Summary
In January 2024, a woman opened a 0% APR card with dreams of financing a bathroom refresh. Instead, she put $8,000 on the card to make it through a muggy summer. By October 2024, she had six months left on the zero-interest intro period and owed $8,.200.
To pay off the debt in time, I sat down with my fiance to iron out a financial plan for the next six months. I used a budgeting app that connects to all of my and my fiance's accounts to analyze how much is going in and out each month.
With a few exceptions like taking care of our 16-year-old cat, Fudge, we aren't spending much at all. We're planning on cutting out a few items that should save us money.
The Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Card earns 2% cash back on all eligible spending when you redeem the rewards as a direct deposit into a Fidelity IRA, HSA or 529 plan. Every time I use this card for expenses I know we can't avoid, 2% of the costs go into my retirement account.
You can't cut every bit of spending, but you can comparison shop for a better price. I settled on a few we could live without, and canceled them, which frees up $30 per month, or $180 over six months.
I plan to say that I'm considering switching providers. If it works, I'll put the difference each month towards our debt payoff. Even $20 off per month would equate to $100 over six months.
