Things You'll Need:
- Debt
- Income
- Will Power
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Step 1
Analyze Your Financial Situation - The first thing that you need to do is find out where your money is going. This is very important because you do not know where you can save if you have no idea where you are spending your money. There are many sites that will aggregate your financial information, transactions, etc (mint.com, wesabe.com, yodlee.com). Finding ways to save are easier once you know where your money is going and have a better understanding about your financial situation.
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Step 2
Set a Savings Budget & Savings Goals - After you have a better understanding about your financial situation, you need to set goals on how much you want to save. You need to have short-term savings goals and long-term savings goals. When you have your savings goals finished a budget needs to be made to reach that goal. There are many tools online that will help you set a budget (just use Google) or you can use a good ol' spreadsheet.
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Step 3
Trim Your Spending - Believe it or not but when you have reached this point it is easy to see where you can save money. If you understand where your money is going you should see fees, subscriptions, and random spending that could easily be cut out.
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Step 4
Rank Your Debt - Now that you have trimmed your spending you should gather your debt and compare them. You should list out all of your debt and then rank your debt from highest to lowest. This should be easy if you have done step one.
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Step 5
Ask For a Lower Interest Rate - Call the number on the bill with an interest rate higher than 13% or 14%. It may sound like a long shot but it is NOT. These companies are more than willing to work with their customers on lowering their interest rates. Even if your do not have a high interest rate you should call each credit card company and ask what they can do to lower your credit card rate. All you have to do is ask! You would be surprised how easy and fast it is to lower an interest rate!
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Step 6
Start Attacking the Debt with the Highest Interest Rate - Start paying off your debt with the highest rank or highest interest rate. Once that is paid off you should work your way down the list the highest interest rate to the lowest interest rate.
