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Reduce Debt

By: Mike Kershaw

Setup a budget plan, then reduce debt

Putting a monthly budget together is the first serious step you need to take to get control of you financial situation. This doesn't mean you keep an idea of where your money goes in your head on a daily basis, it means you need an excel spreadsheet updated regularly or even better still a program like quicken or any other accountancy software. If you're not into computers then get a pen and notepad and start writing everything down. This can also be easily done by balancing everything in your check book, take it everywhere with you and write down everything that goes out and all the deposits that go in. You have to know exactly where every penny goes so you can start to decide where to make cuts, stop purchasing things you don't need and find out where you can free up some money to use for your debt payments.

It may take some time to get it started and written down but once it's in place you'll only need a few minutes every night to update it. You will probably be surprised at where there's a lot of wasted expense that can easily be controlled comfortably without creating a burden too much on you're lifstyle. Do you really need over 100 cable channels ? Can that new outfit wait a few months until your debt is down? How many pairs of shoes do you reallty need? Maybe a $4 latte every morning can be replaced with a regular cup of coffee!

Keep everything simple, keep all your receipts and make it a habit of every night sitting down and subtracting your receipts from you deposit. After a month or so you will know exactly where all your money is going and on any day how much you have in your deposit account. Now for the hard part, you need to start looking at what you can do without for a year or so until your debts are paid off. It's the monthly bills that need to be reduced, can you do without XM radio, netflix, maybe instead of the gym you can go jogging or play tennis with a friend. Stop eating in restaurants and going to the movies, or if you don't want to stop completely maybe reducing these things will help you free up money. It may sound like a lot of sacrificing but it isn't really and once your debt has gone the feeling of achievement and the reduced financial stress will hugely benefit your outlook on life !


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