{"id":21317,"date":"2019-02-15T19:01:25","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T00:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/readyforzero.wpengine.com\/?p=21317"},"modified":"2022-08-24T16:02:50","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T21:02:50","slug":"figure-amount-afford-pay-debt-each-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.avant.com\/blog\/borrow\/figure-amount-afford-pay-debt-each-month\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Can You Afford to Pay Toward Debt Each Month?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Debt.&#8221; It\u2019s a financial four-letter word that you\u2019d rather not talk about. But you know it\u2019s time to face the music and get real with your money. That means doing something about your debt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hey, I get it. Life is expensive and stuff happens. Sometimes that stuff requires more money than you have on hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe you needed to take out some student loans to get through college and earn your degree. Or you had to hastily pull out the credit card when you were hit with an unexpected (and big) bill.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless of how you found your way into debt, it\u2019s time to get out. And as you may already realize, making the minimum payments isn\u2019t going to provide a real solution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Mr. Money Mustache puts it,<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mrmoneymustache.com\/2012\/04\/18\/news-flash-your-debt-is-an-emergency\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">your debt is an emergency<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That means doing everything you can to solve this financial problem and get yourself out of the red.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re ready to start your journey to debt freedom but have never paid more than the minimums on your balances, let\u2019s walk through how to figure out what is the maximum amount you can afford to pay toward debt each month.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Track and Measure Your Money<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can\u2019t manage what you don\u2019t measure &#8212; and measuring your money is where you need to start if you want to determine how much you can afford to devote to debt. You need to be able to answer these questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How much money do you bring home per month?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This should be after taxes and other payroll deductions, like health care costs and retirement account contributions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re self-employed, the same applies: you want to find what you\u2019re bringing home after you account for your taxes, expenses, and retirement contributions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What is the total amount of your fixed expenses?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Go through your bills and identify your must-pay expenses. These are your fixed necessities &#8212; \u201cfixed\u201d meaning the amount you pay doesn\u2019t change and \u201cnecessities\u201d meaning you <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">must<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> account for these bills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think things like mortgage or rent payments, insurance bills, and utilities. These bills are non-negotiable. They need to get paid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How much do your flexible expenses cost?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> These are necessary expenses that aren\u2019t fixed every month. For example, this would include expenses like groceries and gas for your car or a rail pass. Because you can choose between commuting alternatives or cheaper brands at the grocery store, these costs can be pushed up or down, depending on your choices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s recap where we\u2019re at. So far, this should cover your basic needs:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Housing and Living Expenses<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transportation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You don\u2019t need to break all your other spending down into other categories. It just needs one: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">discretionary<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As in, wants, nonessentials, not-100%-necessary. Calculate exactly how much you spend on everything else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you can\u2019t answer these questions right now, it\u2019s time to start tracking your money. You can do this in a number of ways. Use an online tool if you prefer working digitally, or just use a simple spreadsheet or pen and paper to total up all your expenses, spending, and income for the month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The only right way is the way that makes sense to you and that you stick with. Choose what method works for you and start tracking your money so you can create a budget and evaluate how much you can afford to pay toward debt.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>A Note on Balancing Your Debt with Other Financial Goals<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we move forward, we need to address something big and important. Note that in the first point in the above section, it\u2019s assumed that you automatically contribute to your retirement account. If you\u2019re not, you need to start!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, debt is your emergency and you need to throw as much money as you can afford toward eliminating it. But this should not mean completely sacrificing your other financial goals, especially saving for retirement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need to balance these financial priorities. Depending on your situation, you may need to reduce what you\u2019re contributing to retirement to shed debt &#8212; but you shouldn\u2019t stop saving entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try working off percentages. If you have $500 of discretionary income each month to use for your financial goals, contribute $400 of it to your debt. Put the other $100 towards retirement savings. Aim to at least contribute enough to your retirement savings to get an employer match if one is offered, and put everything else toward your debt.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Evaluating Your Budget<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay. We\u2019ve measured our money. We understand that you can\u2019t just kick retirement savings to the curb. What\u2019s next?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s time to evaluate your budget and determine what can stay and what\u2019s gotta go in order to increase the amount you can afford to pay toward debt each month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, let\u2019s subtract all your expenditures &#8212; fixed expenses, flexible expenses, and discretionary spending &#8212; from the amount of money you bring home each month. If this leaves you\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the red<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: If you have debt and are still spending more than you make each month, this is a serious situation. You need to hit the brakes on all discretionary spending right now.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Breaking even<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Get ready to examine your discretionary expenses and eliminate some of them. It\u2019s good you\u2019re living within your means now, but you need to focus on creating a larger gap between what you\u2019re spending and what you\u2019re making. Plus, you must save some extra money to put toward that debt!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With extra cash<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: If you\u2019re making considerably more than you\u2019re spending, congratulations! This is a great position to be in, and you can afford to focus on paying off your debts each month. (But stay tuned &#8212; you can still benefit from cutting costs, too.)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This essentially answers the \u201chow much can I afford to pay toward debt each month?\u201d question. The answer is what you have left in your budget after accounting for all spending. That needs to go straight at your debt repayment plan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But that may not be the final, or best, answer &#8212; especially if you\u2019re breaking even or overspending. This isn\u2019t the best answer if you\u2019re highly motivated to attack your debt, either, even if you have a budget surplus.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Eliminating Expenses and Cutting Costs<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s time to get mean with your discretionary spending. You need to examine this area of your budget with a highly critical eye. Remember, these are your wants &#8212; and your debt gets higher priority than wants, luxuries, and nice things to have.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are there obvious costs to cut? Are there expenses you can eliminate at least until your debt is paid off? Can you switch to lower-cost alternatives? Can you try new ways to increase your savings?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you can\u2019t find money to save or spending to suspend, you might need to take one more step to determine how much you can use toward debt repayment. Your flexible and fixed expenses aren\u2019t off limits, and you may want to take action to reduce these as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That might mean finding a roommate to help you handle living expenses. It could mean calling your service providers and switching to lower-cost services or asking for less expensive rates. Maybe you need to start clipping coupons and buying generics to lower the grocery bill, or walking when you can instead of paying for gas and public transportation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consider every line item in your budget. Be honest and realistic with yourself about what you value. Right now, that should be achieving financial freedom and kicking your debt to the curb!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep in mind the more you can reduce your discretionary spending, the more you can afford to pay toward debt each month.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Debt.&#8221; It\u2019s a financial four-letter word that you\u2019d rather not talk about. But you know it\u2019s time to face the music and get real with your money. That means doing something about your debt. Hey, I get it. Life is expensive and stuff happens. Sometimes that stuff requires more money than you have on hand. 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But you know it\u2019s time to face the music and get real with your money. That means doing something about your debt. Hey, I get it. Life is expensive and stuff happens. Sometimes that stuff requires more money than you have on hand. 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