YNAB You Need A Budget

[alicianavy]

Hello. I need some advice. I will be getting $2000 in August from a Great Aunt and I am debating with myself on what i need to do with it...Should I put it toward building my buffer? Pay off a high interest credit card? Or save it?
I having trouble deciding and I keep going back and forth, what would you do?

In response to Mapster...
Do you...
~ have a steady, stable income? Yes
~ have an emergency fund? Not anymore as I just came off Maternity Leave but I am working building one again.
~ have a plan for paying off your debt? I did and was doing very well with it then Maternity Leave came and I had to use most of the credit I had previously paid down... need to re-evaluate and build a new plan.

[rollercoaster]

It would be easier to give an opinion with a little more information about your financial situation.

Do you...
~ have a steady, stable income?
~ have an emergency fund?
~ have a plan for paying off your debt?

Here is my situation:

~ SAHM, hubby is military, so income is steady and stable
~ I have the $1000.00 baby E-fund (Dave Ramsey), plus a miniature Unexpected Expenses/Rainy Day Fund of $225.00 (YNAB)
~ am currently snowballing debt

In my situation, that $2000.00 would wipe out the 1st debt one my snowball list and take a nice bite out of the second one up the list, so that is where it would go for me.

[lautzu]

To me, the key words in what you said are "high interest." I don't believe it always makes sense to pay down debt before saving (some do), but when it comes to debt that is high interest and isn't adding value to your financial life (i.e. a mortgage), it's money out the window. I'd pay down the CC.

[rollercoaster]

I'd get the emergency fund topped back up to a minimum of $1000.00, if you're a homeowner. If you rent, $500 - $700 might be enough of a cushion. After that, I'd throw the rest at the credit card.

[PatM]

If you have high interest credit cards I think your only sane choice is to pay down the credit card. You will essentially be putting money in your pocket.

[alicianavy]

Thank you so much for your responses!! I really needed a little direction.
I've decided that I am going to recreate my mini emergency fund and then pay down my CC's!!