The Doubling Down Trick

I'm a big fan of tricking ourselves into better finances, whether it has to do with saving more, investing more, or finally getting rid of all that debt. It's sad we need to do that at times, but it's how human beings are wired. And hell - if it works, it works! So, naturally when I came across this "doubling down" debt trick by Steve Stewart over at Enemy of Debt I had to share it with y'all. The principal is simple: Start out small and increase your efforts every month by a factor of two:

  • Send an extra $2 above the minimum payment on a credit card in January
  • Double your efforts around Valentine’s Day by mailing them an extra $4
  • Send $8 extra in March
  • Mailing in $16 more by Easter Sunday should be easy
  • Another $32 down before Summer Break
  • $64 in June
  • $128 around Independence Day
  • Double it again by sending $256 in August
  • What about another $512 after school starts?
  • Finally, send in a crazy $1,024 before Halloween

At the end of the year you've paid off exactly $2,048 gradually over time (well, except for those last couple of months ;)), and that's ON TOP of your normal principal reduction. Of course you can use this strategy in other ways too, such as with saving or investing more. With the added benefit of compound interest and/or dividends/market swings - depending on where you put this money. Great idea, Steve! Check out the entire article here: How to pay $2,048 in debt before Thanksgiving -------- [Photo cred: stroopsmma / Photo cred: stroopsmma]