Spending more than you make is most likely the cause. Excessive spending, keeping up with the Jones', being a spend thrift or whatever you want to call it is as addictive as alcohol or drugs. Just like a drug addiction, debt can interfere with every aspect of your life including: your job choices, interest rates you pay, your insurance rates and can damage relationships with those who are the closest to you. With the unemployment rate being the highest it has been in years Americans owe more now than ever before.
So, what do you do first?
Step #1
Assess your current financial situation. Take a look at your debt and your current spending habits. Do you have a budget that is written down and you follow every month? Do you know how much you are spending in each category (i.e utilities, food, shelter, clothing, transportation)? Just like Alcoholics Anonymous the first step is admitting you have a problem. You can't solve any of your debt problems until you understand how you got to be in debt in the first place. If you don't know how it happened to begin with history is destined to repeat itself.
Do you remember a time when you were able to live on only your salary without having to borrow money? When did your debt start to get out of hand. Did you lose your job? Did you buy that car you had to have, but couldn't afford? Did the credit card company double or triple your interest rate on your card? Did you go on a spending binge? Or maybe it was a little of each of those things. Whatever the reason was you need to start where it began before you can go forward to start your debt free life.
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