Ramit Sethi's video Avoid These 7 Debt Mistakes in 2026 is one of the most useful things you can watch if you carry a credit card balance. It's blunt, practical, and refreshingly free of the "skip the latte" guilt that dominates most debt advice. Go watch it. Then come back, because this guide is the companion piece: the same ideas, slowed down, with the actual math worked out so you can see what each mistake costs.
Picture walking up a down escalator. You're moving, you're sweating, you're doing everything right — and you're barely getting anywhere. Ease up for a moment and you slide backward.
A 0% balance transfer offer can feel like a get-out-of-interest-free card. Move your balance, pay no interest for 12 to 21 months, and watch every dollar go straight to principal. Sometimes it really is that good.
Other times, it becomes a very expensive detour. The difference comes down to a few numbers and one honest question about your habits. Let's walk through both.
It is one thing to read that the debt snowball works, or that an avalanche saves interest. It is another to see what it looks like for someone whose situation resembles yours: the same kind of cards, the same kind of paycheck, the same kind of doubt.
So here are four paths out of debt, with every number worked out month by month.