostly frozen veggies and rice. It’s healthy and cheap! Also I stopped buying coffee at Starbucks. Nowadays a cup of latte costs 3-4 bucks! I used to drink that everyday which means I was spending about $100 a month on coffee. In this month I have spent only a half of the amount I spent in January 2007. oh, watch your speed when you drive, you don’t wanna pay for a hefty speeding ticket too!
Dan – wow – the mind boggles
I have no idea how you came up with all that, but it’s impressive.
One thing I’m not sure you considered – not maxing out my 401K would likely have bumped into a higher tax bracket and may even have subjected me to AMT. I still feel that maxing my 401K is the best thing for my finances. Although, unlike you, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to monetize what I just said.
Nevertheless, your illustration was very helpful. If I had paid off the debt more quickly and waited to start my savings, I might not have been much further behind in terms of Net Worth than I am now. And it might be worthwhile for the peace of mind that goes with having absolutely no debt. However, I think I get more peace of mind with a bit of a retirement nest egg and some additional liquidity :)
The question about the house is a really good one. Because I live in a really nice apartment in manhattan, my rent is astronomical. If I do buy, it will be outside of manhattan and my goal is to buy something small and economical that will cut my monthly housing expenses by at least one third, if not more. That way, I can use what I save in rent to pay down my debt even faster. I also want to have a substantial downpayment in time to move when my lease expires in less than two years. That is why I think it will be better for me to focus on saving for the down payment rather than paying off the debt.
Thanks again for your analysis – it gives me a lot to think about.
Whoa, I don’t even see $1313.74 in a whole month.
@MW – my spouse got a cash gift of $1000 that month from his dad related to an inheritance. That’s where the vast majority of the $1313.74 came from. ;) Not a repeatable occurrance in our world. Although I am working very hard to earn whatever I can wherever I can.
Sorry, but I don’t like the debt snowball method, and especially not the debt snowflake method. Putting every single penny towards debt, IMHO, is letting debt rule your life. You will work very hard to pay off your debt but then find your self with no savings which I think is pretty depressing.
A savings snowflake is a better idea – put all extra money into savings and pay fixed amount towards debt. Then you will emerge from debt and have a good chunk of change. Why the obsession with paying off debt so quickly? I don’t let it get me down, doing so is caving to the credit card companies.
I really love this analogy! Thanks for posting it. :)
@Frugal Bachelor – I don’t pay every penny towards debt, and I don’t think that the debt snowball advocates that either. For me, an emergency fund is key. I just had to use it, in fact, and am in the process of rebuilding it.
The obsession, for me, with paying off debt so quickly is that while I wasn’t – debt *was* ruling my life. The more I pay off, the freer I become.
I love the debt snowball and debt snowflake method too! It is such a great feeling to see those numbers tick down lower and lower.
How do you make money online? I can not seem to find any legit companies, or companies that do not require reading a million emails to get a check for $25. Any and all suggestions are appreciated…
Thanks
Great post…Once I begin to earn my real salary I will practice snow flaking…
J.D.,
I was wondering where and how you get paid for answering surveys? I’ve always wondered and thought they were scams. I would appreciate any info on legitimate survey sites.
Thanx,
Wayne
I don’t get paid for answering surveys, but apparently the guest poster does. In fact, I almost removed that part of her post because I, too, was under the impression they’re all scams. If you want more info, visit Jaimie’s web site. She may have a post or two about it…
The best advice is to avoid debt in the first place by not buying things you don’t need. Then you can have savings snowflakes which become savings snowballs.
I think this is a good idea–but be careful when you pay in small segments online to your credit card. Some cards will let you make unlimited online payments–but others have a maximum amount per month and will charge you from $5 to $15 for any payments over the max amount.
Don’t quote me, but I believe Citicards only allow you 4 online payments in a month–also maybe HSBC.
@Wayne – I have a post in my sidebar listed under popular posts called “Surveys for fun and pocket change” that lists the sites I use and what I think about them. I called it pocket change for a reason – no one’s getting rich doing surveys. I use them to fill otherwise “dead” time that I wouldn’t be doing something more productive anyway. The ones I listed are not scams and I have gotten paid doing them – but as I said, don’t expect to make a living from it :)
@Phil – savings snowflakes rule :). I’m getting there, and a lot of people are there, but if you aren’t there yet, you can’t do a do-over, gotta fix what’s messed up first :)
@Siena – this is very true, you need to know your credit card’s policies. Citicard you can only pay 4x a month – I would save up my snowflakes for the week and do them once a week. CapitalOne I could pay once every 24 hours so I would snowflake immediately. It is important to know what your card policy is.
Anne and Nicole –
I started with a situation very similar to yours – worse off actually. I had $160K law school and undergrad loans and $15K in credit cards at the time that I graduated (L’03). I am not out of debt – quite the opposite actually, but I sleep okay at night – this is why:
I lived in a apt for 6 months after I found a job (which took a couple of months). During that time I paid off my credit card and made the minimum loan payments on my student loans.
Then I purchased my first house – it is a small house, perfect for a rental, with a garage apt in the back. I kept paying the minimums on my student loans, and fixed up the apt. Then I refinanced – and rolled $40K of my private student loans into my house – now they are tax deductible (I made too much to get the student loan deduction).
The apartment rental pays for well more than 1/2 of my house payment now. So I saved up and bought another rental house – which more than pays for itself. And I recently purchased a third, which also pays for itself.
In the last two years, I have contributed the maximum to my 401(k) and I have a very small emergency fund for my personal self and each of my houses has built up their own emergency funds.
In the five years that I have paid the minimum on my student loans, about $10,000 has been reduced from the principal. I paid off the tiny loans (the $3000 LSAT loan for example). I am now down to two loans – my federal loans at 2 and 1/2% interest and a $22K private loan at a variable 8% interest. I am working on paying that one down next.
I still drive the same Honda as from my college years – the other associates in my firms mock me heavily. I eat lunch in the kitchen with the staff – this is not as bad at my firm as others – and rarely do business lunches. I don’t have cable (mostly becuase I dont’ watch tv) and I save my money for three purposes – to pay off the law school debt, save for retirement through active (401(k)) and passive methods (rental income) in order to get out of the law field, and to travel my butt off (to cheap, third world places). I am not a member of organizations that my law firm will not pay for, and I don’t wear the fanciest clothes in the office.
I don’t believe that there is a simple way when you are burdened with a lot of school debt – my repayment/savings strategy is all mish mashed up – but I save now in my 401(k) because I know that my saved money will grow faster than my 2 1/2 % federal loan, which has a monthly payment of $250 on $70K. This is just something that I will not be in a hurry to pay off. But I do know that my private loan needs to be paid off because it is only $22K but with a monthly payment of $270 (high interest rate)- but I also know that I am already three years into an affordable paid ahead 15 year mortgage, thanks to my tenants working for me. (again, please don’t buy more house than you need – here in Texas, people laugh at me because my house is only 1200 square feet – one of our paralegal’s house is 3 1/2 times that)
My student loans will fall below $90K without any extra payments, though I will work to pay off the private loan this year. This is a lot of money still, but it is quite manageable when put into perspective of my earning power.
As I read this, I actually don’t know if it will be helpful, but maybe, as with your posts, it might help you to know that there are others in the same boat.
The thing about rolling student loan debt into house debt is that you just took unsecured credit and made it secured. That’s a significant step up in risk, I think.
I’m in the same situation as you guys, only a few years behind you. I don’t really think Dave Ramsey is talking to us (kind of a relief for me, actually–I don’t like the guy). Given that we’re probably paying the highest tax rate we will ever pay, I think there’s a good bit to be said for directing the money into tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s, not even considering the importance of forming the habit of doing so. I max out my 401(k), have an emergency fund, and put the rest into getting rid of my scary private loans (being a few years behind you guys = bigger loans, nastier interest rates).
I think the most important thing to consider is how long you think you are going to have a biglaw job. If you realistically feel it’s in your future indefinitely, you should probably get going on the down payment. Your debt service isn’t bad at all, and it sounds like you’re hoping to reduce rather than increase your housing costs through buying (I must say, I don’t think you’re going to do that without adding an hour or more to your commute, but maybe I’m wrong). If you think you might want to switch to another track or out of law entirely (or leave the metro area), then forget the down payment: you need the flexibility of not having student loan debt.
Taylor, Sarah, Anne
It’s nice to hear from people in similar situations – maybe we can start a pf blog for lawyers in debt. LOL! I already quit my biglaw job after two years and am happily working at a smaller lawfirm, where I plan to stay indefinitely. I will be adding to my commute significantly in order to reduce my housing payments, but it’s worth it to me. My rent is outrageous! Taylor – I admire what you are doing by creating rental income. I would love to buy a duplex where I can rent out one apartment. However, I would only do that if I could afford to float the full payment in case I have trouble renting it. Thanks for all the great input and empathy. Sorry to have hijacked the comments!
I love finding extra “snowflakes.” I roll coins, take surveys, sell old books and even hunt for change around closed concession stands at ballfields after a busy weekend (yes, it can get a bit obsessive!).
Regarding the surveys, I’ve actually made a good bit of money with one survey provider and have a link on my blog if you are interested.
I read in responses above about completing surveys for snowflaking and am wondering if anyone has found any legitimate companies that pay you for processing rebates. Like the surveys, I’ve questioned their legitimacy, but wonder if anyone has found any legitimate ones.
I just want to say thank you to Dave Ramsey and his family and his staff too…God bless
you all… I am using your “SnowFlaking” program and the “SnowBalling” program each month to reduce and get out of “Debt”…
Each week, I go and pay a small amount of money on each of my “Credit Cards” -4- of them and I am also now able to contact the “Credit Card” companies and pay my payments to each of them before they get the statements out to me…ie; I learned how to save up a -1- month amount of money that is the total amount of my monthly expenses…my house payment,car payment, my regular monthly bills, and yes each of my 4
“Credit Cards” by paying each bill before I get the statement in the mail, I have al-ready got a head of these bills, and thus lowered my ongoing “Financial Compounded Interests” Be sure that when you pay on an account…ie; a “Credit Card” that you find out when the “Cycle Date” closes, so that your payment will be applied to the next month, you can do that by making a simple phone call and then going in if that is possible and making a “local payment”…It is so good to watch my “Daily Financial Compounded Interest” going down…Just by paying each bill, via living on “Last Months” income, I am going to be “Debt Free” in 2 years, instead of 13.7 years…
I used my “Income Tax Refund” to get my 1 month of expenses together…so I have in-creased the value of my Income Tax Refund to about 1 and 1/2 times the amount that I received from the Federal Government and my State…Not a bad deal…getting to use my Income Tax Refund and making it work for me instead of me just going out and acting careless… I also use any over time that I might get towards my bills…ie; “Snow-Flaking”…sure does feel good… I am tak-
ing back “My” money and learn how to be a good steward of it…I have learn of “My” problem with “My” income…ie; I had a “Love Hate” relationship with my income!!
I now wear the pants in regards to my in-come instead of it being the other way a-round… My paycheck works for me…not me working for it…Each dollar now has a job to do,and I am getting out of “Debt”
if you might be interested their is a web-site that I found one day…
http://www.ynabpro.com they are ones that helped me to see how my “Behavior” was causing me to have lots of “Financial Problems” they have a 60 “Free Trial” the budgetting soft-ware they have really straightened me out and help me!!! They also have a very good “Forum” section…just post your quest-ions and they will get back with you shortly and suggestion things that you might be able to do in order to get back on a track toward being “Debt Free”
I Corinthians Chapter 6 Verse 12
I will not be mastered by Debt
Live your life, please don’t just exist here on this earth to just pay bills that never seem to go away…you earned your pay, so you chose how your pay is spend, let your pay check work for you, not the other way around…God bless each person that reads this posting… David here…
tiger16lion17puma18@hotmail.com
I am following Ramsey’s Snowball method. Works great!
And now I know what snowflaking is… as overtime, selling junk, etc… is all the extra being applied to our debt. Cool! :)
I have just launched an app for the iPhone to help people keep track of the amounts they have snowflaked over a period of time.
You can download it from Cashflake