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I know everybody is coming off a “Holiday High,” so we’re going to keep this low-key.

In October last year, I told a story about a step in my daughter and son-in-law’s journey to financial independence (see “Half the Battle”). In that post, I said that much of the time, knowing where you stand can quickly project you toward the midway point in your battle (and this can go for more than just your finances). Once you know what your problem is, you can create a strategy to overcome it. I gave direction to start gathering all debt statements that come every month. If you have not done that yet, now is the time. Make sure you have ALL of them.

You will also need a notebook (you can still use You Can Make Your Money Behave: Go ahead...I dare you! By U. Will B. Rich and can get it on Amazon. It’s $10).

On each statement, I want you to find the BALANCE of your debt–what you owe to that particular creditor–and circle it or highlight it. At this point, I don’t want you to concern yourself too much with the interest rate or amount of the payment. We will talk about those too, but I want to make this as simple as I can at first. Now, put them in order according to that balance, smallest to largest. Lastly, put all this paperwork together in a place where you will be able to find it next week.

You are done for today. Aren’t you glad that step is over?!?

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