As you know, I always count myself as lucky when it
comes to finances. I am in a place where I am happy with my financialsituation. But, I am acutely aware that this is not the situation a lot of my
readers find themselves in. I know that a lot of you are wrestling to deal with
high levels of debt. So, today, I thought I would share some free or at least
cost-neutral ways to deal with your debt.
Use online resources to learn more about debt
management
There are plenty of places you can go online to learn
everything you need to know about debt management. It is possible to read about
everything from managing the debt yourself to hiring an insolvency practitioner
to negotiate with your creditors on your behalf. You can get this kind of help
from Creditfix, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, StepChange, the Money
Saving Expert website, to name just a few.
If you do decide to use one of these sources of
information, just be sure that the article you are reading is up to date. You
don’t want to waste time reading about a debt solution that is no longer
available or has changed a lot. It is also important to make sure that the
advice you are reading is truly independent.
Tools to help you to track where your money is going
A big part of getting out of debt is tracking what you
spend. Being able to see in black and white exactly where your money is going
will enable you to take steps to reduce your spending.
If you don’t start tracking how you spend your money
you may never realise that you are spending over a £100 every month on drinks
and snacks. Once you see the amounts you can decide whether that expenditure is
necessary or can be cut back on.
Make sure that you keep an eye on the little things as
well as the big items. They soon add up. Resist the temptation to record all of
your cash expenditure as general. If you do this, you will just carry on
overspending and still not really know where a significant percentage of your
money is going.
Become less of a consumer
We’ve all done it, bought a subscription or a book and
never looked at it. Many of us have clothes that still have the tags on.
Recognising that you are wasting money on things you don’t really need is
important. It will push you to pause before you buy something and ask yourself
if you really need it. You will be surprised by how often the answer is no.
This article, which is all about ditching consumerism and becoming a
minimalist, is a real eye-opener. It also contains some very useful advice
about spending less.
Reward yourself when you reach a financial goal
Setting yourself goals, for example, reducing the
amount you spend on clothes by 20% will really help you to spend less. Giving
yourself a little pat on the back each time you achieve one of those goals can
really help to motivate you. Just be careful not to do so with something that
costs a lot of money.
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| https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1559887 *This post was written in collaboration with a third party, the words expressed are my own" |
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