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Friday, June 30, 2006

Three Ways To Conquer Debt!

If the reason you are in debt is because you have a hard time actually paying your bills at all, there are three things you can do. These three methods really work. I have shared these techniques with many people and have received great feedback.

There are three ways that you can conquer your debt. The reason I came up with these three ways is because there are many types of people in my life. Some people have reservations about keeping a bank account (lived through the Great Depression and have a great mistrust for banks). Some people aren't computer savvy, but have bank accounts. Still there are others that both have bank accounts and can use interent. One of these methods may work for you.

Using Money Orders
For those people that have to go to the check cashing place to cash their checks, this is a simple way to get the debt paid down. Take your bills with you and make out your money orders at the window. If you can pay your utility, cable and phone bills there-use the service. Many of these people have a hard time keeping cash in their pockets. By the end of the weekend, their money is gone. This is a great way to stay on track and force yourself to stay on budget. If you have a rather large bill to pay, you can split the payment into the amount of paychecks you get. Then you make out the appropriate amount every pay period. This is a great way to pay your rent, mortgage or car payment. (By the way if your bank allows it, this is a great way to pay your mortgage and squeeze in an extra payment while reducing your interest!)

Using Checks
There were several people that I know that had a problem paying their bills because they spent it too fast (quick draw debit card). I suggested they send out their bills they day before payday. All they had to do was write out a check, send the bills and keep their checkbook balanced. This way they forced themselves to not spend the money. No one wants to have a check bounce! It helped them pay the bills and stay on track.

Using Automatic Bill Pay
For those that are computer savvy, there is automatic bill pay. It works even better when you have direct deposit. If you can have paycheck is automatically deposited into your checking account it works even better. Your payments can be scheduled around your paychecks. This works wonderfully for those that are on a fixed income. You can just have all the bills paid at once. No stamps, no envelopes, no hassles!

I hope that you find these tips helpful and that they accelerate your progress to get out of debt!

Related Posts
Using Mind Games to Stop the Cycle of Debt

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are three methods that really do work - when used properly. For the 75+ % of Americans who are living week to week or above and beyond their means, debt is a serious and back breaking issue. I like this blog a lot and think there is a ton of great info to be gained.

Thanks!
Andy - author of www.saveyourbottomline.com

susankellogg said...

I think many people are in debt only because they live beyond their means. We are used to credit cards. We see real money (I mean cash)rather rare. The problem is people tend to spend more on credit cards than they would spend using cash. Maybe, it happens because people don't see this bunch of cash they waste, and the numbers in their bills say them nothing...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the Auto Bill Pay is a life saver for me. I'm terrible for forgetting & before I started using it i was getting hit with late payment fees every few months.

Definately a good piece of advice!

Young Wife said...

Great tips. We use automatic bill pay. Just make sure you still open your mail. I thought that since there weren't any bills in the mail, there wasn't anything urgent in that pile of mail. Wrong!

WJ Media said...

While there are some good tips here, they only really touch the surface of "how to conquer debt". It's not widely known outside of the "magic" circle, but there is a book available which will show you the real way to avoid and get out of debt. Check it out at:

www.howtoavoidpayingdebts.com

Debt Advice Expert said...

While there are some good tips here, they only really touch the surface of "how to conquer debt". It's not widely known outside of the "magic" circle, but there is a book available which will show you the real way to avoid and get out of debt. Check it out at:

www.howtoavoidpayingdebts.com