Debt Help

I hate being in debt. That's why we made some changes in our lifestyle and how we spend. We canceled cable TV (no good shows on anyway, and we can see a lot of shows online for free), we shopped around for the cheapest grocery stores, and we sold the extra cars. We still have 2 cars, but that's half of what we used to have.

We still go out to eat (3-4 times a year), but we found a restaurant where we can eat as much as we want for less than $42 for a family of five. The best part is, the food is great!

I only mention these things to show you that it is possible to reduce your spending while hardly noticing.

If your debt is growing each month by a large amount you might need to move into a cheaper apartment. If you own a home, you could see about refinancing. If you owe less than the house is worth, you might need to sell and move into a home that costs less each month.

Whatever you need to do to get your expenses lower than your income, you will find that it's not that bad. Afterall, our great-grandparents (or grandparents) made it through the depression. Some of them took in laundry or borders, some lived with very little (my mom never had more than 2 dresses in her closet while she was growing up), but they survived.

We can be thankful that we will not have to go with as little as my mom. If you are like the majority of Americans you have a closet full of clothes, more shoes than you need, at least one cell phone, and several TVs in your home.

You have access to great deals on clothes and shoes at the many Salvation Army stores and Goodwill stores nationwide. That is something my grandparents and great-grandparents did not have access to in the 1930s.

So look around and see how you can reduce your spending. Write up a budget and figure out if you are spending more each month than what you have coming in.

It's not bleak. Things will get better. But now is not the time to be going further and further into debt. Now is the time to get out of debt and set some money aside for the future.