Tips To Kickstart Your Debt Reduction

For those of us who have a mountain of debt or a small income, the journey to get out of debt is a long process. Along the way it is easy to become bored, sidetracked, depressed, or even to give up. Keeping on track is not easy, I know from experience. It took us 4 years to destroy our 70k in debt, but I learned a few tricks to help keep us on track. I wanted to share a list of tips that will help you deal with the down times during your debt destruction process.

1. Find your motivation. I have said before, purpose one of the biggest motivators. It will fuel our passion. What I am talking about here is reflecting deeply on the positive benefits that you will receive when you are out of debt. Things like looking at pictures of your children and thinking about the security and family legacy you want to leave behind. Or maybe allowing yourself envision being able to quit the job that you hate, the stress that will be removed from your life, or the freedom that you will gain. One final trick that helped me focus was to listening to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hearing others struggles and successes and having the zero debt principles reinforced really renewed my focus.
2. Accountability and friends. Lean on your spouse or friends when you are weak. Hopefully you have relationships that can relate to your struggles and offer support. Many a time during our journey, either the Rockette or I felt week, but the other would carry the burden for a while. If don’t have those type of relationships, it would be worth trying to find some friends to walk through the struggle with you. Blogs and web forums can be an awesome way to connect others on similar journey. Maybe even starting your own blog could inspire you.
3. Track your progress. By this point in the journey you should have a strong understanding of your finances and how much debt you have left, but sometimes we lose perspective. If you have $15,000 left out of 40k, it is easy to forget that we have already come more than half way and focus on the tough struggles ahead. I found it amazingly cathartic to have my debt listed on a nice big shee to help provide perspective and and satisfaction as we crossed off each debt. Hanging the list on the refrigerator or in your office can also be a great reminder and motivator.
4. Increase your income. If you haven’t thought about it yet, think of ways to boost your income. Often our debt feels so insurmountable, because we have such a little shovel. Consider delivering pizza or doing some other side jobs for a while to give you an extra push. Remember, this isn’t a long term solution, but a short term answer to help clear up your debt. If you keep your purpose and goals in mind it makes the burden a lot lighter while you put in the extra effort. You could even try selling some of your stuff on eBay or craigslist. Maybe it is even time to ask for a raise, what you can do to get a raise, or overtime.
5. Try an experiment. Ideally the experiment should support your debt reduction, but it doesn’t have too. What this accomplishes is helps distract you from the pain that you are feeling, and breed confidence to help fuel your debt reduction. Often the change in focus can be quite fun and exciting. Some great examples of experiments would be canceling cable for a month, not watching TV for a week, cash only spending for a month, cooking all your meals at home, quitting coffee, volunteering, etc.
6. Treat yourself. Some people respond to this idea more than others, but often giving yourself a small, and I mean small, reward after a big goal or during a sluggish time can help get the juices flowing. Going out to the movies or a play, taking a long weekend to a cabin, or buying a video game are all great ideas. Remember to save and pay cash for whatever you purchase.

Hopefully this list provides you some good ideas to help kick start your debt reduction plan again. If you have any comments or other tips to offers readers, please feel free to comment.