4 Things Anyone Can Do To Tackle Debt

Since we purchased our home a year ago, our financial goals have shifted from saving for a house (duh) to paying off the debt we've accumulated. I'd like to say it's all debt from smart purchases but let's be honest... when we got married we were young... impulsive.... ..... yea ok, we were just down right stupid with our money management  spending.

So our goals have shifted. We are now tackling our debt until it is ALL PAID OFF!

Here's 4 things we've done or are doing to make that happen.

1. USE A BUDGET BINDER

It's a rather simple, and not new in any way idea. You can't tackle your debt if you don't have control of your spending habits. Keeping track of our budget on a spreadsheet has really helped us track our spending trends and realize just how much money we really blow on "Groceries" and other things. (It's definitely been more than I thought) Now we're able to target and plan for how we can improve spending habits in a more specific manner.

 However writing down a budget takes time. It also takes a lot of work and BOTH people in the relationship need to be involved or it gets to be too much for one or the other. I'll post about how to make your own Budget Binder- Wiebe Style- at future date.



2. PAY OFF THE CREDIT CARDS. EVERY PAYCHECK.

Generally speaking, my hubby and I don't like to use our credit cards (too easy to blow money on nothing).We tend to save cash for things we want to purchase. That way we know it's really something we wanted if we actually manage to save up the amount and buy it. Sometimes, however things get put on the card and I always make sure they either get paid off the day we use the card, or at the next pay day. ** If your credit cards are maxed out then make sure you pay more than the minimum payment every month until they're payed off completely and THEN PAY OFF THE CREDIT CARDS. EVERY PAYCHECK.

3. MAKE A "MANDATORY" MINIMUM PAYMENT TO YOUR CREDIT LINE

Our credit line is where our biggest debt (other than the house) is. It is also not necessary for us to pay a minimum monthly payment... which has come in handy over the years when we literally had NO MONEY to put towards the credit line. However handy that flexibility has been, it has also made us quite lax in paying anything towards our primary amount. So we figured if we pay back $167 minimum monthly we'd be able to pay off $2000 per year! We pay tithing first, bills second, then at the very minimum $167 to our Credit Line, if not more.

4. NEGOTIATE FOR BETTER RATES

This really is as simple as it sounds! We went in to our bank today and got 2.5% knocked off my husbands interest rate for his credit line. I kid you not! Simply because we asked (and qualified for it). Really, the bank works for us! We give them a TONNE of money yearly in interest alone. They want to keep us around- Or that's the attitude I went in there with anyway. I haven't tried this for our Credit Cards yet but I'm definitely going to now!

I know a post about money can be boring and even depressing... but I was so impressed at how easy it was for us to get a better interest rate I just had to share. So there it is...Anybody else out there have a similar goal?