If you have a large amount of credit card debt, you can pay it off with just a little disposable cash each month. To reach that point, you may have to reorganize your household budget and reduce your spending. By getting rid of redundant or unnecessary expenses, you can set aside some money each month to put towards paying off your debts. From there, you can follow one of two strategies for paying down your debt gradually over time.

The Avalanche Plan

The avalanche debt repayment plan involves picking the credit card account that charges the highest interest on unpaid debt. You will use your disposable income each month to pay off this debt until it has been fully repaid. Throughout this time, you must also continue making the minimum payments on your other debts.

Once the debt with the highest interest has been fully repaid, you can start repaying the creditor that charges the next highest rate of interest. Each time you pay off a creditor, you’ll have that much more money to pay the next debt. This option can be preferable since it reduces the amount of debt you generate over time through interest charges.

The Snowball Plan

This strategy is similar to the avalanche plan in that you will tackle one debt at a time. However, in this strategy, the goal is to repay the smallest debts first. Many people find this to be the better strategy because it allows you to repay several smaller debts in a shorter period of time.

As you pay off each creditor, you’ll have that money to add to your disposable income each month. The extra money makes it easier to repay the largest debts later. It’s still important to make all of your other monthly payments on time since more interest charges and late fees can slow down your efforts to repay your debts.

As you pay off each credit card, you should call that company and cancel the card. Follow that up by destroying the card linked to that account. Getting rid of your cards will help you resist the temptation to misuse your credit. You can keep the card with the best terms for true emergencies, but be sure it’s stored someplace safe to resist the urge to use it impulsively.