Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Personal Finance and Staying Out of Debt





By, Meredith Anderson
Debt can be a scary thing and can haunt us for years if not our entire lives. It’s a constant struggle to stay above the water and keep from drowning in bills and harassing phone calls. The best way is to never get in debt in the first place. Easier said than actually done, however, there are some everyday things we can change in our daily lives that will keep us afloat and debt free. Use cash. It’s simple really, cash is a physical piece of value that you have in your ownership at that moment. Avoid credit card offers and never spend more money on a credit card then you know you can afford at the moment. You should always pay at least if not more than the monthly minimum. The interest rates can add up and end up costing you way more then you put aside.
Things don’t always work out that smoothly and sometimes we do end up in debt. The most important thing is to realize it and not accept it as a new lifestyle. Keeping track of your personal finical statements is very important. Make balance sheets and cash flow statements. Make sure that you are allocating a certain amount of money to repaying your debt and cut back spending where ever possible. You want your income to be higher than your expenses. When you have an extra hundred dollars pay off one of your credit card bills rather than going out for a nice dinner or maybe go out for an inexpensive meal and pay half of the bill. Debt doesn’t have to overtake your life but it should teach you had to be finically responsible.

Sources:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2054053_stay-out-debt.html
http://www.essortment.com/all/tipsonstaying_rhjr.htm
http://www.finweb.com/financial-planning/get-out-of-debt.html

No comments:

Post a Comment