Five Ways to Become Debt Free
Everyone has debt; it’s just how our society works these days. You buy things with money you don’t have and then spend years paying it off. You probably end up paying up to three times more for something on a credit card over time than if you waited and bought it with cash.
Now you’ve dug yourself into a nice debt hole, how do you get out of it?
1. Cut up the Credit Cards and Cancel Them – Credit cards are your worst temptations and if you don’t have them, you can’t use them. Keep one for emergencies and tape a piece of paper over it saying “Emergency Only” so you have to remove the paper and tape to use it.
2. Debt Services – Gather, sit down and make a call to a debt consolidation service to help drop those interest rates and lower your payments so you actually get out of debt.
3. Subscription Services - If you have anything that automatically comes out of your checking account every month, re-evaluate if you really need it or not. If you don’t need it, cancel it.
4. E-Bay – Everyone has stuff lying around the basement or attic they don’t use or want anymore. You can place your unwanted items on E-Bay. You may not make a killing but look at it this way, it’s free money and every penny counts.
5. Change Your Day-To-Day Spending Habits - Do you normally stop to get a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich on the way to work? Maybe you get a candy bar or two at work everyday. Simply put, stop buying stuff you don’t need to buy. Make some coffee at home before you go to work and take it with you. Bring snacks to work. Little things like this add up over time and you may find you are spending a lot more on nothing than you realize.
Not only will these tips help you get out of debt, they will help you not get into debt in the first place. It is all about spending wisely. Think before you spend.
Tags: debt, Debt Management
June 3rd, 2009 at 18:11
While you ideas seem pretty simplistic as one reads them, they are things we all need to practice especially during these times. Reducing our debt or eliminating our debt is, in my opinion, the only we are all going to be able to face what’s comming from this economy. All the best you to and your readers for the next few years. It’s going to be quite a ride and, if you’re in California (like me) man the lifeboats!
Bill Beavers’s last blog post..Laughing at Debt