There are four months left in 2015 and it’s time to get serious about achieving your goals for the year. If one of your goals is to be debt free by December 31 you only have approximately 100 days left to do so. Can you believe it? This year will be over in just over three months. Where did the time go.
I know a thing or two about debt. Other than being a financial planner I’ve had my share of credit cards, loans, payments and interest. If you want to become debt free I can definitely help, because I’ve done it.
Of course your ability to become debt free by the end of the year depends on how much debt you have, how disciplined you are and how much income you have coming in. So maybe you can’t be completely debt free by the end of the year, but you can be close to it or on your way.
Call your credit card company
I started having financial troubles at the same time as the market crash, so a lot of other people were going through the same thing. On the advice of the bankruptcy councillor I hired I contacted my credit card companies to let them know I was going through financial hardship and find out if they had any options to help.
All but one company was willing to lower interest rates, make set payment arrangements and forgive some of the debt. At the end of the day your credit card company wants their money back so they will be helpful in finding a solution. It’s better for them to get their capital back without any interest rather than having to write off the debt completely if I declared bankruptcy.
Find another income stream
This was the main contributing factor to my financial success in becoming debt free. I got a second — then third – job and put all my newfound earnings towards repaying my debt. This combined with all the money I was saving each month from cutting my living expenses quickly added up to my debt being paid off a lot faster than I originally planned.
Once I saw the balances going down and my credit score going up I quickly became obsessed with paying off my debt. I’m sure you will too. This is why I had so many sleepless nights and tired mornings, because I wanted to make as much money as I could and become debt free as soon as possible.
Automate everything
This was absolutely the only way I ever would have been able to become debt free. Despite my job as a financial planner I was unable to save money or be disciplined with my debt. If there was money in my account I would find something to spend it on whether that be food, Starbucks or shopping.
I wasn’t responsible enough or diligent enough to actually take my finances into my own hands. So I set up automatic payments from my checking account to all my bills on a monthly basis, sat back and watched my credit card balances go down. Best. Decision. Ever.
To be honest I still do this today. However instead of setting up automatic debt payments I have automatic transfers from my checking account to my savings.
