Get Out of Debt
Debt stinks. Period. One of the first steps in fixing your financial situation is getting rid of your debt. I now live without any debt (except for my home mortgage which I’m intending to start paying off early soon). I love the feeling of not having any excessive credit card debt, student loan debt, or even a car note. I now hate the idea of owing anyone anything. Once you get a taste of financial freedom, you’ll never want to give it up.
I didn’t pay them off overnight though. It was a long road. I made a plan to get out of debt and I followed it. And I sacrificed a lot. I didn’t live as extravagantly as I could have. I lived within my means. I made a choice to get rid of the debt. And like Dave Ramsey (pretty much my hero, when it comes to understanding debt) said, I lived like no one else for a while, so that later I could live like no one else. I’m now starting to deeply understand what that means.
So my advice to you in this area is the advice I took for myself. Aggressively pay off any credit card debt. Then work hard to pay off the other debts in your life. Along the way you’ll have a few conversations hemming and hawing about which debt to pay off first. None of that matters as much as if you’ve been able to change your mindset to that of a person who is absolutely determined to be done with debt.
Personally, I think the days when we could keep a lot of debt in our lives and feel safe are numbered. It’s time to dump debt for good.
I still use credit cards though. But I use them wisely. I pay them off each month in full. I’m never late making a payment because I have payments automated. I don’t necessarily recommend this approach for you though. If you can’t deal with credit cards then get them out of your life.
