250. 7 Ways to Pay Off your Debts

 

Every few years, a new “hack” to get out of debt makes the rounds on social media. 

Some promise speed. Others promise ease. A few promise both.

But if you’ve been in financial services long enough as I have, you’ll notice something comforting: the methods that actually work today are the same ones that worked decades ago. No shortcuts. No magic. 

Just discipline, structure, and consistency.

• Debt doesn’t disappear because of clever math alone. 
• It disappears because someone decides to take control of their cash flow and sticks to a plan.

Here are the most popular and time-tested ways people pay down debt and why they’ve endured.

1. The Debt Snowball: Win Small, Win Often

This is the most talked-about method for a reason.

1. You list all your debts from smallest balance to largest. 
2. You pay the minimum on everything, then attack the smallest debt with everything extra you can find. 
3. When that’s gone, you roll that payment to the next one.

Why it works isn’t complicated: momentum changes behavior.

People don’t quit plans they can see working.

I’ve seen many clients who didn’t need better math, they needed early wins to stay in the fight.

2. The Debt Avalanche: Respect the Interest

This is the method for those who think in numbers.

1. You line up your debts from highest interest rate to lowest and focus all extra payments on the most expensive one first. 
2. Over time, this minimizes total interest paid and usually gets you debt-free faster on paper.

If you’re disciplined and not easily discouraged, this is the most efficient route.

It’s not flashy, but it is financially sound.

3. The Fixed Payment (Stacking) Habit

This is a very traditional, very underrated approach.

1. You decide on a fixed monthly amount you will always use for debt repayment. 
2. As each debt is paid off, you don’t reduce the total payment, you redirect it to the next debt.

What this builds is not just progress, but character:

You train yourself to live without that money, long before you’re actually debt-free.

That’s how real financial habits are formed.

4. Consolidation or Refinancing: Simplify the Battlefield

Sometimes the problem isn’t effort, it’s complexity.

Combining several debts into one loan, or moving high-interest balances to a lower-rate facility, can:

• Lower interest cost
• Simplify payments
• Improve cash flow visibility

But here’s the old rule that never changes:

Consolidation only works if you stop creating new debt.

Otherwise, you’re just rearranging furniture in a burning house.

5. The Budget-First Method: Fix the Leak, Not Just the Bucket

This is the most “boring” method and often the most powerful.

1. You audit your spending. 
2. You cut what doesn’t matter. 
3. You find extra cash. 
4. And you redirect every freed peso toward debt.

No method beats this in real life, because it attacks the real enemy: poor cash flow control.

Debt is rarely a math problem. It’s usually a behavior problem.

6. The Windfall Strategy: Use the Big Moments Wisely

Bonuses. 13th month pay. Commissions. Tax refunds.

• Most people celebrate these. 
• Some upgrade their lifestyle. 
• A few upgrade their future.

Putting windfalls straight into principal payments creates big, visible progress and shortens your debt timeline dramatically.

The old wisdom applies:

Don’t let temporary money create permanent spending.

7. The Hybrid Approach: What Most Real People Actually Do

In practice, most people mix methods:

• Snowball for motivation
• Avalanche for efficiency
• Budget cuts for fuel
• Windfalls for acceleration

There’s nothing wrong with that. The goal isn’t to follow a “perfect” system.

The goal is to stay consistent long enough for the system to work.

If there’s one thing years in financial services have taught me, it’s this: most people don’t stay in debt because they’re hopeless, they stay because they’re tired. 

• Tired of juggling bills. 
• Tired of starting and stopping. 
• Tired of feeling like progress is always just out of reach.

I’ve seen this journey from both sides of the table. 

The ones who eventually win aren’t the ones with perfect spreadsheets or perfect timing. 

They’re the ones who quietly decided they’ve had enough and kept showing up every month after that.

There’s nothing glamorous about paying down debt. 

• No applause. 
• No headlines. 

Just steady, sometimes boring, sometimes uncomfortable progress. 

But that’s how real change has always been built.

So if you’re tired of being in debt, I hope you don’t just feel it, I hope you use it. 

• Use it to choose a method. 
• Use it to stick to a plan. 
• Use it to make one more payment than you thought you could.

Years from now, you won’t remember the sacrifice.

You’ll remember the freedom.

All the best my friends!!

#acgadvice