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Simple Ideas to Help Reduce Your Debt

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Is Debt Burying You In Stress?

From personal experience I know that there are not many things more stressful than being in debt. Minumum payments, finance charges, collection calls...

How do you ever catch up?

With this lens, I'd like to share some of the tips and resources that I have found helpful in my quest for debt management.

Contents

  1. Credit Card Debt Poll
  2. Stop Creating Debt
  3. Did You Have the Guts?
  4. Increase Your Income
  5. More Money Making Ideas
  6. Decrease Your Spending
  7. More Cost Saving Ideas
  8. Snowball Your Debt
  9. Recommended Debt Management Books
  10. Debt Management Forum
  11. Show the Love!

Credit Card Debt Poll

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Stop Creating Debt

If at all possible, cut up your credit cards and don't get any more. Don't get any more loans. You've probably heard this one before, but how many of you have actually done it?

Tuck some money away in a savings account to cover you in case of an emergency so you don't have to build more debt the next time something unexpected happens. This is called your emergency fund. Just a few dollars a month to start, direct deposited automatically so you don't think about it, will add up over time.

Easier said than done? Trust me I know!!! Credit cards have been my "emergency fund" for far too long. But you have to bite the bullet and change those bad habits before things get any worse.

Did You Have the Guts?

Have you been able to cut up your credit cards? Share your story and inspire the rest of us. If you can't do it, why not?

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  • Reply
    maomao123 Feb 11, 2012 @ 4:30 am | delete
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  • Reply
    jessica jones Aug 9, 2011 @ 9:58 am | delete
    I totally agree! stop debt but some people are just so hooked up with debt loan that they keep on applying for a loan without doing the math!
  • Reply
    avena Feb 7, 2012 @ 1:22 am | delete
    Real Estate Investment the Smart Choice - Great lens and I have seen many people who just buy properties when it is cheap and sell when the price raises.I think that's the real investment.
    NY Landlord Insurance
  • Reply
    Jen Jul 14, 2011 @ 2:29 pm | delete
    Cool, you have a nice lens here and I find it quite interesting. Anyway, do you have a post about autopilot income really effectively? Lots of people including me are searching for that topic in the internet and if you do have, then it would be very helpful to us plus it can drive traffic to your site. Thank you, surely I will be back to keep an eye for more of your post and hopefully also the one that I been looking for. Best Regards, Jen.
  • Reply
    Alan Walker May 18, 2011 @ 9:27 am | delete
    You are 100% right it us up to us to control our debt. However these days it is dufficult to buy online without a credit card. Once existing credit card debt is under control one thing to look at is pre-paid cards.
    http://www.thedebtadvicesite.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-prepaid-credit-cards.html
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Increase Your Income

If you find that you just don't have enough money every month to pay all your bills AND have money left over to pay down your debt, then you need to increase your income. There's no way around it. This may mean adding a small part-time job or you could try to find more creative ways to bring in some extra cash. Remember: Every little bit helps!

When was the last time you evaluated your withholding allowances? You know... how much tax is being sucked out of your paycheck... If you were issued a tax refund this year, you should consider changing your tax withholdings. A tax refund is nice, but not when you really need that money in your paycheck. Get your employer to give you a new W-4 form and set your exemptions higher than they currently are. I'd recommend starting with an increase of only 1 so you don't end up owing taxes later. Your current pay stub should tell you what your current exemptions are.

Clean up your house and sell your unwanted items. Have a garage sale or sell your stuff on ebay. You'd be surprised what someone might pay you for that ugly antique vase your grandmother left you.

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Snowball Your Debt

Basically, budget how much you can apply to your debt every month and keep paying that much even when your monthly payments decrease. Once one bill is paid, take the amount you were paying on that bill and apply it to another one. This is called the "snowball method" or "debt snowball".

How it works:

1. Make a list of all your debts, ordered by debt amount, starting with your smallest debt first. One school of thought is to start with the loan with the highest finance rate because it makes more sense mathematically. BUT if you start with your smallest debt first, you will feel success much quicker and build up momentum.

2. Pay the minimum payments on all debts EXCEPT the top one. Put all of the remaining debt budget into that one payment. Keep going this way every month until that one debt is paid off.

3. Once one debt is paid, cross it off your list and CELEBRATE!

4. Then add the amount you WERE paying on that paid-off debt to the minimum payment on the NEXT debt.

5. Repeat!

Recommended Debt Management Books

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Debt Management Forum

Need to work out a specific debt problem? Need an answer to a question? Talk it out at Debt Management Talk. This is a great forum to discuss your debt management issues with others who feel your pain.

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kcgagne

Mom, Website Consultant, Internet Marketer and Fitness Coach

Kathleen Gagne, known by her peers as "K.C.", is a work-at-home-mom of two, currently residing... more »

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