5 Tips to Pay Off Credit Card Debt Fast

5 Tips to Pay Off Credit Card Debt Fast
Credit card debt is very easy to rack up because you can spend it on anything you like and continue to do so until you’ve hit your limit. Unlike other loans such as school loans and car loans which have a specific purpose, you are free to spend however you please with your credit cards, which is why many people get trapped in unmanageable debt. The average household has just under $16,000 in credit card debt but having more than that is not at all uncommon. So how can you get rid of your credit card debt faster?

The Amount of Debt
Before beginning a plan of any kind it’s important to know how much debt you really have. Many people just assume a number but have no idea exactly how deeply in debt they are. Check all of your statements, call all your credit card companies and find out exactly how much your owe. It’s easier to keep track of it if you write down the amount you owe along with the minimum payment and when it’s due. This way, you have all your records right in front of and you can begin to manage it properly.

Stop Using Your Credit Cards/Budget Yourself
This seems like common knowledge but once you start paying off your credit cards, you don’t want all your hard work for nothing by getting them racked up again. Get into the habit of planning out a budget for yourself that you can pay your expenses in cash. Keep tweaking this budget until it works for you; if you find you spend more than you should and can’t work on paying down your debt, try to lower some of your variable expenses or get a second stream of income.

The Snowball Method
The snowball method is a very simple way of saving a lot of money on interest and it’s very effective if stuck through to the end. Basically with this method, you single out your debt with the largest interest rate and focus all your money into that first; only pay the minimum payment on the remainder of your debts until the one you’re focusing on is paid off. Once that one is paid off, move onto the next highest interest rate and continue this until all your debts are paid off. By using this method, you’ll save on the accumulated interest of your high interest credit cards and can use the money that you save to accelerate your debt repayment program.

The Snowflake Method
While the snowball method focuses on putting a lot of your energy into one debt at a time, the snowflake method focuses on making very small payments as often as you can. The point of this method is the accumulation of the small change that we would otherwise spend on something we don’t need. We’re literally talking about $4.57 payments and $13.81 payments. These seem too small to matter but if you put these into your debt as often as you can, within a month that could be an extra $100 or more. By using these methods together you can get even more out of your debt plan and pay off your credit cards even faster.

Paying Debt Doesn’t Happen Overnight
Paying back debt can be a long and tedious process but it’s well worth it in the end. The important thing to remember is that consistency really is the key to succeeding and to stick to the plan no matter what. If you just pay off a little bit and then stop or continue to use it and rack it up again, you’re right back where you started. Use these steps to help pay off your credit card debt and try to keep at it for an extended period of time. By working hard and being consistent you can be out of debt in no time.

Staz Johnson has been passionately blogging about personal finance, investing tips, economic news and more. For more information, check out her website at Essential Finances.

How to Become a Disciplined Saver and Still Live the High Life

How to Become a Disciplined Saver and Still Live the High Life

When you’re managing your financial life, you’re really balancing two problems: how to enjoy your life in the present, and how to save up for the future.  You may think these two goals are mutually opposed, since in order to enjoy life now, you necessarily have to spend money you then can’t save for the future.  In order to plan for the future, you must forego pleasures in the present.  While generally speaking this is true, there may be ways that you can save money in the present without sacrificing life’s fun activities.  It may just be a question of rethinking what it means to live the high life.

Think about how you define value for a moment.  Is value the price tag on an item you buy, or is it the amount of joy it brings into your life?  In our consumer culture, we are trained to think that what we should value is necessarily what costs more money—not necessarily what makes us happiest.  Do you spend a lot of money buying expensive designer clothing or handbags that are no higher in quality than products that cost less?  Do you spend a lot of money on a new car when an older used car might provide you with the same level of technology and sophistication?  

In order to live the high life and still save money, the first thing you need to do is train yourself to think differently about value.  You need to recognize that companies want your money—they don’t necessarily want you to be happy or successful or wealthy.  But if you want to be happy, successful, and wealthy, then you need to figure out what you really want and need in life.

Let’s take the example of a vehicle.  Lots of people think they need to have a new car—because new cars are the best, right?  Wrong; most brand new cars actually come with a number of quirks that need to be worked out. 

A used car that is several years old may actually offer you a better driving experience and require less work—and cost you a lot less.  Are you sacrificing anything in your lifestyle by giving up the new car and paying much lower installments on the car that is several years old?  In real terms, no—the only sacrifice is that you can no longer tell people you have a brand new car.

Another example is designer clothing.  While most designer clothing really is high in quality, you may be able to purchase the same level of quality in brands that are less famous.  You also may find designer clothing at a significant discount if you simply buy it used online or in a thrift store.  A lot of people give up their perfectly good clothing every year simply to have the newest thing.  That means you can wear that perfectly good clothing at a fraction of the price—even top designer brands you love.  Also consider that you may pay less for a custom-made, hand-tailored item by a boutique designer than you would for a mass-produced designer item.  Thus you can actually save money on a superior product.

Entertainment provides us with another great example.  Do you buy new videos and video games?  Why not simply buy used instead?  If you don’t mind a few dents in a package or scratches on a disc, you can pay a fraction of the price for your multimedia and enjoy the same quality—products that run without a problem that you can enjoy just as much.

These are just a few examples of how you can save money for the future without sacrificing your existing lifestyle—and you may even be able to make improvements to it.  Hopefully from these examples you can start to see how it works and come up with more ways you can save money.  Value doesn’t necessarily take the form of currency in our modern economy.  Figure out what makes you happy and what you enjoy, and then look for deals on those things.  You don’t always need the newest product to be happy—what you need is the best product, and the best value.


This guest post was written by John Szabo, a part time blogger, on behalf of Poundaccess. Poundaccess are a UK based company offering quick short term loans. 

How to Save for That Family Holiday!

How to Save for That Family Holiday
When you don’t have a lot of money and your income is low, a family holiday may feel like it’s out of reach—but it doesn’t necessarily have to be if you learn how to budget and save up for it.  The type of holiday you plan also can have an impact on whether or not it’s possible; some plans are probably far too expensive for you right now, but there are plenty of ways to get out and have fun without breaking the bank.  

Here are some tips for saving up for your next vacation. 

How to Plan Cheaper

• Choose somewhere interesting to visit, not somewhere pricey.  A lot of people immediately think of expensive destinations (urban or rural, it doesn’t matter) to visit on their family holidays.  The reason for this is probably that those destinations are the most famous and get the most advertisement.  There are plenty of options off the beaten track that can be just as interesting and just as fun to visit and which will cost you a lot less.

• Don’t just come up with a destination to visit, also start planning your accommodations and transportation in advance.  Most of the money you spend while you’re on vacation is going to take the forms of transit costs and accommodations.  Start hunting down affordable alternatives now instead of waiting for the last minute—in fact, consider letting this aspect of your trip planning dictate where you go!  You don’t necessarily need to have the best to have a great time.  Forego the luxury suite at the four-star hotel and check into the little hostel down the street, and remember that more pricey doesn’t necessarily mean more welcoming or better service.

• Figure out how long you can afford to travel for and plan to do that.  If you have a job that offers you paid vacation time, this makes going on your holiday a lot easier.  Your costs will only be the costs of your trip.  If however you have to take personal time to go on your trip, you’re going to have to offset the cost of the time off work in your budget somehow.  So you may want to plan a shorter getaway.  A weekend city or country break may be more viable than a whole week holiday.

Saving in Your Budget
All of the tips above help you to save simply by reducing the amount of money you’ll be spending when you actually go on your trip.  You’re still going to need to save up money now however to afford your family holiday.  Saving up is something you should be trying to do all the time, by looking for ways to spend less money on gasoline, reducing your grocery shopping expenditures, maybe eating out less often, and only buying what you need and not want you want.  See if there are any ways that you could spend money in your day to day life which you aren’t already doing.  If you eat out once or twice a week for example, could eating at home for several months help you save up enough money for your holiday?

You may want to go above and beyond when you’re saving for a holiday.  How can you manage that?  One tip would be to work overtime and collect more money if you’re allowed to do that at your workplace.  With some professions this isn’t possible, but with others there are opportunities to do so, especially retail jobs and the like.  If there’s a holiday coming up, you could work during the holiday and collect time and a half, which would then provide you with some savings to put toward your vacation. 
You can see how some of the suggestions above could perhaps make it easier for you to afford your holiday, though if you are already very frugal you may not have much room to save in your current budget.  The fact is, saving money in your day-to-day budget is definitely going to help you to afford your holiday, but how you plan and budget the trip itself is probably going to be where you save most of your money!


This guest post was written by John Szabo, a part time blogger, on behalf of Poundaccess. Poundaccess the number one source for instant payday loans online.