How to Money · Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Jean Chatzky's 2009 book, 'Pay It Down,' proposed tackling debt by allocating $10 a day towards it, a strategy she asserts remains relevant. She notes current trends show credit card debt reaching new highs, a situation mirroring the conditions that inspired her initial book.
“Now it holds absolutely true, and in fact, we're living in one of those moments that made me write that book. So if you're looking at the stats on debt, particularly credit card debt, we are climbing we're hitting new highs.”
“And my solution was, Hey, you can do this the same way you build wealth. You just start by putting ten dollars a day, which is something that pretty much everybody could come up with, toward that debt.”
“It's not a quick process if you've got a huge amount of debt, but it I'm an avalanche. You start paying off that highest interest rate debt first, and eventually you retire the cards and you build better habits.”