Thanks Cait!!! We'll work on this! ;)

We are doing the same thing, only we started with the highest interest rate debts...and using every spare penny to pay extra. It has been working so well!

Devowens is right on the dot...you'll gain more momentum using the snowball effect by paying debts smallest to largest. It may seem more logical to start with highest interest first but if we were operating on logic then there wouldn't be credit card debt in the place. Just a thought. Once you've paid off the first debt, add what you were paying on that debt to the next one and watch your balances shrink. As you knock off each one you feel a sense of accomplishment and it keeps you inspired to keep going. Check out www.daveramsey.com and The Total Money Makeover. There's my two cents. Didn't cost you a thing:)

Lizard Ruby suggested Dave Ramsey's snowball effect of paying off the smallest debt amounts first, countering danielle.ryan's reasoning of paying off the highest interest rate debts first. I had always worked the math myself and paid more on the higher interest rate debts. Dave Ramsey notes that this makes the most sense mathematically (financially) but that for some people, feeling the success of paying off a debt sooner is more important than paying off all the debts slowly while saving in the long run. So it depends on if a person wants to be better off in the long run by saving the most money, or to feel small amounts of success in the short term by seeing a bill disappear.

Everyone should also know that cars are one of the biggest depreciable assets in which one can invest. In 12 years all of the cash invested in cars will be gone- the cars worth little to nothing. Does Dave Ramsey suggest that? He might get you "out of debt fast", but he doesn't seem to set people into their best financial situation for the long run. Perhaps buying modest used cars now and putting the rest on your mortgage or into a high interest savings account (CD or similar) would work out better.

These are all great ideas, but you can save even more money in other ways as well. Don't pay for cable tv, PERIOD. My husband and I don't! Don't purchase brand-new cars! Yes, you may have to pay for repairs here and there on a somewhat used car, but do you know how much the value of a brand-new car drops after you drive it off the lot?? Don't have more than one credit card! Use the one you do have for immediate necessities, like groceries and gas. If you haven't gotten married yet, don't go into debt over a wedding ring. It's ridiculous how much people spend on a ring. Big shiny rings are beautiful, and they do last a lifetime, but we can't all begin our newly married life like we are 40 years old and rolling in dough. Just a peek into my married life, lol! My husband and I will have been married for 3 years this December, and we have NO DEBT.....We will be getting a credit card soon (yes, we do NOT have a credit card yet, lol) to establish some more credit, but it will be limited to a small amount. Slow and steady wins the race.