Thank you Peach! The only reason I didn't post all of my balances and APR's is because I've done about a million calculations myself for paying them off, and I didn't want anyone to think I was asking for them to help with that. My overall balance is about $12,000 (yeesh, I know) and my average APR is high, about 18% (even more yeesh). My overall util is about 70% (most yeesh of all). I think that either of us could find an hourly job quickly, but it would take a while to find new FT jobs at our current salaries because neither of us have college degrees, and we've worked our way up to where we are. I believe DH is secure in his job, but I'm never sure about mine, because I work for a local government and layoffs are always dreaded every quarter. I do know that we could cut our expenses way down if I lose my job - getting rid of cable, taking the youngest out of daycare, etc. - but even then the savings might only last us a few months. If we didn't have young children I would definitely find a second temporary job right now, but between them and the need to go back to school to finish my degree, I know I don't have the energy. Our house is only 4 years old; our cars are 6 and 8 years old. The 6-year-old is still running great; the 8-year-old has the potential to fall apart in the next year or so. We plan to run both of them into the ground, so no need for another car payment anytime soon. No health problems and no baby planned (I am really looking forward to not having any daycare payments when my youngest starts Kindergarten in 2 years). So savings is needed mostly for a job loss, and minor repairs, such as new tires or a new appliance. Most of my balances are at least 6 months old, so I feel secure that I won't run them up again. We simply do not make enough money to use credit cards for anything but gas and bills. However, I'm worried that I won't have the self-discipline to not use the savings when things get tight (real money is easier to use for me than credit), which is why I feel the urge to use our extra money to pay off the cards now, rather then end up wasting our savings and still having balances. I'm okay if I end up with AA on a lot of my cards because I don't want to use most of them anymore. As it is I have our savings in different banks than our checking accounts, so that it's harder to access. :) Thank you for your insight - I don't feel comfortable dipping into my current savings to pay down cards, but your idea of aggressively paying them down plus still putting a little in savings makes a lot of sense!
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