When you start out on your journey to become debt-free, you have alot of enthusiasm and focus. You're determined. You know you have what it takes to succeed. But after awhile, it seems like you're depriving yourself. You're not having fun anymore. You may have even gone out and spent again on your credit card. Here are a few ideas that may help you.
The Paper chain: Make a paper chain of your debt, eack link representing $100 of your debt. As you pay it off, cut off a link for every $100 paid off. This provides you with a visual aid to help you see your debt getting smaller.
A Bar Graph: Make a graph that represents your debt. As you pay it off, colour in the areas so that you can see you are making progress.
Calculate how much your debt costs you each month: Sit down and figure out what your debt is really costing you in interest for 12 months. If that number doesn't spur you into action, figure it out in terms of a daily amount or over the length of time it will take you to pay off the debt. This should light a fire under you to get that sucker paid down faster.
Give yourself a monthly challenge to speed up the repayments: Challenge yourself and your family, to do something different for one month and apply the money to debt instead. You could save all your loose change in a jar, roll it, and apply it directly toward debt. You could try not eating out for a month, sell some stuff, or keeping all your $5 bills.
Some people get the wonter blues. I tend to get the budget blues. I make sure to include some fun stuff in my budget, so that there is some balance. We like to see different things, do different things. This month, we're going to see the Titanic Artifacts Exhibit at a museum in Kitchner. I'm excited to see the things that were underwater for so many years after the Titanic sank.
Try to remember that there needs to be balance in your budget. Have a little fun while you're paying down your debts, or you will risk running up more.
Happy thursday!
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