It isn’t hard to accumulate a lot of debt in a relatively short period of time. When this happens, making your monthly payments by their due date can be difficult or even impossible to achieve. Unfortunately, as a result, your credit declines at a rapid pace and you absorb late fees. The good news is there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And, with a commitment to moving forward, you can pull yourself out slowly and begin to reduce your debt, one day at a time.
Bringing in Additional Money
The quickest way to get out of debt is to find ways to make more money. If you are able to work overtime at your current job, that can help you earn more to meet your current obligations and start paying your bills on time. However, if this is not an option available to you, you may need to take on a second, part-time job until you reel in your debt.
Another way to get extra cash quickly is to sell things you no longer need. Use the internet as a way to post your merchandise or have a yard sale. If you don’t have any valuables to sell, then you can apply for a loan and make low monthly installments to help you stay afloat while you begin to work toward reducing your debt.
Remain Positive
It’s easy to give up and fall into a state of depression, especially if every penny you make is necessary to make payments on things like housing, loans, food and essentials. Instead of focusing on the long haul ahead without cash in your pockets to spend on things you want, take your journey one day at a time and watch the existing balances start to fall. You will get things in order, however, it will take some time.
Budgeting
The first order of business is to create a budget and set realistic goals for the future. Your budget will keep your eyes open to the debt you have in front of you and keep you motivated. It will also let you see first-hand where your debt comes from and help you trim the waste. If you find that you have five or six credit cards and you owe $500 or more each month on them, try to consolidate this debt to reduce the total amount of your payment.
One way to achieve this is to transfer the balance of a few cards onto one new card. Thankfully, there are many credit card companies that offer this service and most, if not all, give you a period of time, interest-free. If your credit score is not high enough to acquire a new card, then you can take the one with the highest interest rate and put any extra money towards that one to pay it down quickly. Once you have that one paid in full, move onto the next and continue on.
Falling behind financially is easier than you might imagine. You purchase a home and a new car, run up a few credit card balances, and before you know it, you’re knee deep in debt. Luckily, you can start to dig your way out and you can start today.a