How To Fight and Win The Battle Against Credit Card Debt. Part 2Jun 01 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line You can get out of debt, but it does take dedication and sacrifice.
Chapter Introduction This is Part 2 of my reviews on How To Fight and Win The Battle Against Credit Card Debt. Please read Part 1 if you are striving to get rid of credit card Debt. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE IN DEBT TO BENEFIT FROM THIS ARTICLE. This article is meant as a way of finding money and saving money in order to be able to put more money towards your debts. If you are debt free you can use these ideas to find and save money for other goals you may have. In this article I mention the book The Courage To Be Rich, by Suze Ormond. I learned a lot from reading that book and explain how applying some of the principles to my own life helped me. If you are seriously interested in getting out of debt or acquiring more financial wealth I highly recommend reading this book. Although I do not agree with everything in the book 100% it is an incredible reference. Or you could wait a few years and perhaps I will write one of my own. (Giggle) FINDING MONEY TO PUT TOWARDS THOSE DEBTS Ok, now that we have covered refinancing and insurance let's get to some more ways to find and save money. Some of things may be tremendously obvious. Some of them may be hard to deal with. Some are only for those with an extreme debt problem. WHAT UN-CLUTTERING CAN DO FOR YOU Un-clutter: I read about doing this Suze Ormond's book the The Courage to Be Rich. The more I read of the chapter un-cluttering the more I began to understand. That when your home and your life is cluttered and disorganized it ends up costing you. I know this to be true at least for me. I had this habit of going out and buying sun tan lotion every year. Knowing that maybe I had a little bit left from the year before but figuring we would use that up quickly. Well I would buy special lotion made for kids, a high SPF lotion for my husband who is fair skinned and a lower SPF for me I inherited the Italian skin from my mom it takes a fire to burn me. But still I keep myself protected. Well anyways to get to the point. I decided to have a garage sale and in the midst of searching for things to sell I realized that I had bottles of suntan lotion all over the house. Two bottles in the garage, two in my car, three in the down stairs bathroom, one in a suitcase, 4 in the linen closet and two in the upstairs bathroom. Who in the world needs that much sun tan lotion? If my life hadn't been so cluttered I could have easily saved my have easily saved myself $36.00 or more. So start cleaning. Start organizing and start getting a sense of what you already have. You may even be able to take some things back. And if you do, don't buy anything to replace them. Use the money towards your debt. Also in The Courage to Be Rich Ms Ormond says you will probably find money that you have just thrown in drawers in jars what ever. Take a jar and designate it as the found money jar. And every penny you find while cleaning throw it into the jar. Then take that money and put it towards your highest interest debt. I did this and I managed to come up with about $44.00 that is just in change and a few dollar bills that were sitting in things like suitcases, old purses, junk drawers, coat pockets and some other places too. This is money I didn't even know I had. Sure I knew that I had left a few cents here and there when I switched purses but, I didn't even know how much I really had. I found a $20.00 bill in a suitcase that had not been used in about 9 months. In the book she tells some stories about people who found other sources of money in drawers and such like bank statement that were forgotten etc. But, that wasn't the case for me. When it comes to finances and investments I am actually pretty organized. GARAGE SALES Go out and purchase some of those garage sale price tags. They cost about $1.50 a package and you get quite a few. Two packages should be plenty. And if you find yourself getting low on them simply start tearing them in half. I prefer these over everything else because they don't start melting on to things when it gets real hot. Well anyways as you are un-cluttering carry a box or bag with you, your little price tags and a pen. Price things as you find them. Then when you are all done have a garage sale. Take $20.00 out of what you earn. You did a good job that is yours to do as you please with. The rest, you guessed it goes towards that highest interest debt. A way to double your garage sale earnings is to double up with a friend. What my sister and I did this year was have two garage sales. We combined all of our stuff and had one at my house. Then we boxed up what ever was left and then had one at her house. It seems that different people in different neighbor hoods seem to be looking for different things. I do this with at least one friend every year and I have always made just as much money at the second garage sale as I did at the first even with half of the stuff being sold. The bonus of that is that you have less stuff to deal with when it is over you should again take $20.00 for your self and then apply the rest to your highest interest debt. Another great thing to do if you are holding your garage sale through Sunday and you find that you are not getting very many people on that day. Go to where your signs are posted and write in big letters everything is .25. Of course remove any items that you would not be willing to part with for such a small price. You will be surprised how many people will come to your garage sale after that. People who had not even planned on going to garage sales that day will stop by to see what they can get for a quarter. You may also get repeat customers who may have wanted a few of your items before but thought the price was a bit high. Also most people will buy more when they think something is very low priced. Another way to make extra money at your garage sale is to ask friends who work if they would like to place items in your garage sale. Tell them that you will be happy to sell their items for them and all that you ask for doing this is 10% of their sales. Most people who have a ton of stuff they would like to get rid of but no time to organize a sale of their own would be more than happy to give you that 10%. You can even raise it o 15% if they have you price the items instead of doing it their selves. They also have to understand that they are trusting you to sell the items for what ever you feel is reasonable. They should also be aware that people often try and talk prices down at garage sales and for higher priced items you may want to discuss the lowest amount they would be willing to take for an item. PAINFULL BUT OBVIOUSE WAYS TO CUT COSTS Ok, Now I Am Going to Get Mean This is the part that you are not going to like. And if you don't have a serious debt problem then some of these things you can ignore. But if you are serious about getting out of debt it's time to start cracking down on your self. These are the things that you may have now that you don't need. Cable: Got cable? Want out of debt? Get rid of it. Some people have to have it in order to get good reception on their regular channels if that is the case with you then you may keep it but you must get rid of any special channels. Go down to your bare bones basic. Take a couple of days to videotape your brains out if you need to. If you think you will just die with out those episodes of Sex In The City and The Sopranos have a friend tape them for you. Total Savings: Anywhere from $15 to $100 a month (you know where that goes) Telephone Services: Extra Telephone Services: Say good bye, they are a convenience not a necessity. The only one that we had was call waiting and it only cost $2.00 a month but, that $2.00 in a years time becomes $24.00. There are other services too that are completely un-necessary, such as three way calling. Do you really need to pay $3.00 a month or $36.00 a year for an occasional three- way conversation? Not to mention if you apply that $2.00 a month to a high interest credit card you will be saving another 1 to 2 cents in interest per month. I know that doesn’t sound like much but when you are trying to get out of debt every penny counts. Newspapers: Sorry again these are a luxury not a necessity I might let you get away with Sunday's only because they contain coupons but, 5 dollars a week for a weekly subscription is just not warranted when you have debt to pay off. You don't have to live with out the news if you enjoy it. Many newspapers have their own web sites that you can check out every day. Or you can watch the news on television. Since you don't have cable any more. Or ask a friend or neighbor if you can have their paper when they are done. If you enjoy reading a particular columnist check and see if he or she has a web site. And don't forget to see if your favorite paper has a web site. Total Savings: About $10.00 to $20.00 per month depending on the cost of the paper. Smoking: I know this might end up not being to popular with smokers but if you do smoke think of how much money you are spending each month on this habit. And I know quitting is easier said than done. I have never smoked so I do not know your pain but I bet you are sharing that pain with anyone who is living in your household with you. Especially if you are having trouble paying the bills but you always have a carton of cigarettes laying around. I just read an article about a guy who's family is having trouble making ends meet meanwhile he is spending $300.00 a month on cigarettes. Do you believe that $300.00 a month. That is a car payment or a months worth of utility payments or groceries. That is $3600 per year. Boy, add the 19% interest on to that. And you add another $4.75 a month to the debt you could be eliminating by quitting smoking. I am not saying that the average smoker spends $300.00 per month but I think and you can correct me on this if you want but a carton of cigarettes costs about $25.00 and the average smoker smokes a carton a week. And that doesn't include the large amount of tax that is added to cigarettes. So with tax at the very least it is $27.00 per carton at 4 cartons per month that is $108.00 per month. And I am not even going to get into the long term costs of smoking. If you need help quitting Writtenbyme author Sherri Huttner has written some great articles on quitting. If you can't quit at least become aware of how much you are spending on cigarettes keep track of how many cartons you buy per month and try to eliminate at least one carton per month. This will at least save you $27.00 per month. If it is your spouse who is the smoker and you cannot convince them to quite try to convince them to at least cut buck a carton a month. Or make them find alternative means to support their habit such as doing odd jobs. Or at very least switch to a very inexpensive brand, you may not like them as much and this may cause you to smoke less. Or at the very least you will be saving a few dollars per carton. Total Savings: Approximately $27 to $100 per month or more. Soda and alcoholic beverages: I am not going to say a whole lot about alcoholic beverages because if you are deep in debt and you are spending a significant amount of money on alcohol you probably have more of a problem than I can help you with here. Please get help. Lets move on to Soda I have to admit that I have on occasion had a bit of a diet coke addiction. I have weeks where I don't drink any at all and then I will have one and start drinking it all of the time again. But the fact is it's pretty expensive. The best price I have seen for a case is $3.99 and you don't see that very often. Most sale prices around here are $4.99 and the average price is $5.99 per case. When I am in full soda drinking mode I will drink about 3 cans a day. And on Saturday night when friends are over I will drink a few more so when in full soda mode I am drinking a case a week. I would say that the average soda drinker is the same way. When I worked I would buy pop out of the machine twice a day at .50 cents per can. Therefore spending $5.00 per week just on soda and that does not even include what I drank at home. Eliminating soda entirely could save you between $20.00 and $30.00 a month or more provided you buy a case a week and also buy about 2 cans a day from a machine, (my work pop machine was actually cheap) at work. If you can't cut it out entirely at least bring your own soda to work. Most companies have refrigerators; this will save you about $2.50 a week. And if you make a vow to cut down to a case of pop once every two weeks instead of one a week you will save your self a total of $21.98 per month. Just by being conscious of what you are spending and cutting back. Or if you are a brave soul cut it out entirely and save yourself $20.00 to $30.00 per week. If you simply can’t live with out that carbonation you may try mixing fruit juice or KoolAide with some carbonated water. Flavored carbonated water is even better this provides the fizz, has lots of flavor and is cheaper than soda. You can buy a 16 oz bottle of flavored carbonated water at Walmart. Mix that with 16 ounces of KoolAide that you bought on sale for .10 a packet and you are saving tons of cash. Of course this is not any better for you than soda. But soda is not a real healthy thing either. Obviously the cheapest beverage is water, I like to squeeze a lemon into mine. There is probably something else in your fridge that probably gets thrown out at the end of every week. Milk is not just for cereal and kids. If you replace that soda you drink at lunch and dinner with milk your bones will thank you. This may also help to prevent costly medical bills in the future do to Osteoporosis. Milk is obviously more expensive than KoolAide or water but still much cheaper than soda and the health benefits are immeasurable. Just think how much whiter your teeth will stay if you stop adding all of that colored syrup to them, and start bathing them in rich healthy calcium. Food Lunch: If you work you must bring your lunch to work. If you are buying lunch everyday you are probably spending at least $5.00 a day. That is $100.00 per month. I am not going to get into all of the cheap brown bag lunch alternatives but I am sure you could easily spend less than $5.00 a day by packing a lunch yourself and bringing it work. Even if you bring a prepared Lean Cuisine at about $1.99 per box and an apple, for about a quarter and your own soda you will only be spending about $2.50 a day instead of $5.00 and that is by far not the cheapest alternative. I usually pack my husband what ever is left over from dinner the night before. If I pack him a lunch from Aldis using their brand of budding type lunch meat for sandwiches which is about .39 per package and Aldis bread which also about .39 a loaf, and buy the Aldis soda with fruit and pudding I can pack his lunch for just over a dollar a day. Vending Machine: Back when I was still working I remember I would often find myself gravitating towards the vending machine at around 2:00 in the afternoon to get my daily chocolate fix. I spent at least .50 every day on my little chocolate need. I could have easily baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies and brought a few to work with me every day to save money. Or what ever baked goods floats your boat. Some people have the salty cravings instead of the sweet ones. You could easily buy a large bag of whatever your vice is and divide it up into portions to bring to work with you. Of course we all know that carrot sticks or fruit would be a much better snack, but I’ll be honest and admit I like the chocolate. I could go on forever about how to cut down your food bills but that should be left for an entirely separate article. There is just way too much to cover in this area. But just remember food is not a fixed expense. It is one of those rare things that you must purchase monthly but, you can spend as much or as little as you are able. Make a conscious effort to save money at the grocery store try to set a maximum spending amount for yourself and stick to it. There have been many articles written here on Epinions about saving money on groceries. You should find them in the Managing a Family Budget section or under groceries. Entertainment This is going to be a difficult one. It works for me because I have two kids and I am married. But we have limited going out to once a month. And if I can help it we don't spend a penny when we do that. You see we have declared Saturday night a game night. And we have a group of friends that come to our house every Saturday night to play games. It could be board games, card games whatever. Everyone takes turns bringing games so things are always different. And everyone eats before they come. Everyone takes turns buying soda and I will usually bake something for everyone to enjoy. Or sometimes someone else will buy munchies. It's very casual and laid back. We all have a good time with friends and we don't have to get babysitters. The kids enjoy it too, because they all get to play together. When we used to go out on the weekends (before kids) we used to spend at least $40 dollars a week. So if you are spending that much staying home with friends or going to friends houses 3 weekends a month you could save $120.00 per month. Now you are probably wondering how I get away with not paying anything at all on the one night we do go out well that is where the internet comes in. Unfortunately the internet recourses for earning gift certificates are starting to dry up but you can still get gift certificates from Memolink and MyPoints and I am hoping that Free Ride will be coming back soon. You can get gift certificates for restaurants, and movie theaters as well as gift certificates to stores. Another way to find cheap or low cost entertainment is to look at the community board at your local library. There you will find postings for community events, such as plays, dances, talent contests, just about anything and the costs are usually very reasonable. INTERNET There are many different internet providers out there. And there are many different rates.available. There are even free internet providers although I have not heard great things about them. Try to get a better deal than you currently have do some research and contact several different companies you could save a ton of cash. We pay $45.00 every three months. And I earn more that, just in gift certificates every month. There are many other smaller ways to save money and I will get to those next week. My hands are getting tired from typing. I have a pretty busy weekend so I will probably be getting to everyone's articles early next week. In the mean time get working on Conquering that debt.  |
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