Are You Drowning in Debt?

Let me throw you a lifeline

Drowning in debt? I was there. But in just a few months, I turned my financial mess around. Here's how I did it and how you can, too.

1. Face the facts and create a budget

I started by using Google Sheets to build a detailed budget. Seeing my budget online forced me to confront the reality of my financial situation, including my credit score (ouch!).

My budget included tabs for tracking income, expenses (housing, transportation, food, etc.), debts, and investments.

2. Organize your debts

Next, I created a dedicated sheet to track all my loans and credit cards.

I included key information like minimum payments, due dates, interest rates, and remaining balances, which helped me prioritize which debts to tackle first.

3. Automate and excelerate

I set up autopay for all my bills to streamline payments and avoid late fees. For credit cards, I automated the statement balance for those with low balances and the minimum payment for those with higher balances.

4. Build your safety net

Following Dave Ramsey's advice, I focused on building a $1,000 emergency fund. The emergency fund provides a cushion for unexpected expenses and prevents me from relying on credit cards when things go wrong.

5. Cut back and find extra cash

By implementing these suggestions, you can create a more engaging, informative, and actionable blog post that resonates with your readers and helps them on their debt-free journey.

6. Use Dave Ramsey's Snowball Method

The psychological effect of paying off debt faster with Dave Ramsey's Snowball Method works.  Here's how it works:

1. List your debts from smallest to most significant without regard to the interest rate.
2. Make minimum payments on your debts, except the smallest.
3. Use the extra cash towards your smallest debt.
4. Pay off the smallest debt, then use those funds to tackle the next smallest debt, and so on.

7. Celebrate milestones

Using the snowball method, I saw results quickly and felt relief and happiness at meeting my goal of putting more money toward my debt.  Watching my finances made me less likely to want to put more on my credit cards.  Instead, I kept looking for things to cut out of my expenses.

8. Hustle on the side

Earlier in the year, I started working as a DoorDash dasher.  I liked this because as I met my goals, I became a premium dasher, which meant I could dash whenever I wanted.  The money is small, but I could make $50 - $80 a night.  Even if I work ten evenings, $500 - $800 a month is quite an accomplishment.

There are many side hustles out there.  I encourage you to find one that works for you.  Some examples are house sitting, pet sitting, selling things on Etsy, blogging, coaching, and many others.  

These are a few things I started and have seen results within only a few months.