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Helpful Tips
| Sun, 12-12-2004 - 8:44pm |
I need suggestions on how to start getting out of debt. I have debit I need to pay off and am confused at where to start. I need to pay off this debt in order to make a new start at life. Since some of you have been in this situation, let me know how you were able to do it? Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome! I'm just starting out too. I've known about my debt load for quite a while, but kept it to myself (not telling my husband) and let the guilt over that eat at me. So the biggest tip I can give you is that if you have a partner in your life, tell that person everything. I cannot begin to explain the relief of doing so.
Other ideas we have put into motion are to create grocery lists based on what we plan to make for meals during the week, buying only what we need, and making no extra trips to the grocery store during the week. If we run out of something, we just make do until the following weekend when we go shopping again. Reason being that it's hard for myself (and my husband) to go into a big grocery store and walk out with just the one item we ran out of. :-)
Other than bills which are paid by check, we pay for all extra purchases in cash, and we record in our Quicken program what the cash was spent for. If we use .50cents in a vending machine, we put it into Quicken that evening that we spent that money and what it was spent for. There's less chance of overspending somewhere if you can only spend the cash you have, and nothing more.
We are now considering changing our cable service since the rates keep going up on us, for the same service we've always received. Also, we have a lawn service that controls weeds in our front and back yards, and it would be $20 cheaper per application to have them only do the front (the front, at least, is neccessary as our neighborhood association requires the lawns to look perfect from the street or we could be fined). But still...with 7 applications per year, and a $20 savings on each, that's quite a savings. I'm also toying with the idea of cancelling our trash pickup. It is $48.00 a quarter for one day a week pickup, but we have a trash collection site/recycling center about 15 minutes from our house that charges only .25cents a bag for trash and nothing for recyclables. That would be a savings too as we only have a 3 member family, and we don't create that much garbage. So there are still things we are finding that we can do.
Good luck in starting your debt-free life. This board is a great help!
Patty :-D
Hi there,
as said before: You are here, all of you, and that is a big, important first step. It means you are willing to look your debt in the face. It my be an ugly face, but looking away doesn't help - not really...
In addition to the technical tips and the prior posts, I'd like to add my two cents:
For me it was very important to find out how my debt did accumulate. Where did it all come from? Is it student loans, mortgage, credit card debt - and if the latter, how did it come to be? I watched myself very, very closely, and finally found out when and why I tend to overspend. That made me actively work on changing my habits in spending and finances.
If your debt accumulated because there's simply not enough money to make do, there's at least two more questions to ask oneself: Is there any way to generate more income? And is there any chance to spend less, not only by foregoing 'luxuries', but by talking a real close look at things like energy costs (especially nowadays that oil and energy prices are at sky high levels), costs for daycare, cars etc. - maybe there's more people in the area you live in who would be interested in car sharing or commuting to work together?
... there's plenty of areas to look at to find possibilities to cut costs. Knowing that about every household in the US (and many other countries) is in debt also means: There's probably quite a few people around you who have the same problem and would love to cut costs together (by buying in bulk, sharing cars etc.). So there should be at least some 'allies' in that task in your community to be found :-)
And emotional support is maybe more important than anything else in this. That's why there is this board.
Greetings, Jordis
ivy_jordis
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