Before starting a credit card debt elimination plan it is absolutely mandatory to take stock of what your debt really looks like. This basically means "lets get real about what we owe and to who exactly we owe it to".
Here is my situation
I will divulge this so that as you follow along in my debt elimination journey you will know where I started and how this information will help you get rid of all of your nasty debt. So here is my ugly truth.
1. Credit card 1 = 12,000.00
2. Credit card 2 = 250.00
3. Cell phone = 600.00
4. Miscellaneous debt = 1,200.00
This list has been written on a post it note and stuck to my desk for several reasons.
1. A strong reminder of what needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.
2. I will get the joy of crossing items off of my list as that debt is eliminated.
3. Will hopefully inspire a change of our spending habits.
If you are trying to eliminate all of your bad debt as soon as possible then writing everything down and displaying it where you will see it daily is a powerful tool. Haven’t you ever seen a debt guru on a talk show bring out a chart to demonstrate a families debt? There is a reason for this. It really helps you put it all in perspective. You can see this as a puzzle that needs to be salved. I would not recommend emotionalizing what you see too much. There is a time of “morning” when you realize just how much in a financial hole you are. I went though this myself for about a week and a half. At a point that I didn’t know how we could possibly get normal again, I decided it is time to stop whining about poor me and start finding solutions the problem, work though it, and get on with our life. Write your nasty truth down and start figuring out how to solve your puzzle.
I realize that most people would look at my debt and wonder why it is such a big deal. It is only around 14,000.00. So many people are in over there heads in the hundred of thousands of dollars range of unsecured debt. So why is this seemingly small debt such a big deal? We are a family of five that only brings in about 30,000.00 a year in a place that has a fairly high cost of living. So 14,000.00 in debt is like 100,000.00 in debt to people with a higher income.
As with most problems we find our selves in, especially the ones that we ourselves create, there is a way of getting out of it. And the reason for this site is to find them and share what I find with anyone interested in knowing for them selves.
As this blog progresses so will our shrinking debt.
