Debt Dilemmas and Credit Catastrophes: Pushing Through the Hard Hits

Two critical factors for improving your personal finances are debt management and your use of credit.

Unfortunately, many consumers don’t get proper training in personal finance issues in school. When you were younger, you didn’t realize how important money would be in your life. You were taught tricky algebra problems, the geography of rocks and the history of the monarchy, but you were never taught how to organize your finances in the real world.

Don’t despair, however.

Although there are many important things college doesn’t teach you remember that you can learn the tools to improve your personal finances. There are so many people in the same position as you, so you should never feel alone.

Get free sample chapters from my book: Not Another Personal Finance Book.

Think about other skills you’ve had to learn as an adult.

When you become a parent, for example, people expected you to know everything about raising kids, but no parent can know everything on day one. You can apply those same skills to get your finances in order. Let’s discuss a few ways that you could get back on track and gain some peace of mind.

How Do You Use Credit?

One of the biggest personal finance mistakes is building up a large credit card balance.

It happens to many consumers- but it’s a problem that you can solve.

If you’re recovering from a financial setback, this article may help.

One possible solution is a consolidation loan, which pays off all of your credit card balances and combines the debt into one payment. Look at consolidation.creditcard and get advice on how to simplify your bills into one monthly payment. You won’t have any hidden fees to pay and the experts will be on hand to answer all of your questions along the way.

Once you consolidate your debt, be diligent about making your loan payments on time, and consider setting up a direct debit payment from your bank account. If you can pay off debt sooner, you can reduce the total amount of interest expense. Your next step is to find more dollars to make debt payments.

Steps For Personal Budgeting

Create a personal budget by writing down all of your monthly spending, and grouping that spending into categories. Some expenses, such as your car payment or apartment lease, are fixed. Other costs, such as meals, food, and entertainment, are variable expenses- and you can reduce your spending in these areas.

Use the available dollars that you cut from your spending to fund a savings account. Create a written monthly budget, and check your spending each week using a mobile app, such as Mint.

You pay your bills as soon as they arrive and take a hard look at reducing all of your monthly expenses. You might be able to get a much better deal on your bills by simply contacting your supplier and asking for a better rate. The big energy companies are all vying for your business, so they will be inclined to give you a discount if they think they are going to lose you. Be smart and save money on your bills right now.

A Plan For Savings

The sooner you start saving for your future, the more comfortable you will feel with your financial situation. Everybody goes through a rocky patch in terms of money at some point, and you can lean on your savings when this type of things happens.

You don’t want to be scrimping and saving all of your life, so get a small amount of money in savings, and you will soon feel more at ease with your bank balance.

You Can Do It

Overtime, many people realize that there is no quick fix to anything. Don’t be afraid to face your money struggles, and realize that getting your finances back on track will take some time. In the long run, you’ll be much better off.

This post is for educational purposes only.

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

Image: Bullseye, Jeff Turner CC by 2.0