Okay, so imagine this: you check your credit card balances after kinda ignoring them for a few months (I know, I know, bad idea), and suddenly realize you're in way deeper than you thought. Like, thousands more. Maybe you underestimated how much you were spending, or maybe interest just piled up faster than you expected. Whatever the reason, you're now staring at a pretty scary number.
Would you immediately cut back on everything non-essential, like streaming services, eating out, or your daily coffee run? Or would you try to shuffle things around—maybe transfer balances to lower-interest cards or take out a personal loan to consolidate? Or maybe you'd just buckle down and try to pay it off bit by bit without changing your lifestyle too drastically?
I'm curious because I was talking to a friend who swears by the "cold turkey" method—just cutting everything fun out until it's paid off—but honestly, that sounds miserable. Wondering if there's a middle ground or something smarter I'm not thinking of. How would you guys handle this?
