Are you tired of feeling like you are constantly drowning in debt?
Fed up with robbing from Peter to pay Paul while avoiding collection calls from all of those other creditors?
Struggling with debt is a massive problem that consumers are dealing with across the country, but you don’t have to live like that anymore. You have the power to break the cycle. You just have to stop digging the hole deeper and start climbing out of the mess.
One of the best ways to start working on paying off debt is called the “Snowball” method. This simple strategy focuses all of your efforts on paying off your smallest debt first and then moving from there onto your next smallest debt.
If you are ready to snowball your way out of debt, these six tips will help you get moving right away.
Relax. You’re Not Alone
The first thing that you need to understand about getting out of debt is that you are not the only person who is struggling. While talking about your debt with friends and family might seem taboo, there are millions of people in similar situations who are happy to talk to you.
Start checking out some personal finance blogs and forums around the internet and you will instantly find people who can act as role models and accountability partners to help you on your journey.
Stop Making Things Worse
The first real step towards getting debt-free is to stop spending money on anything that is not absolutely necessary.
You can find all of the information that you need to get out of debt available completely free on the internet, so don’t let anyone trick you into thinking that you need to spend more money before you start working on your snowball.
Write Down Your Debts
Another thing that can help get you started on your snowball is writing down exactly how much you owe on each of the accounts that you are going to be working towards paying off.
Pen and paper are the best options here.
Write down every one of your debts, then order them from smallest to largest and you will have a rough idea of how much you owe and how you are going to attack those debts.
Follow the Plan
Once you have the details of all of your debts written down in one place, it’s time to start working that snowball.
Continue to make your minimum payments on each of the accounts, and then throw every bit of extra money you can manage at the smallest debt until it is gone.
Once the smallest debt is gone, apply the money you were paying on it to the second smallest debt, as well as anything else you can come up with. Then continue working this plan without stopping until all of your debts are gone.
Start a Side Hustle
One fantastic way to come up with extra cash to put towards those debts is to start a side hustle. This could be anything from a gig-economy job like Uber driving or freelancing to something as simple as babysitting or selling some of your stuff on eBay.
The important thing to remember is that whatever you make from your new side hustle needs to go completely towards paying down that debt. This is not extra spending money until those debts are gone.
Stay Committed
Speaking of extra spending money, you will eventually reach a point where you have some success with your snowball and start to think about letting up and treating yourself to a reward.
This is the exact kind of thinking that got you into trouble in the first place, so you need to commit to avoiding anything like this right from the start.
Stay committed to getting out of debt completely, and you will be able to reward yourself with a brand new lifestyle of freedom once that happens.
No matter how much debt you might be in, the debt snowball can work for anyone. All you have to do is take these simple tips and get your own snowball moving.
