Debt Reduction - You Can Do it

1. Identify all your debts. This includes credit cards, loans, and any other outstanding debts.

2. Identify all your income sources. Paychecks, child support, anything that nets you money each month.

3. Record your spending. Record everything you buy during the week.

4. Reduce spending. Take what you learned from number three and stop the impulse spending. Take that money and funnel it into credit card payments.

5. Establish a budget. You'll reduce your monthly spending by an average of ten percent the first month!

6. Follow your budget and expect to adjust it the first few months so it better matches your monthly spending.

This method will get you out of debt quicker than you might think.

Let's say there are three credit cards with debts of $4000, $2000, and $1000. The $1000 debt would get paid off first by paying as much as possible towards that specific debt. Take the payment amount that was being used for the $1000 and add it into the payment on the $2000. Once the $3000 is paid off, take the TOTAL that was being paid on the $2000 and add that in with the regular $4000 payment.

Using this step, you might start out paying $400 per month on all your debt. When you are paying off the very last card, you'll be putting that same amount into just one card. Hence, the snowball effect of adding more and more money to each debt as you pay off the previous credit card debt. Nice solution.

This method works best if you target the credit card with the highest interest rate first. You'll be saving hundred, if not thousands if dollars in interest payments!

Creating a budget is the best way for controlling your debt. A budget provides a strict guideline of how money can be spent and how much money can be spent. It also offers the ability of seeing your current financial situation at any time during the month.

The first month of budgeting is the hardest because you are starting new spending habits and starting new record keeping processes. If you are budgeting with a spouse or other person, build each other up and help each other along. When one goes for an impulse purchase, don't be afraid to remind them of the budget. If one person is thinking managing money can't be done, remind them people do it all the time.

The budgeted numbers of the first month are more like guesses. Expect these numbers to change a lot during the first few months of budgeting. Only time can show how much you typically spend on food for a month. Don't get put off in these first few months. You can do it.

Twelve months from now, you'll have a super accurate budget that's realistic and you'll be saving more money and paying off more debt!