Get out of Debt. All debt!

The Good book, the Bible, is right when it says that "the borrower is a slave to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7).
People in dire financial need usually resort to borrowing. If not checked, they become addicted to it. The only solution they see is to borrow from the lender. A piece of advice: shun borrowing like a plague!

For those who are in debt: get out of debt, all kinds of debt!
Here are five (5) strategies to free yourself from the lender:

1. Perform what David Ramsey calls "Plasictomy". Cutting your credit card and using cash only.

    There is no positive side to credit card use. I suggest you use Debit Card instead. It keeps you

    constantly aware of your financial condition and prevents you from buying impulsively and unnecessarily.

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2. Don't pay the "Minimum Amount" suggested by your credit card company
    Credit Card company are loan sharks! When you pay minimum amount you end up paying your
    debt in 32  years.

3. Pay credit card balance beginning with the one with the lowest balance. If you do, it feels like you're
    doing something to eliminate your debt. I did and I got rid of one credit card and it feels so good.

4. Negotiate. The credit card company is eager, so eager to have your business. In this regard, they are

    open to negotiating anything you put on the table like interest rates, annual membership fee, etc.

    I still have one credit card debt, which I am trying to manage and eliminate. Every year, I request my credit card company to reverse the annual membership fee they charge me

    and they gladly oblige. This year, I did the same and to my surprise, they told me that from this year on they will no longer bill me the annual membership fee. Just one of those fees you can deduct from your debt. It feels so good!

5. Talk to somebody, please. There's help. Share your burden with someone you can trust. Don't suffer alone about your debt situation.

To your debt-free life,
Jimmy

2 Things You Can Do With Debt

On my way to the office, I have breakfast at Burger King near the Rotunda in Quezon City. Why not? You see, almost daily, I bring my breakfast, which is prepared for me by my cousin. Do you want to know what my favorite breakfast is? 

My Morning Power Drink
Well, before we go there, I also want you to know that we follow a daily regimen of drinking a dose of Vitamin C, the natural way. Everyday I squeeze Twenty Eight (28) pieces of the local lemon called "Calamansi"in a glass and drink it. That's it! I learned this from Bo Sanchez in his 52 Healing Habits. My wife and I take 28 pieces of Calamansi (local lemon) each almost daily. This is our morning power drink! Uhmm, why did I tell you that? Why do we drink Calamansi? Well, Click this, and let Bo explain it to you better.

Breakfast
Back to my favorite breakfast, One (1) hour after drinking our morning power drink. My favorite breakfast is Fried DILIS (anchovies) with cut tomatoes and a cup of rice! Almost daily!!!!! 


Frugality
You see, I save a lot by bringing my favorite breakfast with me and eat it in my office. Savings is the issue here. If I eat at McDonalds or in this case at Burger King, it will cost me P125.00! Compared to my favorite Dilis (anchovies) breakfast which will cost me only less than P25.00! That's a lot of savings! Every centavo counts if we are serious in getting rid of our debts.


Treat for me
But that day, I can afford to treat myself for breakfast at BK. You see, in our budget, my wife and I allocated an amount for "Entertainment". The money put in this item can be used for treating ourselves or our friends. We can do this because there is a budget for it.


Two (2) Things you can do
Now back to my main issue about debt. Do you know that debt is a reality of life. If you are in debt, there are two things you can do: 
1. You can accept it
2. You can do something about it


If you accept it, you wallow in it and it becomes your lifestyle. You will have every reason why you are in debt and will be in debt. But the truth is, nobody wants to be a slave to debt and to a creditor. 


Another way is to do something about your debt. I recently had an exchange of ideas with Bradd Chaffee. I posed a question on how one can get rid of his debt if his income is not even enough to cover his expenses. He gave me a simple but practical answer: increase your income! Whoaaa! So simple yet we often miss it. 


The best way to get rid of debt, after doing all you can to reduce it, is to increase your potential to earn more money. How do we do that? SELL ANYTHING!

• Sell items that are stored in your house and have not been used for a long time
• Buy and sell item on Sulit.com.ph. I know people who makes money doing this on the internet. LAWAY lang and puhunan. Their capital is just their "Saliva".
• Recently, I attended a real estate seminar because I want to explore selling REAL ESTATE PROPERTIES. If you sell MILLIONS worth you get MILLIONS too.
• So SELL, SELL, SELL ANYTHING THAT WILL GET YOU INCREASE IN INCOME.

But many people are afraid to go into selling. Here's my recommendation: Be willing to be trained. Invest in yourself by training yourself how to get those deals that will give you increase in INCOME. I tell you, you will never be the same again.

To your debt-free life,

Jimmy

P.S. Recently, I enrolled in Jomar Hilario's Online Mentoring Club so I could learn how to blog. It's been almost six (6) months and I am getting better. This blog that you are reading is a product of what he is teaching me. I have not yet submitted this blog and monetize it through Google Adsense. Once I do that, I start earning passive income.


P.S.S. I plan to invest again in myself and plan to attend Jomar's Online Wealth Breakthrough Seminar to be held on June 28, 2011. You see I want to move to the next level and I need to be equipped to know how to SELL products through the internet. I want to bridge the gap between my skills in blogging and my GOALS, to earn extra income!!!!

3 Practical Steps to Getting Out of Credit Card Debt

I like what I saw the other day on Channel 5's  SAPUL SA SINGKO morning show. They have a segment dedicated to FINANCIAL FREEDOM AND MONEY. The hosts were Amy Perez and Chinky Tan, author of "Till Debt Do Us Part".  
Money, to most of us, is a vital commodity. Without money, you'll have a hard time making things happen. Without money, you can't pay your basic bills like electricity, water, telephone and other equally important bills. With money, you can do a lot of things including helping people in their time of need.


So there I was, a bit sleepy coming out of a restful night, when I switched the TV on to SAPUL and saw Chinky Tan reading the letter of a sender who was asking help on how to be financially free and how to eliminate her mounting credit card debt. I really appreciate Sapul sa Singko for including this segment because I believe it will help a lot of people get out of credit card debt.

Here are 3 practical steps they advised the letter sender:
1. Don't pay the MINIMUM AMOUNT  DUE only. TRIVIA: it will take you 36 years to fully pay your credit card debt if you pay the minimum amount due ONLY. Doesn't look good isn't it? Pay more than the minimum amount due!


2. Don't use your credit card to purchase new items, specially BIG Ticket items like appliances (TV, ref, washing Machine, etc.). USE CASH to buy anything you need. (if I may add, if you want to buy big ticket items, save money for it and buy it only when you have saved for it)

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3. Look for additional INCOME to increase your earnings. Your income should always be greater than your expenses. Chinky Tan says: don't over-spend (cause of debt). It's time to get out of debt by under-spending.


To your debt-free life,
Jimmy


P.S. Be wise! Commit to a budget and stick with it.