If you’re in debt as we head into summer, it’s time to start thinking about snowflakes.
The idea of “snowflaking” is to make small debt payments, often on a credit-card balance, more than once a month. These snowflakes become part of your debt snowball, a technique by which you pay the minimum monthly payments on all debts except one that you focus on. Here’s how to snowflake:
Call your card company: Most allow you to make many payments in a month for free. Ask about your issuer’s policy.
Use regular snowflakes: Set up additional automatic payments to your credit-card company.
Use irregular snowflakes: Hard-core snowflakers make many small payments in a month. If you skip a $9.46 lunch out at work, ship that amount to your credit- card company. Work two hours of overtime or get a tax refund? Slap it against the debt. The point is to immediately make a payment with extra money.
