People are depleting their already ravaged 401K's and retirement accounts to just get buy or pay down their credit card debt. I want you to remember that your retirement savings is extremely important and taking it out to pay off debt can one day leave you with nothing. Social security is looking like it is going to run out 4 years earlier than expected and you probably won't be with a company long enough to have a pension. So, what you put in your in your 401K or IRA might be all you have one day.
There are ways to cut back and put the difference of what you save towards your credit cards. With some these of things you might say, "I am not doing without that", but one day you might have to say, "I have to do without my medication or food" for that matter. It is better to do without certain things temporarily now than later.
- Raise the deductible on you car insurance.
- If you have insurance through your credit cards, cancel it. Insurance through credit card companies is usually over priced.
- If you feel you need life insurance, which I do recommend, shop around with local insurance agents.
- Cancel any insurance against credit card theft or loss you may have purchased. This insurance is not necessary. You are only liable for the first $50 used on a card after you report it stolen or missing.
- Reduce the minutes on your cell phone plan and try not to us the phone as much. If you consistently use more minutes than your plan allows, consider changing your plan with more minutes to avoid high charges for out of plan minutes.
- Cancel your land line and use your cell as your main phone.
- Block texting on your cell phone. Texting fees can really add up.
- Cancel you long distance service. Get a calling card.
- Turn off lights when not in the room.
- Lower the heat during the day when you are away at work and at night when you are asleep.
- Turn your thermostat down just one or two degrees when you are home.
- Turn down the thermostat on your water heater by one or two degrees.
- Do laundry with cold water instead of hot.
- Open a window instead of turning on the air conditioner.
- Cancel your cable service or reduce the number of premium channels you pay for.
- Cancel your Internet account and sign up for a free service or a company that pays you to surf or go to the library when you need to go online.
- Use a free email service like Gmail or Yahoo.
- Turn on just the light next to you instead of turning on all the lights in a room. Be sure to turn it off when you leave the room.
- Turn off computers when you are not using them.
- Turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth.
Doing some these things really sucks, but it may be necessary. At on time I had $60,000 in credit card debt. I was never late on a payment and paid back the entire amount. These were some of the very things I did to get the debt paid off. I can't imagine going back to dial up for Internet use, but if I had to do it again to preserve my credit and my retirement I would definitely do it again.
Have you paid off credit card debt by cutting back? Let us hear from you.
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