Hey, it’s Louis.

Let's take stock of where we're at for a second. If you've been working along with the newsletters, you've come a long way already. You know how to attack the debt now. That's real progress, and I mean it. Now we begin taking a look at staying out of debt.

Last week we talked about smashing your credit card debt with the snowball method. That’s awesome but grab some shade for a minute brother cause we aren’t done yet. If you went straight to smashing without asking how you got buried in the first place, you're gonna be right back here in two years digging yourself out again. Been there, done that, got the gold-laced monogrammed underwear to prove it. Let's talk about how debt actually sneaks up on you, and the one move that keeps it from coming back.

🌰 THE NUT

Last week we talked about the debt snowball and how we could aggressively tackle our credit card debt and get rid of it.

That's a great step. However, we need to understand how we got into the debt cycle in the first place.

Debt kinda sneaks up on ya.

It doesn't formally introduce itself. "Hello, my name is Debt. I'm here to put you behind the eight ball for a good long time."

Most of us are mired down in debt before we even know we're there. So the big question is, how'd we get there?

If you don't understand that part, believe me brother, you're gonna end up right back in debt. Sometimes we're idiots with credit. Other times life just throws us a curveball.

I was one of those idiots.

I got my first credit card when I was 21. That same year I discovered Mistress Maggie's House of Interpretive Lap Dancing and Paintless Dent Repair

My brand new card had a $500 limit. Know how fast you can hit that limit when it's second dance half-off night? Don't be that young man at Mistress Maggie's. It never ends well.

Then there's the other way debt finds you. The unexpected expenses.

This gets a lot of us. It's usually a bigger bill than you can cover right then. New tires to replace the ones that went bald. An appliance craps out. An unexpected medical co-pay. You name it, life is gonna throw it at you.

The easy way to handle one of these curveballs? Slap it on a credit card and make the low, low minimum payment. Easy peasy.

The other way, the better way, is to have a safety nut. That's a cash amount sitting on hand for whatever life decides to throw at you.

Let's face it, death and taxes aren't the only certainties in life. Having $1,000 set aside is more than just peace of mind. Without it, that bald tire or busted dishwasher puts you right back on a credit card, right back on the road to debt.

You'd be surprised how many curveballs can be taken care of with $1,000.

So do yourself a favor. Do your family a favor. Do your future self a favor. Start building that safety nut.

🐿️ THE STEP

This week, open a separate savings account, one you don't touch, and call it your safety nut. Doesn't matter if it's your regular bank or some online outfit actually paying interest these days.

Set up an automatic transfer of $30 a week. That's $4.29 a day, less than what you're already losing to a fancy coffee or a bad decision at Mistress Maggie’s.

In less than eight months you've got your $1,000 sitting there waiting.

Next time your toaster oven explodes, or your kid needs to get the tinker toy removed from his nose, you write a check instead of handing it to the credit card company. No interest, no minimum payment trap, no second job required.

Once you pay for the expense, immediately start building your safety nut back up.

Twenty-one-year-old me thought $500 of available credit was free money.

Fifty-year-old me knows the only money that's actually free is the kind already sitting in your own account.

Build the nut, brother, and don't go overboard at Mistress Maggie's.

Until the next Stash, protect your nuts brother.

We love feedback, even if it's a kick in the acorns. 
Two clicks to tell us how we did.
If you just found The Stash, check out previous issues here.