debt free living

The single best thing I ever did for my debt

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If you have debt you may constantly be asking yourself “How can I get out of debt?”  The truth is there are several ways to get out of debt, but the single best thing you can do to help become debt free is to make a plan and ask for help.

O.K. so those are two things, but combined together they will help you be on your way to becoming debt free.  Making a plan will help set out every step you need to take to start and stay living without debt.  There is nothing worse than the stress that being in debt can bring.  However so often people complain about their debt, but don’t do anything about it.  Making a plan will help you take action.

Sometimes – actually most of the time – we need help to achieve our goals. That may be the help of a personal trainer if we want to lose weight or a driving instructor if we want to get our license.  The same is true for our debt, if you need help managing your money, setting a budget, lowering interest rates and creating a debt free plan then don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Here are three other ways to be on your way to living debt free:

Call your bank and negotiate interest rates

Banks are notorious for only caring about their bottom line, but considering all the recent economic turbulence banks can be surprisingly understanding about personal situations.  The majority of my credit card companies were very understanding of my financial hardship; they offered to lower the interest rates on outstanding balances to below 10% and in some cases to 0%.

I guess it’s better for banks to receive some of their borrowed money back with zero or little interest charged rather than receive nothing if the cardholder files bankruptcy and the outstanding balance is written off.

Start earning a second income

The more money you earn the more payments you can make on your debt and the faster you’ll become debt free.  Working more than 40 hours a week can be exhausting, but every time you go to bed tired or hungry because you didn’t have time to eat dinner just remember that the situation is temporary.

All your hard work will pay off when you start living debt free and save hundreds or thousands of dollars on interest charges.
Cut your living expenses then cut them some more

Believe it or not a lot of people live beyond their means and that’s how they get into debt.  I know buying a magazine or grabbing a cup of coffee may seem like a regular everyday expense, but the truth is these expenses are a luxury and can be cut.

Paying off your debt sooner means cutting unnecessary expenses.  It will be hard, but once again it’s only a temporary situation until you become debt free.

Photo from Pixabay

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