Reduce Your Deby after the Holidays

Holiday parties can be very exciting. From the various parties, gifts, entertainment, and shopping, this can be one of the most exciting times of the year. Now after all the fun, the bills begin to arrive at your home or apartment. Of course spending money is fun at the time, but many times we don’t budget properly and are amazed at the amount of money we have spent. Each year we promise to spend less but it seems we can never keep that promise to ourselves. But it is our responsibility to pay our bills and we should prioritize our bills.

First things first, get all your bills together and place them on the table side by side. Check all the charges on your account and make sure they are accurate. Many times there are some charges you may not recognize, so be sure and go over each charge on your accounts.

Place your accounts in order from smallest to largest. Here we will try and employ the debt-snowball method whereby we will pay off as many balances as possible in order to reduce interest on our accounts.

Write down how much money you will pay towards your accounts each month.

Next pay the minimum amount on each account with the largest balance.

Pay off the balances of the cards that have the lowest balances.

After the debt is payed off on the small accounts, pay the maximum you can towards the accounts with the higher balances.

Many times we need some extra money to pay towards our accounts and there a few ways we can cut expenses over time.

Don’t eat out as much. Go to the grocery store and start bringing lunch with you to work. If you must go out try more economical restaurants.

If you purchase gourmet coffee, try buying coffee from fast food chains. Many of them have really increased their quality of coffee.

When you go to the grocery store purchase items on sale. Many stores have cards that you can use that act as coupons. Take advantage of these.

Lower your air conditioning unit by a few degrees during the night. This will save you money on your electricity bill.

Stay away from retail stores and shops. Leave your credit cards at home. You will only be tempted to spend.

You may want to completely stop using your charge cards altogether. Take them out of your wallet and store them in a safe place. You can even put them in the freezer so you will in essence Freeze your accounts.

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