Not sure what to do.

Okay, so long story short I am slowly crawling my way out if poverty and the first time ever I am going to half my pay check left over (480$) for this two weeks. I could put it in savings, pay off a credit card (300$), or pay off a ticket (250$). I'm not sure what to do. I am basically caught up with bills. I normally don't have options so this is really overwhelming for me. I was thinking of maybe saving it and then trying to put away 1000$ for emergencies first but I dont know....

Posted Feb 2, 2019, 3:28 PM UTC

1111
rcd0ad•

If the ticket is due, pay the ticket.

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Then focus on credit card debt.

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Once you have cleared your ticket and credit card, then it will be easier to put money into savings, and you won't have to stress about debt as much.

23
Unchained71•

This exactly.

1
[deleted]•

Pay off ticket first

Pay towards credit

Put rest in savings

14

this is the best answer.

pay the whole ticket off so you know it's dealt with. Then you have $230 left, so put $115 towards the credit card, and $115 in your bank account/savings.

This way you have the beginnings of an emergency fund and if something comes up you might not have to go right back to the credit card.

4
constantbabble•

Not paying the ticket could lead to getting free room and board

10
crazycatlady331•

Pay the ticket first and the minimum on the credit card.

Then start the $1000 emergency fund at the next paycheck.

5
Marty398•

Stay focused on one thing. If you want to change how you think about money, start with saving your $1,000 emergency fund. The reason I recommend doing this is here.

Edit to add: Before the Emergency Fund, be current with your bills, especially the ticket.

5
saabgrl44•

Pay that ticket trust me- I’ve ignored those and they will haunt you and ruin your life!

4
Lilacfrogs27•

The ticket is like a bill, pay that first.

Then you have $230 left to decide whether you're going to put towards your credit card debt or into savings. So let's weigh out the pros and cons.

If you put the money towards the credit card, you'll save yourself most of the interest this month. Assuming that you've made the minimums and don't have any late fees, you're probably accumulating about $5 per month in interest on that balance. Reducing your balance by $230 would probably save you about $3.80 per month. You'd also be much closer to not having any credit card debt, which would probably be a big relief.

On the other hand, if you pay the minimum on the credit card and put the rest into savings you start building an emergency fund. Let's say your minimum payment is $25, you'd have $205 in your emergency fund. This would allow you a little bit of flexibility if you have higher than expected expenses next month to avoid taking on more credit card debt (assuming that the unexpected expenses are less than $205). But, you'd still have to pay the interest on your credit card debt that you do have now.

So which should you pick? Let's look at three scenarios, one with no unexpected expenses, one with unexpected expenses of $100, and one with unexpected expenses of $300.

If you have no unexpected expenses next month, and you paid down your credit card this month, then you save $3.80 in interest on the credit card. But you miss out on potentially earning a little interest in q savings account. This would likely be about 15 cents. So all together, you end up $3.65 ahead by paying down your card.

If you paid down your credit card, but then have an extra $100 in expenses you'd have to put that money on your card. Then you have credit card debt of $170 ($300-230+100). Next month you owe about $2.80 in interest. But what if you had put that money in an emergency fund instead? Well, then you still owe $275 on your card (assuming you have a $25 minimum payment), but you don't add any debt be because your savings covered it. So you owe about $4.50. Let's say you earn a little interest on your savings though, that would be about 15 cents. So you still come out ahead by playing down the card, paying $2.80, instead of $4.35 (4.50-.15).

Finally, let's look at what happens if you pay down your card and then have unexpected expenses of $300. You end up having to put that in your card, so your total debt is $370 (300-230+300). You'll owe about $6.15 in interest. But if you had saved the money instead then you'd be able to cover $205 of the unexpected expenses and you'd still have to charge $95. So your credit card debt would be $370 again (300-25+95). Note that this isn't specific to 300, the balances come out the same for any unexpected expense amount above $205. So you owe $6.15 in interest and don't earn any interest on your savings*. You come out roughly the same.

So, overall, it's a better idea to pay down your credit card first.

*This isn't quite right because I've simplified the interest calculations, you'd actually come out a few cents ahead for having saved because you'd have earned a tiny amount for having your money in a savings account even for less than a month, but the difference is so small as to be functionally meaningless.

3
ShoppingPrincess19•

Not OP, but, thank you for doing the figures. You rock!

2

Can the ticket be contested?

1