How to Budget Debt

I've been in the game for a while now, and I see that most people follow the same road which gets them deeper and deeper in debt. It is not because they are not trying hard to get out of debt, but it is because they are trying too hard to get out of debt. The first rule to this game is do not worry about what the interest rate is. Sure it is nice if there is something you can do like move that debt to someplace with a lower interest rate, but most of the time that is not the case. Most people are trying to pay multiple debt payments, and spreading out all of there disposable income to pay down the debt leaving no money for emergencies. This is a viscous cycle that will result in climbing debt. So how do you budget debt? In the beginning, you should figure out the maximum payment you can consistently pay to debt every single month. Then cut that number in half and put half of that money in your savings account. I know you want to pay the full amount to your debt, but if you continue to do that you will never save a dime, and your debt will always grow. It is just a fact that you will learn if you already haven't. It seems like a good idea not to pay that interest you owe, but if you don't save, then you will always borrow, and the credit companies win the game making you a slave to your debt. Your goal should be to save a full months salary in savings, but at minimum you should at least have a half months salary in savings while you are working to pay down your debt, once your reach that goal, then you can apply anything above that too your debt so you can pay it off as fast as possible. In a sense, you are creating your own 0% intrest credit card in which you are paying yourself back instead of giving your hard earned money to the bank. That is a quick lesson on paying off debt, but also make sure when filling in the spreadsheet to give yourself enough spend money. You want to get to a point of not using a credit card at all. In this system, you will have a bank account just for spend money. So you still will be able to make your purchases with a debit card if you do not like to use cash. If you find that it is necessary to use credit because you are short on cash then you should budget more funds to your spend money. It may seem like a good idea to pay as much as possible to the debt on your credit cards but if you continue to use them you will not make progress in paying them off. So it is better for you to pay less on the debt, and stop using the credit cards. Do not be discouraged easily. It takes time to adjust to a budget. You will make mistakes, and you will pay for them, but keep focused on your goals. Over time as you pull out of debt you will see the full benefits of paying yourself first.