Bad Money Decision Confession Time #4

I haven’t done one of these in a while, and this latest one I am still struggling with correcting. It’s more mental than anything else and it drives me nuts.

When I do things I like to do it BIG. My husband is the same way. Meaning, when I make a payment to my credit cards, I like to pay a huge chunk at once. Why is that bad? Because I am actually saving money in my checking account in order to make a BIG payment. So I pay one $600 payment monthly but I could be paying $300 every two weeks.

One benefit of paying every two weeks is that on a yearly basis I would make more total payments!

Paying $300 times 26 weeks = $7,800
Paying $600 times 12 months = $7,200

That’s a whole extra monthly payment that I would be making if I paid my card every two weeks.

I’ve somewhat started doing things that way last month. I sent a few hundred to one of my credit cards one week, then a few hundred a few weeks later. I wouldn’t say that I am on 2-week schedule just yet but I am working on it. When you are used to paying things a certain way (and making sure there is enough money in the bank to do so), it can be hard to change.

But I am working on it :)

Posted by Tricia on July 3, 2006 at 3:12 PM in Confessions, Credit Cards, Reducing Debt | 3 Comments »
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  1. Kim L. responded:
    Posted: July 3rd, 2006 at 3:37 pm

    I wouldn’t say that is a bad money decision at all! It’s just a different way of doing things. You tried one way, and now you are trying another way. Good for you for seeing if something is going to work better for you.

    Personally, I pay money to my cards every week. I get paid every week though so it’s just easier for me to do it that way. That and I like to see weekly decreases in my debt! I bet you will come to like seeing the numbers go down more frequently!

  2. Tricia responded:
    Posted: July 3rd, 2006 at 7:34 pm

    Yeah, Kim – I think your right. It’s probably not a bad money decision in itself. I think though, that if I didn’t have the attitude of going big all the time our debt would be a little smaller right now. I probably would have been sending money to the cards here and there and that would have added up.

    It is so hard to get used to a new schedule! I’m jealous that you get paid every week :) I had one job in the past that did that and I LOVED it.

  3. Dan and Marlis Williams responded:
    Posted: September 22nd, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    Paying big on a big debt is good. Best thing we did though was if we got paid every two weeks, we made 1/2 a payment every two weeks. You actually wind up paying more in 12 months plus you reduce your monthly interest on the balance by making a payment half way through. We just wrote a book called “Does God Prefer Paper or Plastic” and have laid out the entire 6 step plan for eliminating debt. Persistence is the key.

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