There are few feelings worse than drowning in debt. It’s not always easy to make your debt payments a priority, especially when you have so many bills and household expenses to take care of. Here are a few pain-free ways to get rid of your debt and start living with financial stability.
1. Pay your most expensive debt first (or the debt with the highest interest rate). It’s tempting to pay off your smaller debts right away, but you’ll make much more progress if you get the biggest, meanest debt out of the way first.
2. When it comes to your credit cards, never pay just the minimum balance – you’ll never get the card paid off! If you can’t pay the card off in full, at least pay double the monthly payment.
3. Struggling with paying your debt? If you need to make a payment stat, consider taking out an Idaho payday loan – you can pay it back in a couple of weeks when you receive your paycheck.
4. Balance transfers are a great option for people who need to consolidate their debt or avoid high interest rates. Open a card that boasts 0% interest for six or more months and then transfer one of your card balances to the new card. Keep in mind that this will only help you if you’re able to pay the balance in full before interest accrues.
5. For the time being, stop using your credit card – the last thing you need on top of debt is more debt!
6. Whenever you get unexpected money, put it towards your debt. So long as you have a budget in place, your bills and necessities should be covered – anything extra can go to your loans and credit cards.
7. Make a list of any recurring services you’re paying for. Which of those services or products do you really need? Get rid of anything that isn’t necessary. Recurring payments easily slip through the cracks because you don’t think about them until they’ve already been charged, but they can be a major drain on your income.
8. Part of paying off your debt is making sure that you’re not living above your means. Take a good look at your daily habits. What are you doing that’s wasting a lot of money? Change your schedule or routine to save some cash, then apply that saving to your debt.
I always thought it would make sense to pay off the little one so you don’t have to make payments but then take the money you were using to make payments and apply it to your next card until that is paid off and keep going up.
Thankfully I only use one credit card to pay bills and then I pay it off each month. This way I’m building my credit but not paying any interest.
Balance transfers and being careful with credit have been great for us. We’ve been able to pay off quite a bit with some good planning and budgeting.
I actually paid off my small ones first because the satisfaction of doing that kept me going to pay off the big ones. Maybe I’m weird, but that worked for me. I’ve been debt free for six years and counting..
Great tips!! I don’t have any extra to add… but the paying with cash works best for me. 🙂
We’re the kind of folks who don’t spend money we don’t have – except for our mortgage 😉 That’s the only debt we owe, and we’re trying to pay extra on that each month so we pay it offer faster.
These are some excellent tips! My debt use to be so bad to where I wanted to file for bankruptcy Luckily, I paid off my BIG debts fist and worked my way down to the smaller ones. I’ve been debt free for 10 years now.
When I had a slew of credit cards I had to go to a debt consolidation place to get them all paid off and I’m happy to never be in credit card debt ever again. But these are great tips.
I’m currently in debt on a very limited budget. I’m actually doing something that I’m sure would be against this plan but since mine are already in collections I am saving up the amount (I have 3) and I call to get the actual bill sent to me and paid it off immediately. I’ve paid one, got two more left. You have some great tips, I was too far in though when I discovered.
I can tell you, it’s a good feeling to be debt-free. It’s not always easy, but it can be done. These are great tips!
I’ll have to pass the info to my best friend since he is going through this right now. 🙁
Great list, I’ m working on reducing my debt. These are some tips I never thought of.
Great list, I’ m working on reducing my debt. These are some tips I never thought of.
Debt can really weigh on you emotionally. These are great tips to eliminate debt and feel better. I’m not debt-free yet, but I’ve got a plan!
Those are great tips, especially paying more than the monthly payment.
I struggle with putting my credit card away!
We are very proud to be debt free and only have one credit card, which we use for gas and emergency situations only!