Create a Buffer and Pay When You Can, Not When You Must 

This sort of falls into the snowflake payment category but in an advanced way. There are two steps here: creating a payment buffer and then paying as much and as often as possible. To use this strategy, you’re going to have to make some lifestyle changes that can help you save money. Eat out less, use energy efficient appliances; there are a ton of things you can do to save money.  

The first thing you should do to prevent further debt and make your current debts easier to settle is create a buffer of one to six payments. Start a savings account (or get a small safe for your house, whatever works) and no matter what you do, always have one to six months of payments in advanced stored in that location.  

Train yourself to never access this money even under extreme emergencies unless someone’s life is in jeopardy, keep this money aside and dedicate it to being your debt money. If something happens and you no longer have income, you’ll have at least one to six months of paying that bill and extra time to try and make more money.  

This is also especially effective for your rent; if you can work towards always having one to six months of money that will cover your rent then you don’t have to become a stressed-out mess if you get laid off or can’t work; you’ll have a few months you find new income! 

Once you have your security buffer you can focus on the next step: paying when you can, not when you must. If you have a $100 monthly credit card bill and you get paid bi-weekly, pay your bill every 2 weeks instead of once a month. Better yet, pay $100 each time you pay! The first $100 will go towards your normal payment, probably over half of it will be interest. But once you’ve made your payment, the following payment will be pure capital! This leads into another extremely effective tactic: savings release. Do you have anything saved up?  

The more money you can throw down on your credit card debt (or any debt) all at once, the easier your life will be. The sooner and faster you pay, the lower your overall amount is and your payments will actually decrease as the principle decreases (and thus the interest, which is based on a percentage, will decrease).  

These tactics require you to have some extra money so if you’re already struggling, they may be hard to implement. If you were lucky or smart enough to start before your debt became overwhelming then you can easily start implementing these tactics to prevent your debt from spiralling out of control.