Sometimes it seems impossible to come up with extra cash to pay off debt. If you’re stuck in the cycle of only paying the minimum credit card payment, try some of the tips to jump start your debt-reduction!
1. Yard Sale. Yard sales no longer mean spending an entire Saturday in your driveway waiting for people to stop. Most communities have a Yard Sale page on Facebook or even on a local news or community website. A few weeks ago, I cleaned up the kids’ playroom, snapped a few pictures, and posted items on my communities cyber yard sale site. Within 2 days, I had made $110 for doing little to no work. Hmmmm . . . . makes me want to go clean out a few more closets!
2. Coupons. I am not an extreme couponer. I only buy what I need for the near future that I know will not go out of date, but I tend to save approximately $10-$30 from coupons each week on my grocery bill. When I first started using coupons, we were trying to pay off debt. I would take the total saved from coupons at the bottom of my grocery bill, minus the cost of my weekly newspaper, and immediately pay the savings towards the debt I was working to pay off. For instance, if my grocery receipt showed $22 in savings, I would subtract $2 for the Sunday paper, and immediately pay $20 towards the credit card bill I was currently working to pay down. These small extra amounts added up over time.
3. Increase Your Income. The idea of a part-time job can seem daunting for some, especially if you are already working a full-time job. If you have cut your expenses to a minimum and still don’t have enough, the only other option is to increase your income. Think outside the box for additional income. Use your talents, interests, or hobbies and turn it into extra cash. For instance, while I was in college, I loved taking fitness classes at the local gym. I found out I could spend one weekend and $200 to become a certified instructor. Once I became certified, my gym membership was free (which saved me $25 per month) and I made an extra $160-$320 per month teaching 2-4 classes a week. I would have been at the gym anyway, and I was doing something I loved! I continued to teach classes even after I got a “real job” because I enjoyed it, and I still have my certifications today so I can sub classes at my gym if needed.
Advertise babysitting services to your neighbors and friends, yard work, sign up to referee local sports games . . . find a job that doesn’t feel like a job.
4. Never Have “Extra” Money. Getting out of debt is not easy. Don’t get too confident too quickly. . . stay on course! Once you pay off one debt, don’t consider the monthly payment you just eliminated as “extra” money. The amount of the monthly payment should be transferred IN FULL over to another debt. This is how debt is paid off. It takes discipline and determination to stay on track.
For instance, you have 2 credit cards (Card A has a $1,500 balance, Card B has a $2,200 balance), and a car loan with a $6,000 balance. You are currently paying $250 per month on Card A, the minimum payment of $40 on Card B, and your car loan payment of $300 per month. Once Card A is paid off, take the full $250 payment and add it to the Card B payment (now you are paying $290 a month toward Card B). Once Card B is paid off, add the $290 to the current car payment of $300. This is a total payment of $590 per month toward the car loan, which will cut your payoff time in half.
Simply Money 