I have talked with many clients, friends, family and coworkers about the best way to accelerate getting out of consumer debt. One popular method is called “debt stacking.” Dave Ramsey calls it the “debt snowball.” You’ve probably heard of it and may have even tried it. The basic concept is that you pay as much as you possibly can on one debt while paying just the minimum on the rest. Once your first debt is paid off, you take all that you were paying on that debt and add it to the minimum you are paying on the second debt. The process continues until all of your debts are resolved.* There are a couple different ways to choose the order of debts to pay off. One is to start with the smallest principle. Another is to pay the highest interest first. The debt stacking method is a great plan for getting out of debt, and whenever I explain this method to someone, I see hope return to their faces.
The problem is, most people just don't follow through with it. The method looks great to everyone on paper, but it is difficult to get started. Paying out even more than you are used to might feel impossible, so here are six tips to help you get started:

1. Pay only the minimums. Start your plan without accelerating it. Plot out your projected progress and post it on your fridge for daily reassurance.
2. Commit one month to come up with an accurate budget. Journal every expense. Be very detailed, include everything you spend money on.
3. Decide where you can go lean, or what you can do without—be realistic. Come up with a total dollar amount. How much can you trim from your budget? $10 a month? $500?
4. Devote half of what you trim to the first payment in your debt stacking plan and half to savings for three months. Then revisit your budget and decide if you can devote even more of it to your outstanding debt.
5. Celebrate! You now have an established plan! Post the new accelerated plan so you can see your new projected progress.
6. Consistently revisit your budget and determine if you can devote more to the next debt in your stack.

After getting a plan started, many people struggle with maintaining it and moving forward. It’s easy to fall back into old patterns, especially if the reward for all of your hard work seems far away. We tend to want more immediate gratification, which is what got us in debt to begin with.
When Robin and I first started paying off our debt, our calculations showed that we would be able to pay off our consumer debt in about three years. Three years! That was both amazing, “We’ll be free from debt in three years!” and daunting, “We’ll have to tighten our budget for three whole years.” The pain was more immediate than the pleasure, so we devised a plan—
Celebrate Small Successes!
It may be difficult for you to stay on a plan that will take three to five years, so you need to find a way to celebrate every small success. Celebrate creating the plan, then celebrate maintaining it for three months, six months, or a year. Take a few minutes to recognize what you are doing and be grateful.
One thing that Robin and I did to celebrate was each time we paid off an entire debt, we took a portion of the money we’d been paying and did something fun—go out to eat someplace nice, stay the night at the coast, something we planned and looked forward to at each payoff point. Because we had the plan posted on the fridge, we could plan on when to celebrate, based on the projection. You will notice that after each payoff, you’ll have a little bit more money to spend on celebrating. Remember that this is just a taste of what it will be like every month once you are debt free!
Finally, Accept that setbacks happen. At some point during your plan you might spend too much money on something, or an emergency will come up that can't be ignored. Money will get spent that is outside of your budget and your plan. Acknowledge it for what it is and move on with the plan.

What is your debt payoff plan? How are you going to implement it? What events are you going to celebrate and how will you celebrate them? What will you do when setbacks happen?

*For a more detailed explanation and example of debt stacking, go to
http://www.vectorchange.com/debt.html.