Seriously. Here's how it works . . . After you've saved a starter emergency fund of $1,000 (Baby Step 1), that's when you should begin paying off all debt except for your home, using the Debt Snowball. I call this Baby Step 2. 1. List all of your debts smallest to largest. This means listing them by total amount owed, NOT monthly payment. 2. Make minimum payments each month on all debts EXCEPT for that smallest one, ignoring the interest rates. (This is about behavior, NOT math.) 3. Let's attack that smallest balance first. Throw all of your extra money at that one debt and watch it begin to disappear! At this point, a lot of people pick up a second job, or have a huge garage sale to get things moving even faster. 4. After you've paid off that first amount, keep the momentum going by paying minimum payments on everything like before, but then attacking the second smallest debt on your list. Since you've paid off that first debt, you now have that minimum payment amount freed up, ...