Tips for Paying Off Your Debts

Paying off you credit card debt, in its simplest terms is just a numbers game. To win at this game you are going to need two thing and for a quicker payoff term. That is, you will need to increase the amount of money coming into your home and you will need to decrease what is going out to other expenses so you can apply it to your consumer credit accounts.

A good place to start is with your credit cards. If you have been with these companies awhile, call them and asked to have your interest rate reduced. If you have a good payment history, many of your creditors will reduce your rates. If they are refusing to reduce your rate or you feel they should be able to reduce it more, let them know you have had offers from other credit card companies that will give you a better rate. Sometimes that will motivate your credit card companies to do more for you.

If you are able to transfer your balance to a card with a low interest rate do it. Both of these steps will save you hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars in interest payments. These things can save you money just by making a phone call.

Look at what you are spending on entertainment and that includes eating out. How much money can you save by cooking at home? How much money can you save by renting movies instead of going to the movies? Better yet, look for entertainment that is free. There is a lot of it that is available and it can be enjoyable, without costing you anything.

How much is your cell phone bill? How much is your cable bill? How much is your internet service? Years ago none of these things were around and nobody suffered because of it. See where you can cut back on these services or maybe even eliminate some of them.

Keep a journal of your spending. This will help you the most when it comes to figuring out where you can cut spending. It is hard to know where to cut back it you don’t know where your money is going. A journal will help you figure out where your money is going. When people keep financial journals, a lot of time they are quite surprised at where their money is going. This process can be very enlightening.

If you follow these simple steps and work with your credit card companies to try to save money, keep a journal and discover other ways of cutting your budget, you will have a good start towards paying off your debts. Give it some thought and I guarantee you can come with other ways of cutting excess out of what you are paying out each month.

Marjorie Salada is the owner of debtmanagement1.com, a website that contains information on debt consolidation, debt settlement, debt counseling and how to manage credit card debt.