You Can Get Out of Debt

[dollardaze]

Most of us hopefully, are not so swamped with debt that we want to pull our hair out with the frustration of wanting to get a handle on our financial situation, but not knowing how to go about it. If you or someone you know, though are in such a situation, here are some ways in which to get that debt paid down.

So much debt that people have accumulated is through the use of credit cards. I recently read about a man in his 60's and is retired, his wife who is a few years younger is still working, their combined income is around $80,000 per year. This couple had accumulated about $92,000 in credit card debt.
Wanting to pay off this debt, they went to Consumer Credit Counseling, formulated a plan, and were able to erase this debt in 4 1/2 years.

The plan they followed changed their lifestyles, in that there was no eating out, no vacations, and no more credit cards. In short, they basically gave up their extracurricular activities completely. This took a big commitment on their part, but they were able to achieve their goal in just a few short years. Rising prices and joblessness are forcing many people to re-evaluate their monthly spending. The best tool for getting out of debt, is simply having a plan and sticking to it.

Decide on a goal, do you need to save some emergency cash? Pay of credit cards? Figure out a specific goal, or goals.

Find out where you are spending. Write down everything you purchase for several weeks. (you may be surprised at how much you are spending on small things which seem insignificant, but really add up at the end of a month's time.) If you don't know where your money is going, you will never meet your goals. You cannot control what you don't know.

Now figure out how much spending you need to cut out to meet your goals. If necessary, think about taking a part-time second job if at all possible. If a second job is out of the question, then you must make the necessary cuts in spending to meet your goals.

You can live without cable TV, you don't have to have both a cell phone and a land line. Decide what you would miss more, and cut wherever possible.
Think of all possible ways to save some cash each month. Decide what is important in your life. Making payments on an SUV? Consider driving something smaller, with better gas mileage. Mainly it's the big, fixed monthly expenses that get you into big debt, and those are the things which you should think about changing.

Getting rid of credit-card debt is key to freeing up cash. Cut those cards up and don't apply or accept any more of them. The interest rates and fees for late payments, etc. add up to a lot of unecessary cash spent without getting in return.