It has been weeks since I put out an extreme debt elimination tip. Here is the tip for this week. Look throught your debts OR instalment payments [that have a payoff balance, like a gym membership]. Find one or two that are closest to being paid off. Determine how quickly you can get it paid off if you cut back on utilities, eating out, and splurges. Then see how much “hidden money” you could find by using some of the saving tips we talked about on Monday.

Use these two things to attack the debt.

Now, usually people tell you to go after the one with the highest interest rate or something like that BUT what I’ve learned is ANY reduction in cost can inspire you to keep going. So if you owe $200 on your gym membership and you’re able to skip eating out for a month, round up all purchases and give up a couple of EXTRAS in order to pay that thing off in a month who CARES if it was only $30-$40/month. That is money that you aren’t spending each month that can NOW immediately go towards paying down one of those bigger bills.

So find something with a small balance, maybe only a couple hundred dollars, and create a plan to have it GONE in the next 4-6 weeks. Use the extra you were paying on the instalment to pay the next biggest one [maybe a few hundred].  Then reward youself with a nice dinner out when both are gone. Remember, the balanced life isn’t all about sacrifice-it is also about rewards.

Maybe even paying your car insurance in full. My car insurance company charges a $3.50/month finance fee if I want to pay instalments. That is $35/year I’d save if I was simply able to pay it twice a year when the bill comes!

Receive notification when new tips are posted by subscribing here.

Tiffany Colter is a passionate freelance writer whose credits include Today’s Christian, Charisma Magazine, Toledo Business Journal, and the Afictionado E-zine. Tenacious in her approach not only to create a great story, but also to mentor other writers, Tiffany can always be found in the presence of a book or laptop. A former world traveler who is fluent in three languages, she strives to reach those who are hurting around her.     She enjoys helping others build a strong business and writes a daily marketing blog for writers called the Writing Career Coach and a common-sense money management site, TheBalancedLife.com. Tiffany lives outside Toledo, OH with her husband, a recent cancer survivor, and their four girls.

Facing our finances isn’t always easy. In fact, many people don’t even worry about them until they become a problem. These postings are designed to help us keep a balanced look at where we are and where we want to be.

When we hit financial bumps we like to try to find out WHY it happened.  A little personal reflection is useful. It helps us identiy habits that get us in financial messes.

Often, however, this exercise is self-discovery turns in to a blame game. Instead of looking at what we did wrong we seek every reason to blame everyone from the president, the banker and everyone down to your cat!

While I am sympathetic to sudden events-My husband’s cancer diagnosis nearly took everything we had-those are just the dramatic events that show our own financial issues.

I ran across an informercial last night as I was getting ready for bed. This guy said he exposed how the debt you have is not your fault. These were VERY carefully selected words on his part. He wanted to get you in an Us vs. Them mentality so you’d buy his book. Clearly HE was on your side. [He also said he'd sold 40 million copies of his last book...so I'm sure he feels your financial pain.]

While I’m sure many of his tips are reasonable, and very useful, my issue is with the attitude he is pushing. Until EACH of us takes responsibility for our part of our financial mess things will never improve for us or our kids. When you’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for three years but you go out to dinner three times a week and have internet access on your cell phone…well, that sudden job loss wasn’t what put you in the poor house. It was your bad money management. The job loss simply exposed the risky behavior you were engaged in.

For us, it was our reliance on overtime to keep us ahead of the bills every month. While we were able to save a good deal of money [in our eyes], once Chris couldn’t work for 6 months that $3,000 we’d saved up really didn’t go very far.

This is a longer than usual post but I wanted to get everyone thinking. It is easy to see the outside circumstances that put you where you are now, but if you want to live a balanced life you must take responsibility for your part. Because you are the only person you can control.

For more on this read my free article “Saver Married to a Spender”. Also, the newsletter is coming out this week. It is free and full of information. Be sure you’re signed up to get yours. Use the sign up form on the right!

Receive notification when new tips are posted by subscribing here.

Bio
Tiffany Colter is a passionate freelance writer whose credits include Today’s Christian, Charisma Magazine, Toledo Business Journal, and the Afictionado E-zine. Tenacious in her approach not only to create a great story, but also to mentor other writers, Tiffany can always be found in the presence of a book or laptop. A former world traveler who is fluent in three languages, she strives to reach those who are hurting around her.     She enjoys helping others build a strong business and writes a daily marketing blog for writers called the Writing Career Coach and a common-sense money management site, TheBalancedLife.com. Tiffany lives outside Toledo, OH with her husband, a recent cancer survivor, and their four girls.