The Best Way to Get Free From Debt

When an economic crisis hits people, inevitably there are personal financial casualties.  The main reasons for this are retrenchments and cut backs, as well as failing private businesses.The next great danger for families is rising costs.  When people have become used to a certain lifestyle and standard of living, very few are able to make the rapid adjustment necessary to adapt to costs that rise when incomes don’t.  It is so easy for even the most careful budgets to fall apart when the economy changes suddenly.The most important thing to remember is that you need to have an income that covers your basic and absolutely necessary living costs.  You cannot spend what you have not got.  From now on, what you cannot pay for in cash, you will have to go without.  The painful, but vital first truth!So, you need the absolutely essential food, water, shelter, medical costs and basic education expenses for your children. You need to use the cheapest form of transport, and only absolutely necessary new clothing.  After this you need to be able to service the minimum monthly payments on your accounts. Then, whatever you have left over from your income is your only tool to overcome your debt problem.  How you do this is what could make the difference to getting free from debt in the most painless way and in the shortest time.It may mean that you need to consider a new job, an additional job or some other way of earning an extra income.  Unfortunately, in some cases it just is not possible to increase the family income.  If you cannot improve your finances, you will have no choice but to downsize your commitments in some way.  Luxuries, of course, need to go first.  Holidays, treats, hobbies, expensive sports and outings will have to be put on hold until your financial circumstances have recovered. It may even mean selling a car, furniture, or even your house.There are some very common and sensible approaches to getting free of debt.   Each type of strategy has its own advantages.The first is to concentrate on paying off the smallest debts first, until they are out of the way, so freeing up the interest you were paying on them to help pay the next biggest debts.  This causes a ‘snowball’ effect and helps you to pay faster and faster as you go along.  By the time you reach your really big and painful debts, you should have freed up a substantial amount each month to hit those debts hard and get rid of them at the best possible speed!Another, and more obvious way is to reckon out which debts are costing you the highest rate of interest.  These are the ones to tackle first.  Put everything extra into those and get rid of them as soon as possible.   Work your way down to the lowest interest rate debts. In the long term, this system may save you the most amount of money.  A third strategy is to pay a little extra with the minimum amount due every month.  Remember this amount comes straight off the debt and is not part of the interest.  This is possibly the most valuable deduction you will be making on your debt over time.  Probably you will have to find a balance between all three methods.  Fortunately, if you are finding it difficult to negotiate your personal crisis, there are qualified and experienced counsellors who will be able to advise you, help you create a new budget or even restructure your debt in some way to make it more manageable and help you turn the debt equation around with debt consolidation.  Remember, people are generally not out to punish you, but to help you back to a healthy financial state!