Hopefully, if you are in debt, you are not still adding to that number ~ and instead, you are trying to pay off.
Paying it off though can be a large feat – we really worked HARD to pay off our student loans. Although we both earned the GI Bill from time in military service (and one of us is still serving all these years later!), going TO school was expensive.
The GI Bill did not cover ALL of what we wanted to pursue – once we hit our Masters then the cost was on us – and every year seemed to go up. We knew that paying off that huge balance was going to take several things:
Spending Less.
Earning More.
Time.
You might have plans for how you are going to get out of the bills you got yourself into – perhaps you have a new job… or, maybe you have been working on cutting your costs in certain areas (grocery, television, cell.. ) – perhaps you are thinking a second job might help you earn a little extra to help you pay off some of what you owe.
In most cases, we can only assume there is always room for improvement – at least somewhere in the budget – right? That is, unless you have already done all the things we already mentioned above.
Tackling your debt is going to take some pretty serious sacrifice – which means you may have to do something different. out of the ordinary – something out of your comfort zone. You will have to give up some of the things you have perhaps gotten yourself accustomed to .. things that you might think are necessary but really might not be all that necessary to live.
You will have to sacrifice.
To sacrifice, you will need to give up something of value to get something of greater value.
That sacrifice might be different for each person ~ for some of us, it might mean driving right past Starbucks daily without making a pitt stop. For others, it might mean ditching your TV (or, even cable!) But for some, not having cable might just be normal – so it definitely varies greatly by person.
What if you aren’t Willing to Sacrifice?
To get where you want to go.. you do have to make sacrifices – but you might have some things you just not willing to budge on. While some people might just need or want to pick up a second job just to make that extra money to pay off debt, others might take a different route.
Perhaps Mom find staying home with her children important.. and so that possibly additional income isn’t as motivating to them as guiding their young children while they are young. Whatever you choose to sacrifice is ultimately a decision you will need to make with your spouse.
How to Make the Decision to Sacrifice
It’s important that when you are making that decision to sacrifice, that you sit with your spouse and agree on the decisions proposed – although these sacrifices don’t necessarily need to be permanent, they DO need to be something you both agree upon.
Bottom Line
Sacrifices can include anything from TV/Cable, to a “New” Car, perhaps even your current vehicle – if you are making payments. Perhaps it includes eliminating eating out… or even moving to a cheaper city. Renting versus buying for a few years. For others it might include NOT getting a pet until you are in a better place, financially. It might even mean avoiding Target for a year – I know how much that store tempts most people to open their wallet and for many people that store makes you spend more than you want to on almost every trip in.
The GOOD thing is… that you ultimately have the choice to decide what parts of your budget to keep and what to cut back on – so you can put more emphasis on debt. Give up using your credit cards and cut them up so you aren’t tempted to use them – even if you do claim that you pay them every month.
While it might not be the popular thing to do to give up certain things that have essentially become the norm, thankfully giving them up is only temporary – once you pay off your debt, you can enjoy those things again.