<prompt> Human: To give some background, I have the following the debt along with my wife: 7k in my student loans 850 in her student loans 19-20k in car loan financed 2-3k in credit card debt fluctuatesI pull in about just under 4kmonth after taxes she just lost her job but our finances have only assumed my income anyways so were pretty comfortable.I get paid 2x month and so theres bill pay day where most of my goes to the bills and the rest to groceries and the free pay day where I am not as restricted. Ive decided on free pay days that I will put 1k towards a debt to pay it off sooner. We have 3k in savings right now.Is it smart to just start paying off all these days then start building up our savings? The basic idea is that nailing out say her student loans will allow us to put that payment money towards another bill to start lowering that as well. But, Ive heard its also not a good idea to do this, so Im a little confused on what to do.  <response>: I used to teach this to middle income families, and I know it works.It looks like your wifes school loans should be paid off first. When that happens, find the next thing that gets paid off, and apply her student loan money to that.Heres how it works, lets say youre paying 600 a month in bills, and 100 of that is your wifes loan. When thats paid off, keep spending the 600 on the bills, just apply the 100 from her loan to the next item to be paid off.What this does is drop the length of youre loans down dramatically without paying any extra money every month. On top of that, your credit scores will sky rocket because youre paying more, and eventually a lot more, than the minimum balance.The maximum benefit to your credit score is at three times the minimum payment. Anything above that has no more effect in your credit score. Keep applying the money, though, because even if your credit score cant get any better, your finance charges will drop with every additional payment over the minimum. That is, LITERALLY, saving you money with every extra cent you send in.Next thing you know, your debt free, your credit score rocks, and you have 600 a month left over. Best thing to do then is a mutual fund and start saving that 600 for the future. 