I am almost to the point where my only other bill besides utilities will be paying off my credit card. I had to use a lot of the credit on the card when we moved into our new house earlier in the year because it happened fast. For the next few months, I am going to take all of my online earnings and pay off the card as the money comes in. Lucky for me, I can make small payments frequently online with no charge. How have you managed to pay off your credit cards?
I was in the same situation several years ago when the company I was working for closed shop. Prior to the actual closure, our salaries were delayed for two or three months and there were also operational shutdowns along the way. I didn't want to exhaust my emergency funds so I resorted to charging most household expenses to my credit card. What happened taught me valuable lessons about taking care of my finances and opening up multiple streams of income for myself. I solved the situation by applying for a new credit card and transferring the entire balance for a 24-month term at a very low interest rate. The deal offered a lot of savings from the regular interest rate being charged by my old credit card.
Well this way you kind of do not feel it as bad and that way it is much much easier to actually get it out of the wallet and into the account that needs to go down. Easier said than done, though, of course.
I haven't had any credit cards so far so I haven't experienced having to pay back the debt yet. I'm 18 at the moment by the way. I'm going to try and avoid credit cards as much as I can to be honest because I don't want to be held back by loans but obviously life can become difficult and no one can predict the future so who knows. I think the best way to pay back the debt is to pay back small amount regularly as long as you can afford to pay it. Sooner or later you will have paid the whole thing back without even noticing.
I guess we all have been there when it comes to piled up debts. There were some years when I was saddled with heavy interest payments. It was good that I was able to take a personal loan from our office to pay off all my existing debts. And from there on, I started to change my lifestyle. I learned to be prudent when it comes to spending and I was always conscious of my loan payments. Aah, what a relief when my loan was fully paid. That was a neat lesson. Anyway, to reduce your existing debt, you have to make sacrifices like doing away with luxuries. But do not scrimp on food. Just stop buying unnecessary items like clothing, shoes, etc.
We found that to keep credit card debt down, is to not spend. Just get what you need. Pay double the statement minimum payments and don't spend unless you have to like necessities. It's hard I know, but to get the debt down you got to do it. When you got your debt down to a manageable amount still be careful. If you can get help from benefits.gov, by all means get help and it will help you more.
