ESCAPE THE DEBT TRAP. LIVE DEBT FREE.
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We
live in a world dominated by a thirst for "things".
And, most of us struggle to find some balance in terms of our
financial priorities. In recent years, with the ups and downs
of the economy, many people have fallen behind and found themselves
needing to continue to borrow more and more just to live. At
times, we can become completely overwhelmed. And, when we're
struggling just to make ends meet, it's easy to fall behind
and get into trouble with credit debt.
If you wait too long to deal with the situation, you might find the growing number of Americans who find that the only solution to their situation is to declare bankruptcy...which is a terrible and drastic step to have to take.
There can be many plans to getting out of debt. Our goal is not to present them all, analyze them all or interpret their appropriateness for your particular financial situation.
Rather, we'd like to offer a simple plan for escaping debt and regaining your financial freedom. It's so simple that it involves just 3 steps. On subsequent pages, we'll go into more detail on each: |
STEPS
TO BECOMING DEBT FREE |
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1. Live on what you earn (stop borrowing) |
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Increase your income temporarily |
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"Snowball" your payments to pay off your credit debt
as soon as possible |
| Then,
for the ones who get their reality check most quickly via a
cold shower, we'll offer some cold, hard truths and "excuse
busters". |
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finally, we'll offer some links to resources which may be helpful
in getting a handle on your present situation, as well as planning
for the future. |
We
very much hope you can become debt free. And we hope you find
this info and these resources helpful. And, if so, we'd like
to ask you to share them with your friends. Thanks!
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DEBT ELIMINATION: STEP ONE
LIVE ON WHAT YOU EARN
Whew! We don't mess around, eh? Of course, it's pretty
obvious that not "living within your means" is what you
got you into this predicament in the first place.
However, it's just as apparent that if you continue
doing what you've been doing, things won't get better
unless you win the lottery (and, no...that's not a
recommendation!).
This is the toughest step of the 3 to becoming debt
free. You need to make a commitment to yourself that
you're going to live within a budget...at
least until you get our of the debt trap. And, of
course, it would be a really good idea to continue your
new habit of financial self-discipline on into the
future, so you don't find yourself right back here in a
few years. But we'll save that kind of advice for the
"Straight Talk" page a bit later. For now, let's focus
on the topic at hand. |
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Maybe you're one of those people whose eyes roll back in
their heads at the mere mention of the word "budget".
But, let's just slow down and talk plainly here. You
know what you earn. Or you know a rough estimate. If
you're one of the many newly self-employed, it's a
little more complex, as we often live
hand-to-mouth...but you need to come up with a figure
which you will commit not to exceed in spending for your
monthly allotment. |
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Be sure to include at least a little discretionary
spending money in there. You can't stop living life, and
it's important to be able to relax, to share with others
and to exercise some decision-making ability financially
while you're working your way out of this situation. So
don't kill yourself. |
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Just get to that realistic number. Got it? Good! |
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Now, let's move on to
Step 2. |
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