Many people are finding themselves in debt and very stressed about it nowadays. To remove this stress from your life, you need to make a “getting out of debt” plan. Without a plan, you may not be focusing your finances most efficiently.
Before you begin, you’ll need to figure out how much debt you have and who you owe it to. Next, figure out how much of your income you have to spend each month to cover the minimum payments on each credit line. This will show you how much you have to set aside to keep your bills current.
One of the next things you need to do on your getting out of debt plan is to figure out which lines of credit have the highest interest rates and which you’ve had the longest. By eliminating the highest interest credit first, you will save yourself a lot of money.
If the interest on your credit line is high, that means you are paying them a lot of money that doesn’t get put toward your principal. If you have extra money, even a small change each week that you can pay towards these lines of credit along with the minimum payment, you will pay them off faster and pay them less money in interest. Many people don’t realize what an important step this is in your getting out of debt plan.
Keep in mind that the best get out of debt plan involves reducing your balances as quickly as possible. However, just paying the minimum amounts is not going to help you achieve your goals quickly. You’ll also need to be disciplined and not apply for any new credit while you’re working through your debt reduction plan. This also means not charging new purchases to credit.
Equally important is finding a way to reduce your expenses, even a little. When you’re spending less on your expenses, you have more money available to put towards paying down your debts faster for more on this approach, also known as “Snowball Debt Reduction,” visit, https://kgmeyerpc.com/snowball-debt-relief/.
While paying extra money may seem like a big task, it is beneficial. It gets more of your debt paid off and also helps you to improve your credit score. Even paying a little bit of extra money to a credit line is always reported to credit bureaus and reflects very well on your score. So if your credit score isn’t great, this is a good way to increase it a bit.
Another important point in your getting out of debt plan is learning to re-allocate your income and prioritize your spending differently. For example, resist the urge to go out and buy something else you have been wanting. Instead, create a plan to save enough money to buy those things in cash or use layaway. This is an interest-free option, so you know you’re only paying the amount of money on the ticket price instead of having interest added to the purchase cost.
By creating a getting out of debt plan, you are doing yourself a huge favor. This is a great way to control your credit and keep your finances from getting out of control. If you need a tool to assist you in tackling your debts, get the Snowball Debt Reduction spreadsheet at https://kgmeyerpc.com/product/debt-destroyer/.
If you need assistance creating a budget to tackle your debt, contact me directly or reach out to another fee-only Registered Financial Consultant.
