How to Manage Your Debts
The first thing you need to do when you begin tackling your debt is to never underestimate how much you owe especially if you have credit cards or loans or any debts that are incurring interests. The few hundred dollars that you thought you owe could balloon to thousands with interests without you knowing and monitoring.
Fortunately, even if you are neck-deep into debt, there are several ways to manage it. Once you manage your debts even if you are still paying them off, the chance of you having good credit would be likely and you’d end up having money in your pocket for emergencies.
Know-How Much You Owe
Knowing how much you owe would put you in a mindset that you need to cut out the unnecessary expenses. Identifying the total of all your debts instead of being scared to calculate everything could help you try to live within your means. By deducting the total of all the minimum payments that you have to pay for the month, you must learn to make do with what is left instead of accumulating more debts.
Pay The Minimum Every Month
Paying the minimum amount due every month would at least keep your debt from inflating because at least you are paying for the interest and part of the original amount due. One of the most popular and effective ways of debt management is paying using the snowball method. This method is to help you settle all your debts, especially for multiple accounts. You have to settle the smallest balance first while paying for the minimum amount due for your larger debts. Once you have settled the smaller debts, allocate the amount of what you usually pay for these to your bigger debts to settle them.
Prioritize Which Debt To Pay First
With the snowball method, it is recommended to settle the smaller debts first. With your bigger debts, prioritize which one you would settle next. You could do the same thing and prioritize the smallest among your bigger debts or settle the one with the highest interest first. If you would do this, then the burden of paying debts monthly would be significantly easier for you once the debt with the biggest minimum due every month is settled. You would also be at ease knowing that the payment you are making is now to settle the amount you originally owe rather than just paying for interest every month.
Pay Bills On Time
If you are like other debtors who wait until the last minute to pay their bills, you have to change this behavior. As soon as you receive your bill and you have the money, pay for it immediately. This would minimize the possibility of late payment fees and over limit fees if applicable. It would also instill in you the attitude of settling your responsibilities first and just trying to live off the remaining until the next pay day.
No one wants to have debts. It is stressful to think about it and disheartening to compute monthly budget with the bulk of your hard-earned money is going to pay for your debts. But, if we would have a smart approach regarding our debts, we would finish paying it off sooner than expected.
