如果你负债 如何规划好你的偿债计划
It was a crazy thought - paying off and cutting up every single one of my credit cards. It was an even crazier thought that one day we may not owe anyone a single dime. Our family members looked at us like we had lost our minds when we told them we no longer had a credit card for "emergencies". My friends thought I was insane when I started walking dogs for extra money to pay off our debt even faster. "Uh, you're hugely pregnant and you're walking dogs in this heat?! Y'all must really need the money." And the truth is, we did need the money. We needed every penny because we had a crazy plan of paying off all our debt. And this year, we are going to finish that plan and pay off our house. It hasn't been easy, but then again, nothing worthwhile ever is. If you want to join my family in the crazy and pay off debt, here's how you get started: 1. Stop Using It In order to completely become debt-free, you have to make a commitment to stop using debt - of any kind. That means no more credit cards, no more taking out loans of any kind, and no more borrowing money from a relative. It'll be scary at first, like real scary. You'll feel a little panic like you won't know what to do if this or that happens, which is why you must do step two . . . 2. Start Saving Trust me when I tell you this - once you make the declaration to become debt-free, all of a sudden all these worries and panic will hit you. You'll start worrying how you'll pay to fix the car when it breaks down or how you'll pay your insurance deductible if an emergency happens. This is why you must absolutely start building up an emergency fund. Start with your starting point - talk to your spouse about how much you want to save first. It could be as little as $500 and as high as $5,000. The point with the starting point is to pick a number that works well for your family but is not overwhelming. |