A Hack for Getting Out of Debt Fast

I wrote an article about how I send my brokerage account money when I’ve scored a savings – like when I decide not to get my nails done or when Mr. Moneyaire decides to borrow a book from the library or when we receive loving hand me downs for Baby Moneyaire. But what if you need to pay off credit card debt? I want you to use this concept of taking small savings wins and move them towards your consumer debt payments, instead. I have a hack for getting out of debt.

Recently, I read James Clears book “Atomic Habit.” One thing James talks about in the book is how to make it easier for yourself to create new habits. I love perusing social media, especially Facebook. I get stuck on watching Reels. Reels, entertaining as they may be, they don’t help me be a better mom, blogger, personal finance coach, friend or partner. I needed to change the habit of unproductive scrolling.

I Thought about Deleting the App

On occasion you’ve probably seen people you’re “friends” with on the socials write a long post about how they’re deleting the app and you can get in touch with them in actual person if you’re actually friends but otherwise, nice “scrolling” you. I had this thought, too. However, I use social media a lot to keep in touch with and track of friends and family all around the world. I also use it to plug my new posts and market my blog and services.

Not all the time I spent on Facebook was/is productive. A lot of time is spent just scrolling. And that can be okay. We all need a bit of mindless distraction. However, I spent an embarrassingly long number of hours on my phone everyday. I wanted to break the habit.

Help in breaking a habit

James Clear, an expert on continuous improvement, suggests making it harder to access the thing you want to break a habit with in his book Atomic Habits. In my case, I wanted to make my social media apps more difficult to access. So, I rearranged all the apps on my phone.

I put all the like apps together in folders. I made a social media folder and put all my social media apps in it. Then I moved that folder off my main home page to a secondary page. When I wanted to use a social media app, I would have to flick the screen to my secondary page and open my social media folder and search for the app I wanted to use. I made social media apps less visible and less accessible on my phone.

I immediately started spending less time on my phone using Facebook, Instagram and X. My screentime using socials went from hours a day to ~40 minutes a day. 40 minutes still seems like a long time. However, I do love seeing posts from friends and checking in on their lives.

What’s my social media problem have to do with getting out of debt?

Glad you asked. Just as I rearranged the apps on my phone to make it more difficult for myself to use the Facebook app, I want you to rearrange the apps on your phone so that your credit card, checking and savings account apps are the first apps you see when you pick up your phone and look at the screen after it wakes up. Don’t put them in a folder – put them right at the top. The intention isn’t to make you feel bad, guilty or anxious every time you unlock your phone. The goal is to see those accounts, so they get a lot of attention and are accessible.

In his book, James tells us that the things we see get more attention. He talks about how he used to put apples away in the fruit drawer of his fridge. There, the apples went uneaten and eventually rotted. He changed where he put the apples. James put them in a bowl on his counter and, magically, he actually ate them.

By making your banking and credit card apps the first ones you see, they’ll be top of mind because they’ll be the first things you see on your phone.

Next, we’re going to put our Amazon, Temu, Wayfinder, Costco, Target, basically all your shopping apps, in a folder and we’re moving that folder to the last screen available on your phone. Also, do this to your social apps. Social media apps throw a lot of advertising at you. We’re going to make it more difficult to scroll all the beautiful things that are easily purchased when you’re bored.

Create more friction

By moving your shopping and social media apps into a folder and then moving those folders off your home page, we’re creating friction. We’re not stopping there. Let’s create more friction. Next, go into your shopping apps and remove the credit card information. Make it so that every time you checkout in an app, you have to pull out your credit card and type in your credit card details like you’re living in 2004.

Reduce Friction

Open up your credit card apps and make sure they are connected to your bank account. Next turn on automatic payments. It’s perfectly fine to start off by making the minimum payments automatically. By paying at least the minimum automatically, you’ll avoid late fees. For credit cards, after you’re done with resolving your revolving debt, your goal will be to pay off the balance in full each month. Work your way there.

Next, get familiar with your credit card and loan apps. Find out where the prompts are to make one time payments. Get familiar with it. Make it as familiar to you as swiping to “Buy Now” on the Amazon app.

Dropping payments

You’ve now set up your phone so that your checking & savings account, credit card apps are the first apps you see when you wake up your phone. You should also now be familiar with how they work. You should know how to send money between checking and savings and how to make one time payments on your debt accounts.

Next, I want you to send little random payments towards your debts regardless of your due date. We’re going to do this when you make the decision to not spend on something. Perhaps, you skip getting a coffee out, decide to borrow a book from the library instead of buying it, whatever. Whatever, you find a savings on, send it on over to your credit card with the smallest balance on it. When that one is paid off, start sending your micropayments to the credit card with the next highest balance.

Now for this to work, you need to make sure you have enough money in checking to cover automatic payments and upcoming bills. If you are unsure you have enough, then send those micropayments to a savings account first. Preferably, a savings account that is connected to your checking account. At first, as you build a better feel for your cashflow, send your savings to an actual savings account. When the bills come due, use the extra money you’ve collected in your savings account to pay off your debt. When you have a better grasp of your flow you can start sending that extra directly towards your debts.

Attention and Awareness

90% of Americans use a smartphone and we spend over 4 hours a day on them. That’s a lot of time. If you make a couple of small changes – moving your shopping and social media apps into a folder and moving that folder off your wake screen – that’s going to reduce how much you spend. We are bombarded with advertisements on social media and shopping apps. By making them harder to access we’ll be less aware of them and they won’t take up so much of our attention. By making our banking and credit card apps the first things we see, those things are going to get more of our awareness and attention. Eventually, once your credit card debts are gone, replace them with your brokerage account app. Then make investing super satisfying.

We won’t have to make big commitments to reduce our time on our phones or set a budget for ourselves or anything. We’re just going to make it harder for ourselves to be influenced by the advertising and marketing on our shopping and social apps. In addition to that, we’re going to put our banking and credit apps front and center. If we are reminded of those things more often we’ll pay more attention to them. Those apps will now be at the front of our phones and at the center of our attention. Hopefully, that will help you reduce your spending and accelerate your debt payments and eventually get you to investing.