One thing that many people are attempting to do now is rid themselves of debt. Some with large amounts of debt are struggling while trying to pay it down or pay it completely off. I for one, have been doing a few things as I pay down my debt.
For one, after two weeks, I have created the habit of going through my cabinets and have begun to take my lunch to work everyday. This usually saves me anywhere between $25 to $35 per week. Multiply that by 4 and I'm saving $100 to $140 per month. Multiply that by 12 (months) and that is an annual savings of $1200 to 1680. WOW! I didn't quite reralize how much money I was spending on lunch alone! This leaves some extra money in my checking and savings account that I can pay my debt down with.
Secondly, I have started to unplug every little item I can think of that consumes electricity. In empty bedrooms, I have unplugged clocks, televisions and even phone chargers. I turn off my computer every night and even uplug my internet modem. The savings here are minimal but I have seen the affects of this when I receive my monthly electric bill. Again $5 to $10 dollars per month ends up being a savings of $60 to $120 annually.
Finally, I have begun to sell off my extensive book collection. Over the years I have collected books ranging in subject matter from astronomy to American history. I find that these books take up space and are also readily available at the local libraries. On average I would buy $30 to $50 of books per month. Extend this out to 12 months and now I am saving approximately $360 to $600 per year.
The savings between lunches, electricity and books, I am able to reduce my spending by approximately $1620 to $2400 per year.
Of course, then main thing is to stay disciplined and to keep using this extra money to pay down your debt.
If you Google paydown debt, you'll find many websites that offer, for a price, a formula to pay down debt. Don't buy any of them! Believe it or not, it is all common sense. Spend less on purchases and pay more on your debt. It is as easy as that!
Right now I'm concentrating on paying off one credit card. Any extra money I save, I add to the monthly payment and am on track to pay it off before the end of the year...sooner I hope. Immediately afterwards, I will be paying off a revolving credit card with the money I was paying to pay off the first credit card.
Overall, it is a process of paying off your debt a little bit at a time and not incurring any new debt. I know this sounds easier than it is to actually do, but I am already seeing the results. Give it time. Get disciplined. Reduce your debt. In the long run, you'll feel better, you will be better off financially and maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to take that trip to the Bahamas you've always wanted!
1 comment:
Excellent information. I am well aware of lots of the "little things" that dwindle our money, like Starbucks (which I personally don't do a lot of, but mom likes it when she's at work) movies (we have a very large collection from a couple of decades of collecting, but since we don't really go out to movies or anywhere else for that matter, it's relatively inexpensive @ $2-5/pop)
Working from home helps with gas, and general daily expenses, and I don't eat much.
Trying to find a few dollars here and there to try to save would sure add up, slowly, but would still add up. I am trying to instill a sense of saving and responsibility in Bailey when it comes to money. We had a garage sale over the weekend and she got $10 for her table and immediately wanted to go shopping around the other sales. I told her she could only use half and save the rest.
Well, this is your blog, we need to email ideas and stuff!
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