Take a Few Simple, Important Steps to Paying Down Debt

When Miranda Marquit started writing about personal finance six years ago, she “was maxed out on my credit cards,” she admits. No more. And the publisher of Planting Money Seeds has a few words of hard-earned advice for anyone who has dug themselves into a debt hole so big they think they’ll never climb out. First, decide that it’s a priority. “Don’t just say, ‘I’ve got to pay down this debt.’ You have to [make it] important in your life.” You have to believe it will improve your life, she says. Motivation is everything. Second, identify “wants” versus “needs.” Once you’ve brutally assessed which is which, you can change your spending habits, she says. Third, track your spending.  For a couple of months, keep track of how much you spend on various things. Do you spend a lot on “wants” and could you eliminate some of those things from your budget? Finally, choose which approach to take in paying down your credit cards. For the full story and explanation of those choices, CLICK HERE.