3 Actionable Steps to Take to Get Out of Debt (And Stay Out)

Are you knee-deep in debt? You are not alone. According to Pew Charitable Trusts, 80% of Americans are in huge financial debt. The high numbers are worrying. And what majorly contributes to these debts are student loans, car loans, credit card debt, mortgage debt, and a combination of all the above.

With increased interest rates on loans over the past year, the situation doesn’t seem to get any easier. So the best time to go to work on your debt is now. But what if you’ve done this many times before, worked on your debt with little to no hope of clearing it? Don’t rely on hope. It’s not a valid strategy.

Make significant changes in your life instead to get yourself out of debt. However, that’s just one step that guarantees success. There is more. In this post, you will learn three actionable steps you need to take to get yourself out of debt and how to stay out (for good).

Come Up with a Plan

Being in debt feels terrible. But if you come up with a clear debt plan you can easily prioritize your debts even setup debt settling goals. Goals whose aim is to decide:

• Which debt you need to pay off first – come up with a strategy like creating a small debt method borrowed from small loan services like this that will help you pay off a large debt for a longer period of time but consistently. This will keep you motivated to pay off a debtor who’s probably on your neck. Such a method will help you get rid of them completely.
• How much you should pay – once you have a method in place you can then decide how much you want to pay off.  Do you want to make a lump sum payment every month? Once you decide on the amount you are going to pay per month, you can then go ahead with your next step on your plan.
• And how long it will take to pay – decide on a specific monthly amount you want to pay and if possible create a deadline. This helps you remain consistent with your repayment plans. Soon you’ll see your dad fluctuating depending on the amount and time you’ve allocated for this goal.

How you set up your debt plan is upon you. You can choose to either categorize your debts by interest rates or balances, or both. But the fact is, you must choose a method that makes debt clearing easier for you, for the long term.

Change Spending Habits

Bad spending habits will drive you nuts. They’ll milk your accounts dry, leave you in deep regret even. Your spending habits can either build or destroy your financial future, most likely bad spending habits will take control of your life instead. Nip them at the bud and get rid of them entirely. How? Budget your money or better yet, start an emergency fund.

Identifying your spending habits simply helps in tracking all your expenses, in turn, you are able to know where your money goes and what it does every month. You can also make things easier by categorizing what you spend your money most on – is it the food, gas, or housing expenses? Identify how much you spend on each category every month and you’ll able to tell you where your money goes.

Make Payments

When you don’t make payments on time you further sink in debt. So, start making payments right away. And with a plan in place, this is achievable. Depending on the debt, you can choose the amount of payments to make every month consistently and without fail.

There is no better way to get out of debt – and stay out of it – than remaining consistent in making payments. To stay motivated to making payments on time, track your progress.

Create milestones to help you stay on course, too. For example, you can create milestones of 10%, 25%, 30% or 50%. Once you complete a milestone, you’ll be motivated to keep making payments. And you will soon be out of debt.

Conclusion

Once you come up with a clear method to deal with debts, you are halfway through to get yourself out of most debts, if not all. You just need is to remain consistent in your payments, don’t create more debts for yourself while settling other debts.

Remember to make payments on time, create a plan that doesn’t have to be complex, but which prioritize your debts, and change the circumstances that led you to the debt in the first place.

Once you decide which debts should be paid off first, how much should be paid towards it, and the time it takes, your debt settling goals soon become clear. Sometimes all it takes is a change in bad spending habits and you’ll be debt free for a long time.