Are you losing sleep over mounting debt? When you wake up each day do you wonder either how much further in debt you are or will you ever be able to rid yourself of debt? Are you finding these questions popping up in your mind more frequently than you care to admit to anyone? If you answered yes to any of these questions, do not feel as if you are alone – you are not.
There are a multitude of different organizations that will help you to move from being suffocated with debt to living a life that is debt free. None of these programs will eliminate your debt immediately. It is important to remember that you did not become overwhelmed with debt in a short time frame and that it will take dedication on your part from a few years to move out of debt.
Before contacting an organization to help you with your debt you may want to try these five suggestions to help motivate you to a health spending lifestyle.
- Gather all your financial information and look closely at your creditors. You will probably find that you have some balances that are quite high and some that are low. The interest rates will vary as well. If you concentrate on one bill that has the lowest balance and pay it off first you will then have a sense of accomplishment that will encourage you to continue.
- Now that you have found the payment that has the lowest balance you can organize your remaining outstanding bills from ascending order from lowest balance to highest or ascending order of highest interest to lowest. Use the method that will bring you the greatest sense of accomplishment.
- You want to put all the extra money you can to paying off the first debt on your list, and continue paying the minimum required amount on the other debts. When you have paid off the first debt, use the money towards the next debt on your list.
- Be creative and diligent to putting any extra money towards paying off the principal. Such as having garage sales, getting extra money received for special events, and trimming your spending to put all available resources to paying off your debts.
- Now that you have established a list of the debts you are paying, make a list of goals and intervals to reward yourself. Now remember, the reward is not to extravagant so that you land further in debt. Small rewards that make you feel good – you are moving further away from debt with each payment you make -congratulate yourself.
