Are You Drowning in Debt?
This means that you are living beyond your means and are racking up debt that can threaten your future. Too many Americans are weighed down by debt, living paycheck to paycheck and unable to pay their bills. But no one ever eliminated a problem until he or she recognized and admitted that there was a problem. Besides the obvious financial strain caused by this debt, credit card debt can leave a family with incredible amounts of stress and even ruin physical health. Good luck on eliminating debt and pursuing financial freedom! Over 55% of us worry about money and 70% of working Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. How can you find happiness in life without a sense of purpose and drive?Debt can be eliminated from your life.
One way to maintain your will power is to envision the life you will have after you have eliminated your credit card debt. You can thus pay off your debts and be permanently free of them after some time.
You can be free from it permanently.The first step to eliminating debt is to take a hard long look at your expenses. Without seeing the money we are spending, it is easy to just whip the card out without giving second thought to the amount you are spending. Stop spending so much, live on a week 1 basis, as the Inland Revenue say, which basically means pulling out your wages from the ATM or cash machine every week and making every penny count. Count the candy bar from the corner convenience store!Find ways to cut costs.
Although you do have to pay your bills you could find that there are also ways to cut back on costs here. Let’s say you go out to lunch twice a week, and you go out to dinner or get takeout 2-3 times a week. Credit card debt costs Americans on average $100 extra dollars each month.It doesn’t take long for small $5-$10 purchases to add up. Utilities: Raise the thermostat by two degrees in the summer and lower it by two degrees in the winter. After this step it is necessary that you figure out some areas to cut back on.Even if you save a total of 3 dollars each day all of those days add up to saving you 90 dollars or more a month. You can try to cut down on unnecessary trips that eat up your gas budget. You will need to cut excess spending each month so that you can save more money to pay off creditors and to save for a rainy day or to save for a big purchase. Add these small sacrifices up and you have just found an extra 80-200 dollars a month you can use to get out of debt!Once you have your game plan in effect, pick your first bill to be paid off.
If you have a bill paying plan, you know exactly when each bill needs to be paid so that you are never late with a payment. Take your extra money you just found, and apply it to the monthly bill until the debt is paid off.After you pay off your first debt, celebrate!
And when you pay it off, you can truly celebrate being out of debt.The key to paying off your debt is to pay as much as possible. We want a stable job, nice home, nice car, well behaved kids/pet, plenty of disposable income. There are things you will need to spend money on such as small emergencies, unplanned events, a weekend getaway, clothes, repairs, new medical expenses, etc. The idea here is to treat yourself for the sacrifices you have made while paying on your bill.Once you have celebrated your accomplishment, begin attacking the next bill.
Being educated and committing to making small changes are steps that once taken should be celebrated, tell everyone of the hard work you are doing and offer them insights as you learn. All my extra cash went on that bill, regardless when it was due, so when the bill came in each month, I had paid so much more off than I needed to. Now you should really be rolling by sending extra principal of 160-300 a month.It does get easier once you start seeing progress!
It’s easier to do than you think and will enable you to focus on which debts are the most important and allow you see your progress in blank and white. Once you start, you just cannot stop and then it is pretty hard to shake off the extra blubbery pounds.