Be Debt Free

Jed Jones


Being in debt can feel like having a heavy weight chained to your foot, dragging you below the surface and drowning you in unpaid bills and a deteriorating credit score. Here are 5 smart moves to unchain yourself from that debt without resorting to credit counseling.

Move #1: Ask your credit card company for a lower rate: Your credit card company wants to keep your business. After all, if you carry with them a large balance at a high interest rate, you are paying them a hefty fee every month. Try calling them and asking them to reduce your rate, explaining that you have received lower-interest offers from other companies and that you are considering transferring your balances away unless they can match those lower rates. Believe me, your credit card company would rather keep some of that income than have it reduced to zero. Remember, there is no need to get nasty or threatening with them. Just be matter of fact about it and see what happens. If they refuse, go ahead and apply to other, lower-interest cards.

Move #2: Improve your credit score: A 50-point improvement in your credit score can save you $1000s per year in debt payments by making you eligible for lower interest rates. Do whatever you can to improve your credit score, including ordering your credit reports on the Internet and quickly correcting any errors you may find there.

Move #3: Pay yourself weekly: You may already have a monthly budget. If not, go ahead and prepare one. Then, divide it into 4 and make it a weekly budget. Now, pay yourself and your spouse a weekly allowance. Once your weekly allowance is gone (even if it is only Wednesday!), agree that you will halt all further purchases until the following week. This is a hard one to implement in terms of willpower. I suggest having 2-3 savings accounts and having one account for each week of the month. This is an easy way to keep track of how you are doing that week in terms of sticking to your budget.

Move #4: Keep a spending diary: Each evening, write down roughly how much you spent that day in a special spending diary or notebook. Create three columns: one for the name of the item, one for how much you spent, and one with a comment that labels the item “need” or “want.” For the wants, write a sentence or two about how that want was more important than your getting out of debt. By doing this, you will become much more self-aware about your spending habits.

Move #5: Set debt pay-down milestones: Everything is easier to achieve if you have clear goals in mind. Write down only your total unsecured debt. Now, think about the next 6 to 24 months and determine a realistic timeframe during which you will pay down that debt. Next, set two or three pay-down milestones during that time period and write down what your total debt balance will be by each milestone date. Then, as time passes, do periodic checks to make sure that you are on track and make adjustments accordingly.

To loosen the heavy weight of debt from your foot without resorting to credit counseling, you need to become more aware of your spending habits, improve your credit score, be smart about how you spend, and set goals for paying down that debt. You will soon be sitting pretty and debt-free.

Cheryl Johnson


Do you sometimes feel like you’re making a lot of sacrifices to live debt free? Debt free living is easy if you don’t have any debt. But, living debt free and working to eliminate debt, at the same time, can be a struggle. It can feel like you’re always giving up what you really want to meet that goal.

Sometimes we can’t help but get discouraged. Our desires and wishes get the best of us from time to time. But, it seems to me that things always work out for the best if you just hang in there a little longer.

On a diet commercial the other day, they said that all cravings pass within about 15 minutes. If you can just hold off for those 15 minutes, the craving will pass. I’ve found this to be somewhat true with impulse buying. Justification of a non-purchase takes about 15-20 minutes and the urge to buy goes away. Let me tell you my own experience.

I’ve been wanting a front loading washer and dryer set ever since they become popular styles for the home. Each time I go into a store that sells them, I stand and gaze at the beautiful pieces of machinery and even go so far as to compare prices. But, even at the low end, a set of these machines will cost you about $1600. I couldn’t tell you how many times I almost approached the salesman about that “easy pay plan.”

Each time I hesitated, and after about 15 minutes of thinking about it, I would walk away. I would tell myself that the purchase wasn’t necessary right now. Besides, my antique washer and dryer were still working by some miracle . And, I didn’t really need a set that cost $1500 when I could get a perfectly fine washer and dryer for about $650, when I “really” need them.

Talking yourself out of a purchase is hard when you’ve been talking yourself into them for so long. Justifying a non-purchase for the cause of living and becoming debt free is well worth it. I have about four years to go before I see zero debt. After that, I can save enough to buy any washer/dryer set I want in as little as two months, based on my current debt payment. By then, my tastes and the styles may have changed.

I got my new washer and dryer. They aren’t front loaders and they aren’t “new.” But, they are new to me. During a remodeling project, a friend discovered that the machines they had would not be accommodated in the space and decided to invest in a new stackable set. They are less than five years old. Less than 1/4 the age of my current set (which wasn’t even a matching pair), and in great condition. We acquired both for a total of $150.

I’m happy with the purchase. It satisfies my goal to become debt free and saved me money. It’s a debt free purchase I can live with! Now, I don’t have to worry about getting stuck without a washer or dryer. The old ones were getting temperamental and it was obvious that the day of retirement was nearing for both. Living without a washer and dryer is just not practical with a family of six.

Living to become and remain debt free is often a challenge in a world that’s credit card crazy. We live with constant exposure to credit card debt “pushers.” If they can’t get you at home, by mail or TV commercial, they get you as you walk in the door of the store and at the checkout.

When you want something and you happen to stop and look, just remember the 15 minute non-purchase theory. Walk around and justify not making the purchase for at least 15 minutes. That’s long enough to talk yourself out of it and save the day. You’ll save money and stay true to your goal to become or remain debt free!