Debt becomes a problem when it is too much, and you are struggling to pay your debts. It is quite possible for one to take out so much debt, that what one makes in payments each week or month, is more than their weekly or monthly salary. I’ve met a few people like that, and I sometimes wonder how they manage week to week or month to month. More importantly, how did they get in such a situation, and how can they get out of it? The most common reason why this happens is because people take on more bills than they budget for, or fail to budget for. Sometimes too there are unexpected expenses which occur, which were not budgeted for, because they were unforeseen. Other times too they experience cuts in pay, job loss, or are simply not being paid for work done. A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck, so if something happens which is outside of their tight budgets, they can easily find themselves in situations where they owe more than they are taking in. You probably guessed it right now, as to the one thing I am talking about, and you are correct. I am talking about going on a budget.
Take Stock
It’s easy to talk about being on a budget when you have enough money to budget for your expenses, but it seems like nonsense to go on a budget when you do not even have enough money to pay your bills. Actually, a budget is still needed in situations like these, but instead of it being a simple balanced budget, it will be more like an assessment of your financial status, where you can actually see where your money is going, and thus take corrective action to fix your financial troubles. In Luke 14:28 Jesus says, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” Yet that is exactly what many of us do NOT do. We buy things because the price is affordable, and many times without checking against our budget to see if we really can afford it. This is how a lot of us get into trouble, and not on purpose, but if we keep buying things without checking our budgets, then eventually we are going to find ourselves over our heads in debt. Assessing your financial status therefore is going to help you see where your money is going, and help you to create a budget with your finances.
Budget Tools
Assessing your financial status can be as simple as writing down on paper your expenses and income, or you can use elaborate electronic budget tools to help you track your expenses. There are lots of free apps and online budget tools, as well as computer budget tools, but I found this free one online by Dave Ramsey. Once you have your finances documented on paper, you can then start corrective actions such as eliminating wasteful spending, increasing your inflows, prioritizing your debts, and enacting a debt repayment strategy. Without a financial overview of your funds, there is no way you can pay off your debts in any organized manner, without falling back into more debt. Do this one thing today, if you are serious about managing and paying off your debts.
I would like to pay off my debt
Congratulations! This is the first step in paying off debts, which is recognizing that you need to do that. Did you get a copy of either of my books? They will teach you the principles of debt relief. I do also offer personal coaching.
Here is my website home page link, where you can purchase my books.
https://outoffinancialhell.com/