Debt is something most of us have to get out of at some point. Some will, unfortunately, have a bit more than other, though, and the longer we avoid looking at it and dealing with the damage, the worse it’s going to be for both our personal finances and our stress levels.
This is a contributed post and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meet The Harris Family.
Luckily, it’s not really all that hard to get yourself out of it and lead a better, stronger, and healthier financial life in the future. Here is a handful of ways to get it done so that you and your family can have a bit more to spare and a bit less stress to deal with, in general.
That way, you won’t have to fear the next bill coming up and can happily have a look at your budget every month, knowing that you’re living within your means.
Coming to an agreement with the creditors
First of all, you need to repair the relationship between yourself and the creditors before you can start to focus on the future. Pick up that phone, in other words, give them a call and work out a plan that you’ll be able to stick to.
If you’re able to pay off a bit of your debt right away, they might be willing to write a part off so that you can reduce the debt as well, by the way. It’s definitely the right choice if you’re in a situation to do so – if not, you should still negotiate a payment plan that works for you.
Check out this handy article to learn more about how you can get back on their good side and pick up that phone as soon as possible.
They might be able to write some off your debt off if you have a lump sum of money to offer, though, so have a look at GetCash.com in case this is a possibility. Only agree to it when the terms are good, though, so that you can get as much as possible written off.
Start Budgeting for Real
The concept of budgeting is, of course, very simple and you’ll do fine as long as your income is higher than your expenses. It’s not always that easy to stick to, however, and so many people before you have tried to live within their means and failed miserably.
If you have more money going out than coming in you’ll have to fix it – and the only way you can do this is to either cut your expenses or up your income.
It might mean that you need to take up a side-gig so have a look at Entrepreneur.com to learn more about your opportunities.
The other alternative is to cut down on your expenses as much as possible which you should try to do nonetheless; slice your biggest expenses, first of all, negotiate a lower interest rate on your loans and make sure that your home isn’t eating up all of your money.
While you’d like to pay off your debt as fast as possible it’s never going to happen unless you leave a bit of room in your budget in case of unexpected expenses. Budget, plan, and make some wiggle room as well so that you’re prepared for anything and everything that might happen in the future.
