If you were given an extra $500/month, what would you pay off first?
So, I'm (47/F) going to start off by saying that I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Please don't criticize or judge me for that. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a 6-figure salary or a two-income household.
I have 2 part time jobs, I live alone, no kids. I'm not looking right now to invest or save until after I've paid off a few debts. This question is about my debt repayments. I mean, if you want to tell me where to invest & save, you can, but I'll most likely not read what you've written, so you'll be wasting your time.
Okay, so here's the situation. As I said, I have 2 part-time jobs. One is as a bookkeeper, the other is a delivery driver for a local company (think Skip or DoorDash, but higher pay outs.) The bookkeeping job pays all my monthly bills and the delivery job is paying off my credit card debt. Bit of a complicated story, but my sister has... let's say... coerced my parents into giving us each $500 monthly from our inheritance. I don't agree with it, it was sprung on me over the holidays, and I wasn't given the chance to be part of the decision making process. She's the family favourite, and when she throws an adult temper tantrum, my mother does whatever my sister wants. Oddly, I'm the baby of the family, but definitely not the favourite.
So I have 2 credit cards that I used mostly to do renos on a home I purchased last year, so they're a bit high. One is $6500 and the other $9450. I've been working diligently over the past few months with the delivery job to pay those off. Both are 22% interest. I am currently paying the minimum balance on the $6500 credit card and about $700/month on the $9450 card. Once the balances are more equaled out, I plan to switch monthly where one card will get the minimum, the other $700 and vice versa the following month.
I have a car payment of $460 monthly, interest is 9.99%, with a remaining balance of $20,500. Selling the car is not an option as I need it for both jobs. This is a used 2018 Hyundai Elantra. I've inquired about trading it in for a newer car with a lower payment/interest, but I'd never get back close to what I owe on it, so in turn, I'd have a higher monthly car payment, which is the opposite of what I'm going for.
House payment is quite low as I had a large down payment from the sale of my previous home. I owe approximately $31,000 with an interest of 5.6%.
Those are my main debts I want to pay off.
So I'm wondering, with this extra $500, would you:
A. Pay off the remaining credit card debt, then tackle the car payment, then the house (see the note below about the mortgage pay-off being penalty free)? Going with the whole pay-off-the-higher-debt-first mentality.
B. Put all $500 towards the car payment until it's paid off while continuing to pay the $700 towards the credit cards. My thought is I'll always have a car payment. Once my current car is paid off in full, I want to get a newer (but still used) vehicle that has a lower interest and monthly payment. I could never afford a brand new car, but a lot of dealerships have new-ish vehicles. Even without a down payment, I can currently get a used 2020-2021 vehicle and be paying about $100 less per month. Then, once the car is paid off, move that $500 to the mortgage.
C. Pay off the house in full then use the money to increase the car payment (Please note, this is not a traditional mortgage, it's a Chattel Loan as it's an old 1974 mini-home. There are NO PENALTIES to paying it off early. I can make additional monthly payments or a lump sum and there are no financial consequences). If I put all $500 towards the mortgage, plus my regular monthly payment, it would be paid off within 20 months. Not having the mortgage could increase my car budget and get a more reliable and newer vehicle for work. The question is if my car will last for another 2 years. Doing deliveries even 2 days a week puts a lot of mileage on the vehicle and therefore more maintenance requirements.
D. Do option A and then put $700 towards the car and $500 towards the mortgage, paying off both those debts simultaneously.
What would you do?