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Still in debt? 8 reasons why you can’t break free.
The reasons as to why you are still struggling with debt may be wide and varied, in your mind, but I think I can break it down into 8 reasons Why you’re still in debt.
Here goes.
It’s too Hard / Boring / Frustrating.
Well, no one said it would be easy did they but it doesn’t have to be boring. Do you like playing games? What about phone apps – got all day for those things? Why not combine a budgeting phone app with a game playing mentality? The aim is to outsmart the “bank” and end the day with money left over. Set challenges along the way and make your goals small and attainable. Don’t look at the $10,000 balance outstanding but instead, look at the $200 additional payment you want to make over and above the minimum for this month.
You’re not making enough money to make a dent in the debt.
Hmm…
I’m going to take a wild guess here and assume you built you’re current level of debt up by buying too much stuff? So – where is all that stuff now? Are you still using it? Does it still bring you joy? Do you feel the weight of the debt that purchasing that stuff brought with it and does that outweigh the benefits of having it?
I made $430 bucks EXTRA this week by selling off some old stuff. I put that money on my credit card and then I booked and paid for my daughter’s flight to her new school, over on the Mainland. Wasn’t rocket science. Wasn’t particularly difficult either. I knew I would have to use the credit card to book the flight but I needed a way to not ADD to my debt. As it turns out the flight was $264 and so now, I have enough left over to check her bags also.
Do you know some stuff about some things? Write an ebook. Also not rocket science. Takes a little while but if you use Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing most of the hard work is removed. I spent $1 on a cover for my book and have earned almost $50 extra bucks in royalties. Only one snag – Amazon take 60 days to pay so this is for your future budgeting needs.
Another great way to make some money on the side is to start your own blog! Don’t expect 6 figures overnight but do expect a Lil’ sumthin sumthin within three months, especially if you start small with the ads using Medianet.
Here’s how to get started:-
How to start a profitable blog for FREE and the Ugly side that no-one wants to talk about.
Blogging: six Part mini Series.
Additional Reading:- Need a way to make more money?
You Keep ADDING to your existing debt.
It’s never gonna go away if you keep increasing it (See example above). If you have come to the realization that getting out of debt is your foremost priority, and I won’t even began to start in on WHY that needs to be so, then you should have a plan as to HOW that’s going to happen. No Lotto win, no magic fairy dust. It’s really VERY SIMPLE and it’s called A Budget.
If you, like me, are addicted to stuff, then budgeting in a small amount each week for you to spend how you please takes the burden off the finances and stops you going crazy on the instant gratification splurges that are dragging you further down.
Additional reading: Clearing Debt like your life depends on it.
I also found Staying Away from the Shops helped me. For a solid year Hubster had to do All of the shopping by himself. Now – He’s a strong independent human and so, this was easy for him. List in hand, off he went. Groceries unpacked one hour later (no musing up and down the aisles; no throwing “bargains” into the cart) and the budget stayed on track.
Oh – you don’t have a budget?
Do you even know how much money you owe and to whom? Do you know where your money goes?
So – are you hiding or are you just clueless about where to start? Ok, time to read Master Your Money. This will give you all of the tools you need to master the ancient art of “Budgeting” (especially building a budget that doesn’t suck).
But…you deserve treats!
Do you? Really? You’d rather hide your head in the sand, buy the new (shoes / gadget / whatever) on credit, feel great for five minutes and then spend the next three nights lying awake wondering how in the heck you are going to pay this month’s credit card bill / Utilities / Rent?
Do you know the definition of insanity?
You’re only ever paying the minimum payment.
OR, worse still, you are ignoring your debt payments or putting them off.
As well as a budget you now need a plan of attack. I favor the debt snowball method (and Dave Ramsey is The Master) but there are many other approaches to nuking debt. Do a little reading and find what works best for you then DO IT!
Tomorrow’s a new day. I’ll start tomorrow.
Ah – Procrastination. Closely followed by the Panic induced monkey. If you don’t know what I mean then this will brighten your day.
There’s no time like the present and tomorrow never comes. Do it NOW! OK – enough yelling.
No Austerity measures or “survival mode”.
You have no austerity measures put in place, no emergency fund to fall back on. In fact, it’s been business as usual for so long now that, if something were to break, like the washing machine or the car, you’d be in deep Do do.
Here’s were you start:-
-Recurring meal plans. Sign up to get access to the free meal plan printables in the freebie vault. It’s quite safe. I rarely send out emails!
-Reduce Meat consumption. For us, the biggest cost each week is meat. do yourself (and the planet) a favor and cut it back. Everyone loves meatless Mondays.
– Get rid of one vehicle (if you’re a two car family). It saves on Insurance and cuts back on Gas. It may mean one of you gets into work a little early and stays a little later but I’m guessing that’s going to look good when you ask for your next raise. Win. win.
– Cut the utilities right back. Ditch the cable TV and sign up for streaming. You like to buy things, right? I’m guessing you’ve got Amazon Prime? (How else you getting those goodies to you lickety split?) Watch Amazon Prime movies and TV. It’s free with your membership!
Check out all of the savings that can be made with one subscription. My $79 per year subscription has saved me $960 so far on Cable TV alone! Couple this with the $9.99 a month I pay for Netflix and we now have All The TV we could possibly want to watch.
– Use local sale sites to replace items and sell unwanted goods. I was saving up for a new suite of kitchen appliances but getting frustrated with the ever increasing costs I was reading in the flyers. A little savvy shopping later and I collected three immaculate appliances (Stove, Refrigerator and dishwasher – matching set) from a lovely Old couple in the neighborhood for $350.00. Not each. $350 for all three.
Some Tough Love.
The main reason your not making any progress on your debt is you. You’re telling yourself a story or making excuses as to why you can’t do or why you did something.
Unless – The Onceler. Dr. Seuss.
| “ | Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not… | ” |
XO
Anna
good