5 Tips for a Debt Free You

By Isobel Miller

Never in the entire history of mankind has there ever been a time with such great technological development as there has been in the past 150 years, the light bulb, the telephone, motorized transportation, television, computers, cell phones, satellite, internet, CD, DVD, wireless technology, in fact if the earths entire existence were represented as a 24 hour day, the amount of technological growth in the past 150 years would only represent a brief three thousandth of a second in comparison.

Something else that’s increased as equally as rapid as developing technology and has seen as many incarnations itself is the face of debt. Over the past 150 years debt has evolved into something to satisfy the instant gratification needs we’ve adopted in recent times. We have extra disposable cash to impulse buy with, only problem is, it isn’t ours to begin with.

We’ve sunk deeper into debt buying with money we don’t have, we’ve become a nation of borrowers and are struggling to pay what we owe.

Getting out of debt needn’t be worse than tooth pulling, even just making little adjustments with spending can translate into big savings over time.

Here are some instant money saving tips.

Budget

Face your debt demons, find out the full extent of your debt and determine which course of action best suits you. If your debt is manageable, create yourself a budget and stick to it, use extra money to beef up credit card and loan payments, the less interest you pay overall, the better. Why give the banks more money than you have to?

If your having difficulty getting your debts under control on your own, then you might want to consider consolidating all your payments into one, that way it’s easier to keep tab of your finances, this accompanied by a realistic budget will help you get out of debt faster.

Make a debt repayment plan. Taking all of your debts into consideration calculate how long it would take you to become debt free if you paid “x” amounttoward your debts on a weekly basis. Set the date you finish paying off your last debt. Stick to that goal!

Tricks of the Saving Savvy

1. Cook your own meals. You’ll be amazed at how much you can save just buy cooking your own food. There are excellent economical recipes everywhere on the internet, just because you’re cooking on a shoestring doesn’t mean your food has to taste like it.

2. With economic recession a reality and threatened job security ever present it pays to have a little extra set aside for the unforeseeable emergencies. The rule is to always set aside 10-15% of your net income. Set up a debit payment system for the 10-15% to go directly into the “emergency” account fund. You won’t miss the money you never see and you’ll learn to budget with what you have left over.

3. Repair, recycle and revive clothing. Heck fashion always has a habit of recycling itself that you’re bound to catch it again on its comeback. Need to breathe life into your existing wardrobe without breaking the bank?, accessorize by adding a good black dress, white shirt and pair of trousers to your ensemble, these basics are timeless and never go out of style.

4. Take a gander inside the average Americans wallet and lurking amongst the lint and the odd receipt, you might find between 2 to 6 credit cards!, imagine keeping up with the monthly repayment fees and only barely being able to cover the minimum, you opt for this and you’ll remain in debt much longer and make the banks and credit companies even richer. If you have more than one credit card, keep 1 and get rid of the rest. If you need extra help to get that debt under control, consolidate then put as much of your wages toward paying off the loan.

5. Tendency to impulse buy? You won’t be so tempted if you’ve set a debt goal for yourself, just knowing that buying something unnecessarily will effect the achievement of your goal. Remind yourself that by not buying the “to die for” shoes will get you out of debt sooner than if you did, a powerful motivator.

Becoming debt free can be simple and done by implementing small changes on a permanent basis, once you become accustomed to them, they become lifestyle.