Day 1 – Plan of Attack

Today is the first day of me seriously trying to make a dent in my debt. Since I basically owe a house’s worth of debt, I needed to come up with a plan of attack. So here it is:

1. Contact my student loan holders and see if I can get a lower monthly payment rate…specifically for the Sallie Mae loans. I current pay $468.59 a month. That’s about half of one of my two paychecks. I would feel more comfortable making that kind of payment if I knew I had a decent emergency fund saved up. Even if I can get the payments reduced by $100.00, I think that would seriously help. Also, I will consider consolidating my loans. Most of them have a high percentage (6.8% or higher) so I think I could benefit from consolidating them for a much lower rate.
2. Create a budget (and stick with it as much as possible). I have attempted budgeting before and totally bombed. However, this time I am going to do my best to actually stick with it. I currently use the Good Budget budgeting system and app on Android ($5.00 per month), but I really liked the YNAB budgeting system and app (one-time $60.00 fee). I think with my next pay check I will fork over the $60.00 and get the license for the YNAB system and app (once you buy your license, it is good for all future updates). I am hoping the investment will pay off in the long run.
3. Find a way to reduce my expenses. There are definitely areas in which I can reduce my expenses. I can definitely cut down on my cable. (However, I will not lose AMC as the new season of The Walking Dead starts Sunday and I cannot miss it.) I think I have found a bundle where I can keep my internet at its current speed and reduce the number of cable channels I have. I think the reduction will cut my cable/internet bill down by about $20.00. I will also try and cut down on my dinning out expenses. I usually don’t go to many fancy restaurants, but fast food and family style dinning places add up quickly. I can also cut out one of my gym memberships (yes, I have two…but in my defense one is only $10.00 for 24-hour access lol).
4. Find a way to earn some additional income. I think this will be the biggest way for me to make a dent in my debt. As I have stated in my previous post, I only make $35,000.00 before taxes. Even if I put all of my income into paying off my debt, it would still take about 6 years to pay it all off. Since that is definitely not feasible, I have to find some additional income. I currently do some adjunct teaching so I should be getting two additional paychecks (one in October and one in December). Those checks will provide me with about $1,600.00 in additional income. I will also start working a part-time job for about seven weeks that pays about $15.00 an hour. I think I can net anywhere from $1,050.00 to $2,100.00 before taxes. I will also look into finding a part-time evening or weekend job.
5. I am going to attempt to use Dave Ramsey’s snowball method to pay off my debt. I will start with the smallest loans first and work my way up.

So what do y’all think of my plan of attack? Any suggestions?