I never heard of Dave Ramsey, but I think my veteran friend just told me about him or some other method that I'm already doing. I never read any books or anything; I just thought it was easier and more manageable to pay down all the smaller debts first, which makes me feel great when I check off a lot of debts "paid in full." When it comes to the last two big credit cards, then I'll have all this extra money because the rest of my credit cards have all been paid off - so no monthly fees going toward those things. All of what I have left over can now be applied to the last two biggest credit cards.

I can afford paying about $1000 to $1500 per month to pay off my credit card debt. After that, I want to maintain zero balances and keep the cards as a backup plan for future emergencies and government shutdowns only.

There's always room for improvement. Keep doing what you can. If your limit is paying even just $1 over the minimum payment, that's still improvement. If you can increase that to $5 over the min, then $10, then $25... you're on your way to paying things off faster! Do the best you can and reward yourself with some self-care and kudos from us here online!