Saturday, June 13, 2009

Decisions, Decisions

I desperately want to be debt free. So much so, that I've been thinking about suspending my automatic savings deposits. I've been considering it a while, but at first, the interest rate on my savings account was pretty decent. As we all know, though, interest rates for savings accounts have been in free fall since last year.

My idea is that rather than that amount going into my savings account, I could put it toward my debt. While it's not an insignificant amount, it would go a decent way toward helping me knock out the debt a little sooner. Of course, it would definitely affect my savings goal of $10K for 10/10/10.

My fear, though, is that I'll get out of the habit of saving. And I like seeing my savings grow. I really do.

Maybe I could make myself a deal -- I can suspend my savings deposits but only after I have a certain amount socked away.

So ... what to do? I don't know, but I welcome your suggestions.

3 comments:

Maria said...

I guess it depends on your comfort level. I know that having a little savings (currently only at $500 though) lets me sleep at night knowing that the next emergency room visit wont require me to donate a kidney but I too want to get out of debt and be able to use that money for better things.
If you feel that you wont dip into your savings, then I would leave it as is and throw everything that you have at the debt, otherwise, keep saving and working on your debt reduction.
You're doing great as is so dont let impatience unsettle your confidence!

veronica said...

Thanks, Maria, for the support and the suggestion. You're exactly right: I am being impatient. I definitely need to give this more thought.

Thanks for chiming in!

Bouncing Back said...

You are contributing to your 401K and that is a good thing. Why not give yourself a savings goal/emergency fund of X amount of dollars and when you hit that, stop savings and put the money towards your debt reduction? You seem to have a healthy savings amount now, I guess just figure what a couple months of bare bones living expenses would be and go from there.

You are making progess!