Work On Getting Out Of High Interest Debt
When people fall into debt, it can seem complicated and even be quite stressful to get out of it. One reason that a person’s debt increases instead of decreases is that at times we overlook those “little” and seemingly insignificant interest charges that gets added to the bills every month – particularly if the bill isn’t paid off in full. Sometimes due to our various unique circumstances the bill can’t be paid off in full, but please remember things get worse when we pay no more than the bare minimum payment.
How To Get Out Of High Interest Debt
Firstly, we have to know how much money will be coming in each money that you can use to pay off bills. Start with a simple spreadsheet. We also need to look at what we are spending our money on – so that we know where our money is going.
Secondly – Look at our money efficienty – If our debt keeps going up, because of interest then we are going to have to cut back on wasteful spending, OR, find an additional source of ligitimate income. This reduction in some of our lifestyle habits could also include reducing the spend of money to eat out at a restaurant or even reduced spending on entertainment like movies, comedy clubs, etc.
Our situation may be enough where spending like this has to be cut out completely. Sometimes its the sacrifice we have to make..Remember much of this debt didn’t happen overnight and may have even been as a result of lifestyle creep.
Dave Ramsey has told some of his callers that they can’t get out of debt -then “they should not see the inside of a restaurant unless they are working at a second job.” That leads to the next step you should take if enough money isn’t coming in from your normal job. If you work a normal forty-hour-a-week job and the interest you have to pay keeps building up, then you might have to find a second job that you can work which will bring in extra money. A second job could also with the use of various freelancing opportunities that may arise both in our local area as well as online.
For example – those who may work about forty hours a week may then have their weekend completely wide open. The weekend job can be temporary until we have built up enough money where we can pay off a huge chunk of this interest.
Call Up The Credit Company
Another thing that can be done to pay off high interest – even if it’s from a credit card is to call your credit card company. Companies want their money and if you explain that the interest rate is making it impossible to make any progress on your credit card payments, they may be willing to negotiate a manageable plan where you pay a certain amount every month and no more interest will be accumulated.
The only drawback to this solution is after we pay off the credit card, the creditor won’t let us use the card again. So this call to a credit card company should be a last resort, if it can’t be avoided.
Drowning in our bills because of interest payments does not mean impossible to pay, but at least start the process rather than avoid. The short term pain may be worth the long term gains. Let us call it our financial muscle workout.