I have noticed that time is an important ally in our battle to reduce debt. There is a time for everything. When my wife and I decided to deal with our debts, we realized that we have to do something fast. Let me share with you some of the practical, down-to-earth actions we did:
1. We reduced our expenses. This was simple. First, we terminated our cable TV subscription since we are having a hard time paying for it anyway. That was easy. Second, If I could, I did all maintenance work at home. Lastly, we sat down with our children and told them what we were trying to do and we enlisted their cooperation. That was a bit embarrassing but we did it. It paid off. Every expenses, no matter how small, was evaluated against our goal of reducing expenses.
2. We looked for ways to increase our income. My wife, after some encouragement, have gone into business distributing Dakki products. She just started but we know it will produce one day. We looked for items in the house that we don't need and we put them on sale. These included two (2) chest freezers and other items. In other words, we sold and still selling our non-performing assets. Then I got a raised in my salary early this year. That was timely!
3. We Invested. This was a bit hard. The only way we knew how to do this was to seek the wisdom of our God. You may not believe it, but it works! We practiced what we believe -- that as we sow, we will reap. We first gave to God our tithes, the ten percent of any amount we received. Then, we sowed money by helping those who were in need. This was sacrificial giving on our part, since we also need money. You can try this one, it works every time. The amount of money we received was more than what we gave and helped us in balancing our finances.
In all of these things, the bottom line is to do all you can to generate cash in order to avoid falling into debt while clearing your existing debts.
It's almost a year now. Time has helped us recover some debts. One of my credit card has been fully paid. Patience paid off.
What else do can I do? Maybe you have ideas we can put into action.
To our debt-free life,
Jimmy
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/4105755730/sizes/m/in/photostream/
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