How to Eliminate Wants Until All Debts Are Paid
When looking at a mountain of debt, a borrower has to find the motivation and want to pay it down to be successful in the process. While you can never truly eliminate all other wants, you can shift your focus to debt reduction and place motivating notes and reminders to propel you toward your goal. Additionally, to reduce the strain of "going without," you can give yourself rewards when smaller goals are reached.
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Instructions
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Create a family budget. List every expenditure for the month, as well as each item of income. "Find" extra money in your budget by eliminating unnecessary expenses, reducing non-necessary items, and cutting back on major areas of spending.
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Earn extra money through overtime, extra shifts, or a second job. Also earn extra cash by selling unused items around the house through a garage sale or online auction.
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Create a goal list for your debt repayment. List each debt, from the smallest to the largest. Create a timeline in which you will pay off each debt. Allow yourself a small reward when each debt is paid, to increase your motivation and reduce the want for items.
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Place reminders of your goals around the house. Place sticky notes that describe items that you want to give yourself as a reward once a certain debt is paid.
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Create a file listing all of your debts on your computer. When tempted to make a purchase, look at the list of debts. Remember that making the purchase will make your goal of debt reduction take longer--and see if that is enough to eliminate the want.
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Tips & Warnings
Set small goals for yourself within your larger goals. For example, divide how much you want to pay off in a year by 365. This is the amount of money you need to save or earn each day to pay off your debt. It will probably be a small amount. Place that number around your house on sticky notes to remind you of how much you need to do each day. Write down each goal that you have accomplished to motivate yourself to the next goal.
You will have setbacks during this process. Either a large, unexpected expense will occur during the process or you will simply fall to temptation. Regardless, pick yourself up and start the process over again. It took you a while to get into debt, and it will take you a while to get out of it.
References
- Photo Credit budget, payment allocation image by Kalani from Fotolia.com
