Fearing debt is a good thing — it keeps you in check. Things happen so quickly and before you know it, you can find yourself caught up in a difficult situation. If you didn’t have the right mindset before, when you really should have taken action to avoid the mess you’re in now, then it’s time to change your attitude and get back on track. Don’t be scared; this happens to a lot of people and you are not the first nor the last person trying to get out of debt. There are many of us who have gone through the same thing, and if others could get out of it, why shouldn’t you? There is no time for fooling around and you must start working on this issue seriously. It’s not going to be easy, but then again, nothing worthwhile comes easy.
1. Create a plan
The first thing you need to do is sit down and look at all the numbers. See how much you are spending, where you are spending it, how much you are earning, and come up with a plan based on all the numbers. You can even see where you can save money by just looking at your budget. Who knows? Maybe you subscribed to something a while ago and forgot about it since it didn’t mean anything to you back then, but now this money can be used for paying off your debt on a monthly basis. See if you have any unnecessary costs you can cut and come up with an amount you can afford to pay off each month. Once you set this, you should make sure to stick to it and never neglect your plan. One of the most important factors when trying to get out of the debt is not to get demotivated. When you set monthly goals, you will achieve mini-victories and encourage yourself even further.
2. Pay off your high-interest debts first
If you have credit cards or some other form of debt that has high interest rates, you should look to pay them off first. Interest rates will pile up over time and the longer you wait, the more money you will lose. Pay them off as quickly as possible and improve your credit score as you start to get your finances back on their feet.
3. Prepare your food by yourself
One of the first steps is to start saving up and, depending on the amount of debt you have, drastic measures might be required. This doesn’t mean that you won’t eat or that you will be forced to eat unhealthy foods. On the contrary, you can eat solid, healthy foods for a cheaper price than at restaurants or fast food joints. Get simple ingredients and cook decent meals. Set aside some time for preparing your food and you are good to go. When you buy pre-prepared food, you also pay for the service of preparing the meal for you — you do this yourself and cut those costs. There are many recipes for cheap and tasty meals you can find as well, so that your stomach can enjoy itself while you pay off your debt.
4. Find a second job
Times are hard, and if you are really that desperate and in a hurry to pay off your debt, you can find an additional part-time job that can earn you extra cash. Besides saving up money, it is also important to earn more, and you can do this by putting in additional work at your current job and working overtime or by working two jobs at the same time. Everyone has some skills or talents and you can try and monetize yours, no matter if we are talking about teaching English online, writing, babysitting, delivering packages, etc. Anything you can find will mean a lot to you, especially if you get a job at a restaurant where you can get free food as well. It won’t be too fresh, but it’s still healthy food and you won’t pay a dime for it. There are a lot of people who have two jobs just because they want to advance in their careers, and if they can do it, why shouldn’t you try this method as well to save yourself from a financial disaster?
5. Sell the stuff you don’t really need
Another way you can quickly earn some cash is to sell some of your stuff. Most people have a lot of stuff just laying around. We don’t really need this stuff to live our lives, and we just cling to it, hoping that we will do something with it in the future. Well, this is a good opportunity to do something with this stuff — sell it and help yourself get out of debt quickly. If you live in a suburban neighborhood, you can set up a garage sale. This is usually the quickest and the cheapest way you can sell a bunch of stuff without having to put in a lot of work and time. If not, you can sell stuff online on various marketplaces. This may seem like a long shot to you, but trust me when I tell you that no matter how much something may seem uninteresting to you, to somebody else, it might be the thing they were waiting for their whole life.
6. Move back in with your parents
If you are still single and you don’t have a family, a good move is to try and move back in with your parents for a while (if they let you). This will give you the option to use that rent money for your monthly payments and speed up the process even further. Your parents might even offer you a meal from time to time — nothing wrong with that. Of course, you will have to listen to them give you lectures about your life and where you went wrong, but hey, this time it seems like they have the right. Try out these hacks and I guarantee that you won’t regret it. Like I mentioned before, this is no game and you will have to take your debt seriously if you want to deal with it as quickly as possible. No matter what type of debt is burdening you, there is a way out of it. You just need to work hard and take responsibility for your actions. Do not even think about getting a loan to pay off your old debt — it is an endless loop of interest rates and you will make it even harder on yourself. Featured photo credit: Cathryn Lavery via unsplash.com
