How Can I Save While Still Paying My Debts?
By: Vincenza Vicari-Bentley, Empowering Financial Wellness Program Coordinator
June 9, 2021
A lot of people have a hard time trying to pay off debt and save money at the same time and that is usually because they don’t have a strategy on how to do that. It’s challenging if you feel like you have to choose between saving money or focusing on paying off debt. But you don’t necessarily have to choose. Having a good strategy can help you decide how much you can save and pay towards debt obligations. There are a lot of rules of thumb, especially in personal finance, but around here we always say “personal finance is personal”! Generally speaking, the rule of thumb is to pay off debt and save. If you don’t currently have anything set aside in savings you can start small. Even $20 a paycheck consistently will add up. A starter goal would be to have at least one month of basic expenses set aside in a savings account. This strategy may help you avoid having to get further into debt in the event of an unexpected expense. It’s also about changing the mindset of making sure we are always saving a portion of our income, and frankly that’s the hard part.
Enter PowerPay! USU Extension has a fantastic program called PowerPay which is a free, debt elimination tool that will show you exactly how to pay off debt while saving money at the same time. Now it won’t pay your debts for you but it will give you the opportunity to choose the best strategy on how to pay off the debt. Most of us have more than one debt and this helps you decide which one to pay off first. The magic of this tool is that you don’t have to come up with any extra money! This free debt elimination tool can help cut down the time it takes you to pay off debt and save you money at the same time all while building emergency savings. Visit this free resource at powerpay.org. Ultimately finding the strategy that works for you, is what will be most successful and you will be setting yourself up for a much better financial future.
References:
Melanie Dabb, “How to Manage Cash Flow” (2020) Retrieved from:https://extension.usu.edu/finance/faq/how-to-manage-your-cash-flow
Shinn, Lora (2021, Jan 27) Rules of Thumb: Save for an Emergency or Pay Off Debt First?The Balance. https://www.thebalance.com/should-you-save-money-or-pay-off-debt-960844