As we gear up to enter the new year – a fresh start… a clean slate… I am putting the finishing touches on filling out our Soon-To-Be Debt Free workbook, while finalizing all of my personal and business goals for 2016.
The deeper I go into completing our financial goals I am realizing how much work, hard work it takes to dig yourself out of your debt! It can really feel like a 2nd full time job! A job that, if you give 100% of yourself to doing well, can completely change your life! It can give you the life you dream of.
Becoming Debt Free has a lot of elements that you need to be constantly thinking about, and actively setting you and your family up for success. This absolutely does mean more work for you. I promise you though it WILL be worth it! Some of the things you need to be thinking about and planning for are:
Meals
- You no longer have the luxuary of running to the grocery store and buying whatever you please. This can be a HUGE money drain! I personally fall for this trap a lot. This year I am creating a resource (that I will share with all of you) to help combat the multiple trips to the grocery store AND the random purchases.
- Setting up a weekly or monthly meal plan can absolutely make or break how successful you will be this new year.
- Planning your meals around what is on sale, what you have coupons for or what you have in your stockpile RATHER than what you are craving in that moment. You can make amazing, well balanced, and delicious meals for very little money!
Planning Ahead for Everything
- You need to be constantly thinking about and planning for the Holidays and Birthdays. This may mean you will have to say “no” sometimes. You cannot attend every gift giving party and celebration without it having a negative impact on your debt free desire. Remember – every penny you spend NOT on paying off your debts sets your goal back!
- Going back to point #1 You need to plan your meals. This means breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stop going to fast food chains for your meals. For the amount you pay for a greasy burger and a drink you can feed an entire family of 4 a delicious and healthy lunch! YES- it takes time to plan, and time to make it but it is worth it. You not only eat better, but you have more family time and more cash for your debt repayments.
- Becoming debt free does not mean you have to stop living your life. HERE I shared some awesome money saving tips for attending a fair. These tips can be applied in many different situations.
Maintaining What You Have
- It is really important that you take the time to care for the items you already have! Getting out of debt does not allow for you to buy new things because you neglected what you already have!
- Keep your car clean, and waxed. YOU DO THIS. You do NOT take it to a retailer to do this anymore. Keeping it clean will help with resale, and making sure you are not overlooking any minor imperfections that you need to repair. While waxing will help to prevent rust from damaging your car.
- Learn how to change your cars oil. It is imperative to keep it running well, but can easily cost 60 to have a professional do it. You could do it yourself for 20 bucks!
- Quickly tend to stains on your clothing. If you treat stains quickly you can almost always get them out – thus keeping your wardrobe up! This is important for kids clothes too, especially since when they are kept well you can pass them on to younger siblings OR sell them at consignment for some cash.
- Maintain your home. Not just keeping it clean but making sure that small repairs that you can do yourself do not turn into major repairs! Things like keeping gutters cleared, ice off your roof (in the winter), windows well caulked, etc.
- Keeping your house clean can save you a lot of money and from getting depressed during your debt free journey! When your house is neat and tidy you will be much happier with your surroundings and much less likely to feel the desire to go shopping to “spruce” it up!
- Keep your car clean, and waxed. YOU DO THIS. You do NOT take it to a retailer to do this anymore. Keeping it clean will help with resale, and making sure you are not overlooking any minor imperfections that you need to repair. While waxing will help to prevent rust from damaging your car.
Drop Conveniences
- This might be the hardest one of all (at least for me) but things like going out to eat after a long day are no more. INSTEAD you need to plan ahead for bad days and have a stash of freezer meals you can pull out for a homemade dinner.
- Making your own laundry soap takes time and energy but for less than the cost of a one month tore bought supply you can make your own that will last you a full year!
- Brown bag lunches instead of grabbing something at a drive through window
- I really love pizza night. I not only LOVE pizza but it is so easy to order, and have it arrive at your door in 30 minutes! Guess what. With just a little bit of thought we can make our own pizza at home for 20 LESS than the cost of buying one. 20 a week for a year is $1,040, that I could be applying towards our debt WHILE STILL EATING MY PIZZA.
- Manicures – paint and file your own nails!
- For us paper towels are a luxury. We have some rolls on hand, but 999 times out of 1,000 I will grab a washable bar cloth to clean up whatever I need.
These really just begin to scratch the surface of all the things you need to think about when you are trying to get out of debt! As you can see getting yourself out of debt can really seem like a 2nd job. As long as you are truly dedicated and excited to continue on this journey nothing besides yourself can stop you from reaching your end goals!! I believe in you!
If you are serious about taking control of your finances – and you want to really get out of debt, than make sure you grab this 40-page workbook – today!!
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