Debt is a crushing burden to carry, especially in these hard economic times. It causes many people, today, sleepless nights and affects their mental and emotional well-being. During the boom times, governments, banks, lenders, and retailers encourage everyone to buy everything with borrowed money and many people spent much more than they earned. In many countries, interest rates are currently low, however, they will not always remain low and could rise very sharply ad very quickly. It makes sense for people to get out of debt as far as possible.
The simplest way to get out of debt is to pay it off and not to raise any more debt. People used to spend less than they earned. Do not use credit cards at all. It is very easy to overspend using a credit card because it does not feel like spending money. Always pay more than the minimum amount off your credit card each month, if you only pay the minimum amount your debt actually rises because all the minimum payment pays from large debts is part of the interest, which then keeps mounting up giving you a never-ending debt.
Spend less than you earn. Use any spare money to pay off debts. Get a second job and use the money to pay off your debt even more quickly.
Make a budget and think about what you need for necessities. There is a huge difference between necessities and wants. A mobile telephone, for example, is a necessity, if you use it for your work, but if you only use it for private purposes it is a want. Food, electricity, rent, and fares to work, are necessities, buying a designer coffee each day, on the way to work, is an unaffordable luxury and money that you could use to pay off debt. If you want a coffee on the way to work, make some coffee at home and carry it with you in a vacuum flask.
When you go grocery shopping, decide your weekly menus and make a list of what you need. When you get to the store, buy generic or own brands rather than the flashy big brand names. Do not be dazzled by special offers, remember that they are often, not all they seem. A special offer is only a special offer, if you will use the product. Dog biscuits may be on special offer, but buying twenty bags, because they are ‘buy one get one free’, does not save you any money, if the dog will not eat them and have to buy some that he will eat.
Look at ways that you can cut costs. Do you really need 300 television channels? How many of them do you actually watch? Cut your satellite, or cable, subscription either out or to the basic subscription.
Simplify your life, ignore advertizing, advertisers make people believe that they need all their products. Nobody needs fifty cleaning products, even if their makers all claim that they are the best. You are not a bad parent, if you do not buy your children the sugary cereal, with the cartoon character advertising it on the television, the toy that the manufacturer advertises 20 times in children’s television time, or the range of trendy designer clothing, that costs four times the price and is half the quality of other brands.
If your debts are out of control, do not go to firms that say they will consolidate them, you will end up in even more debt. Go to the free debt advice services recommended by your government, your local citizen’s advice services or other official body. In the United Kingdom, the government supplies an official list of charity and free help centres to help those, who find themselves in debt difficulties.
Getting out of debt is not pleasant, but it is better than suffering under a mountain of debt and worry. Hiding from, or ignoring debt, does not deal with it and only allows it to build further. Dealing with debt puts you back in control of your finances and of your life. Debt is a crushing burden to carry, especially in these hard economic times. It causes many people, today, sleepless nights and affects their mental and emotional well-being. During the boom times, governments, banks, lenders, and retailers encourage everyone to buy everything with borrowed money and many people spent much more than they earned. In many countries, interest rates are currently low, however, they will not always remain low and could rise very sharply ad very quickly. It makes sense for people to get out of debt as far as possible.