In the Money Coffin? How to Unbury Yourself out from All Your Debt
Debt is an unforgiving task master. Interest never takes a vacation, a sick day, or a holiday. It accrues twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Being in a tremendous amount of debt can be suffocating, and it’s easy to get discouraged. However, there are things you can do to help dig yourself out of your hole of debt.
Get Your Spending Under Control
You can’t get your debt under control until you get your spending under control. Cut back as much as humanly possible so you can put all excess income towards debt.
When you’re up to your eyebrows in debt, there is no room for luxuries. Get rid of monthly service contracts, like subscriptions and expensive movie channels. Stop eating out and cook your meals at home. Limit your spending to necessities only, and be strict about what qualifies as a necessity.
Establish a Budget
Establish a budget that will help you control your future spending so you can then address your debt problem. Write down every necessary expense you make for one month, or use one debit card for every purchase and then look at your monthly statement to get a list of your expenditures.
Group your expenses into categories, like food, gas, etc., and add up the totals in each category. This will give you a good idea of how much you should be spending in each category. Use these figures as a goal for your monthly spending, and adjust the numbers when necessary.
Create a Plan
Once you are living within a budget and your spending is under control, you’ll have a good idea of how much extra money you have that can be put towards debt every month. The snowball method is one of the most efficient ways to pay off debt.
Essentially, you pay the minimum balance on all of your debts, and pay as much as you can down on your smallest debt. The goal is to be able to pay off that small debt and then take that monthly payment and add it to another debt.
Once your smaller debts are paid off, the money you would have spent on those monthly payments now piles on to help pay off larger debts more quickly.
Seek Help for Your Debt
If necessary, consider hiring a debt consolidation company that can consolidate all of your debts into one lump sum to make repayment easier. As a last resort, consider hiring a bankruptcy lawyer, like those at the Law Office of Barbara B. Braziel, to help guide you through the process of bankruptcy.
It’s always best to have an expert that can help you know what your options are, and how best to proceed.
Being in a lot of debt can put a tremendous amount of strain on your personal life. Do what you can to relieve this stress and live within your means.
Category: Debt
