Living a life that is consumed with the anxiety of money pressures is no kind of life to live. These days the average family carries over $10,000 in credit card debt alone. You need to make a commitment to become debt free and if you follow the 10 easy steps I lay out for you, being debt free can be your reality.
Although it may be necessary to go into debt to make major purchases, such as a car or home, I do not believe we should make debt a lifestyle. And even when we do have to borrow money, we should make it our goal to payoff those debts as quickly as possible.
There are three types of people when it comes to debt. The first type of person is someone who pays all their bills on time each month and thinks that debt is okay because it is convenient and they are current on all accounts. The second type of person is struggling to pay their bills each month, living from paycheck to paycheck, and trying to cope in a constant state of frustration and anxiety. The third type of person has given up on paying their bills; they are thinking of or may have already filed bankruptcy and are allowing accounts to get further behind while the creditors are trying to track them down.
Make Getting Out of Debt Your Top Priority
Although it is extremely easy to get into massive amounts of debt very quickly, it takes time, discipline, and commitment to get out of debt. You have to make a life-changing decision that you no longer wish to be in debt because getting out of debt is going to affect every area of your life.
The first thing you need to do is to complete a spending inventory to find out where you are right now. A spending inventory is simply a list of everything you spend for an entire month, whether by check, charge, or cash. The purpose of this exercise is to help you locate the waste in your budget. I believe that everyone can find $100 to $200 a month in wasteful spending that can be cut. You will use this additional money in your plan to get out of debt.
Get Out of Debt Plan of Action
If you follow these 10 steps, you will develop your plan of action and implement it to become debt-free.
1. Make a commitment to get out of debt, and stick with the plan. Set a deadline date for completion.
2. List all debts, including loans from family members.
3. Find an extra $100 to $200 per month in your budget using the spending inventory.
4. Put debts in order of priority to pay them off. Put them in order by highest interest rate to lowest, or by lowest balance to highest.
5. Separate debts into categories, in this order: credit cards and lines of credit, student loans, personal debts, car loans, mortgage debt.
6. Start with bill number 1 as your targeted bill. On the targeted bill you are going to pay the minimum due plus the extra $100 to $200 you located in your budget. Pay only the minimum due on all other debts.
7. Once bill number 1 is paid off, target bill number 2. Take everything you were paying on bill number 1 plus the minimum you were paying on bill number 2 and begin paying it all on bill number 2 each month.
8. Once bill number 2 is paid off, repeat step 7 with bill number 3. Continue this process until all your debts are paid.
9. Close credit card accounts as they are paid off. Keep one MasterCard or Visa account for emergency purposes only. Write a letter to close each account and to tell them not to have their telemarketers call. If you call to request the account closed, the creditor will offer you something tempting to convince you to keep it open.
10. During this process you must pay cash for all purchases and not incur any new debt.
The Benefits of Being Debt-Free
After you payoff your bills you can begin to target your money toward worthwhile financial goals, such as saving for retirement, your children's college education, starting a business venture, or simply taking a well-deserved vacation. One of the biggest benefits of being debt-free, however, is peace of mind. You will no longer have to be stressed out about money.
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