The journey of paying off debt could be seen as overwhelming for a lot of people.Unfortunately, debt is something that almost everyone experiences at some point in their lives.
Getting out of debttakes a lot of work and dedication, especially if you are trying to pay off debt with a low income.There are many emotional factors going on when you finally sit down and realized how much money you have in debt or the amount of time you need to pay off the debts.
However, this shouldn’t be a daunting task. Getting out of debt might be seen as a difficult journey or even impossible for you at the beginning. But it shouldn’t be like that. You just need to have the determination and the proper tools to help you on this journey on how to eliminate debt.
If you have already started the path to becoming financially free, then congratulations!! You know that every step and effort you took for eliminating debt in the end will be totally worth it!
For a lot of people, it becomes very easy to delay paying off debt because they have too much on their plate. The simple thought of calculating numbers or even knowing where to start first is complicated.
In any case, the simple fact that you are reading this post right now is that you realized that getting out of debt is important. I have developed a list of simple steps that you can do at this very moment and start taking the initial steps to pay off debt, even if you are living paycheck to paycheck.
Just remember, that every effort you make will be a step closer to your financial freedom.
Here are some simple things you can do right now to get out of debt.
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How to Pay Off Debt Fast, Even With A Low Income
1. Stop Spending Money You Don’t Have
If you really want to be debt-free then you need to stop getting into more debt. You should stop thinking about how you can finance that nice car or furniture. Your focus at this point should be on how to eliminate debt fast and how to develop a planthat works for you.
2. Find Out your Current Debt Situation
Make a list of all your debts and put the following: who you owe, interest rate, monthly payment, and payment dates. There are different methods to start attacking debt such as the snowball or the avalanche method.
I suggest starting your debt-free journey with the snowball method because by paying the smallest debt firstgives you the satisfaction that you have already started eliminating debt fast.
If you want to know more about the snowball method I highly recommend my preferred book from Dave’s Ramsey. It will not only show you how efficient the snowball method is but also the exact steps you will need to become financially free.
3. Cut your Spending
This step is crucial if you really want to pay off debt fast. Here, you will need to take a closer look at where your money is going every single month. I highly encourage you to set a budget if you don’t have one yet.
Setting ALL your expenses and income on a budget will help you to differentiate what are your needs and wants. With this, I am not saying that you need to cut all your monthly expenses. However, I believe that you can save a considerable amount of money from things such as daily trips to your favorite coffee shop or lunch spot.
Recommended articles:
- 30 Smart Ways to Save Money on Utility Bills
- 5 Things to Consider When Setting a Budget
- 15 Ideas to Save Money on Your Monthly Bills
4. Built an Emergency Fund
You might think, why should I save money if I need to pay off my debt? …Things happen, and today you and your family can be perfectly fine but tomorrow you don’t know what’s going to happen. An emergency fund will help you avoid getting into more debt in case of an unforeseen event in your life.
Having this extra cushion will prevent the use of credit cards and getting into more debt. Therefore, building an emergency fund for those unexpected events should be set as a priority. You can start with $1000 emergency fund and in the future, you can increase this amount.
5. Utilize Every Saved Dollar Towards Debt
After setting up your budget and building an emergency fund put any extra money that you saved towards your debt. For instance, you decided that you will get rid of cable tv and use a digital antenna like this one instead.
Now you have $120 extra every month that you can use towards the payment of a credit card! Remember, every dollar helps and the more you pay the faster you will get out of debt.
Other ways you can save money and apply towards your debt:
Use Ibotta
Ibotta is a money saving app that you can use to start earning cash back every time you go grocery shopping.
Using Ibotta has really helped me to save money on groceries. It is FREE and very easy to use.
With Ibotta, you earn cash back from your regular purchases at the store such as fruits, veggies, dairy, bread, household items and so on!
You can even get cash back just for submitting your grocery receipt!
Bonus: If you are new to Ibotta, sign up here and get a FREE $10 welcome bonus form Ibotta.
Start Meal Planning
Meal planning your food for the week can definitely help you save a lot of money. I highly recommend using the $5 Meal Plan. $5 Meal Plan is a meal planning service that sends you a delicious meal plan and shopping list every week for just $5 a month. Every meal will cost you $2 or less to make, You can try it for 14 days for free here!
Use Rakuten
Rakuten is an easy way to save and make extra money when shopping online.
They give you cash back from shopping through their links. You can also use discounts and coupons while shopping online. Sign up for Rakuten here and receive a $10 welcome bonus
Switch to a Cheap Wireless Plan
Use Republic Wireless for cheap cell phone service. You can get a monthly cell phone plan as low as $15 per month.
Recommended article: 11 Ways to Save Money on Groceries Without Using Coupons
6. Make Extra Money
This is the key to successfully getting out of debt fast. You need to earn extra income and put that earned money towards your debt. There are so many ways to start earning extra money.
You couldget a part-time job, volunteer for overtime or start a work-from-home job. The possibilities are endless and a little effort will pay off at the end.
However, sometimes for a lot of people getting a second job is not an option. But remember that it is just temporary until you accomplish your goal of eliminating debt.
Another alternative is to work from home. In fact, this is how I earn extra money from the comfort of my own home. Here are some of my favorite ways to earn a side income working from home:
Selling stuff: Places such as eBay or Amazon are a great way to start selling and earning money. In fact, you can learn fromThe Selling Family, which makes a six hundred figure income selling on Amazon FBA.
Take Surveys: Completing online surveys (a great way to earn a side income in your spare time). These are my favorite online sites:
- Survey Junkie (Fastest and Easy way to start earning money)
- Swagbucks (Free $5 sign up bonus)
- Inbox Dollars (Free $5 sign up bonus)
- Pinecone Research ($3 per survey)
Start a Blog: This is by far one of my favorite ways to earn extra income. You can start your own blog for cheap and start earning a passive income from this. How? I’ve developed an easy step-by-step tutorial on how you can start a profitable blog the right way!
You can start a blog for only $3.95 a month and get a FREE domain with this link.
As you can see there are different ways to make extra income and start putting it toward the payment of your debt.
Recommended articles:
How to Make $200 in One Day
How to Make $300 Extra a Month of Extra Income
The Best Online Survey Sites to Make Extra Income
13 Real Work From Home Jobs Paying Up to $75,000 per Year
To conclude, the 6 steps described above will serve as helpful tools to attack debt and eliminate it once and for all. However, to do this, you’ll need to take some actionable steps towards your financial freedom.
It would probably take some time, compromise and sacrifices to get out of debt. However, in the end, you will feel the sensation that everything you’ve done to get out of debt was totally worth it!
Do you have debt? If so, what are you doing to get out of debt? I’d love to hear your comments!
Recommended articles:
- How to Save $5000 in A Year: A 52-Week Money Saving Challenge
- How to Save a $1000 Emergency Fund Fast.
- 8 Simple Steps to Save Over $7000 This Year.
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