Spending the Easter holiday last week was a very enjoying time for my family. The time was made even more special by spending the weekend with our two young children. Our little ones had so much fun thinking about all things Easter, including a common element – bunnies, which brought an added level of cuteness.
With such a great time behind us, you can’t help but wish that great moments like these wouldn’t end yet. However, it was back to work, back to school, back to thinking about our finances, back to reality. While we certainly do spend many carefree hours together each year as a family, there are always interrupted with lingering thoughts surrounding our debt and our ongoing financial concerns.
With that being said, who’s to say the good times actually have to end? By once again working towards better financial management practices in our everyday lives – through the act of improving our current credit situation, maybe our happy moods can be extended and don’t have to end, even long after our fun family holiday weekend has.
I am more than quite aware of how overwhelming dealing with finances can be and how this can lead to a lot of stress and negative emotions. However, I also think that by breaking these inevitable and ongoing financial demands into smaller steps, some of this stress can be alleviated and this effectiveness can have a more profound and lasting impact on our debt management and help to lighten our moods.
Small Steps to Improving your Debt
1) Organize your Debt
This first step might seem fairly obvious, however if you unaware of every amount of your debt accumulations then you will have difficulties managing them all. Organizing your debt can be made easier by making a list of all credit card and loan accounts, as well as any monthly outstanding bills and payments you have. To make this more efficient, you can record your list on a spreadsheet or online expenses template that helps organize all of your information. Once you have a clear picture of all that you owe, you can move forward with making a plan for paying off your debts as effectively as possible.
2) Paying off Smaller Debt
The second step can be to arrange your debts in order, starting with the lowest account balance. You may have previous heard advice about paying off your larger debt first is best – and this can be a good strategy to help you pay off your debts as well. However, on the other hand, another method that can help you decrease your debt is to pay off the smallest amounts first. These small payment victories can not only help you pay off more of the credit you have borrowed with more success, but also give you the motivation to keep paying off your debts, as this method allows you to check several payments off of your list and see your progress sooner. The more payments you can say you have checked off, the better you will feel. Setting your sights on smaller payments can be more manageable, while making you feel a little lighter and less weighed down from debt.
3) Setting up Automatic Payments
This is a strategy I have talked about before, however it is such a simple strategy that can have big financial benefits. Sometimes we fall behind on our payments or miss making them altogether. By setting up automatic payments for some or all of you accounts, you don’t have to worry about physically paying the bill.
If you are aware of the timelines for when these payments will come out, this is also important so that you can make sure to have enough money saved. Reworking your budget, can also come in handy – to ensure you have the available funds each month.
These are some debt-decreasing ideas that don’t take a lot of time, yet will make a huge difference to your financial situation. By setting your sights on making smaller changes here and there, you can break down this overwhelming process into much more manageable stages.
As for us . . .Just as we hopped into an exciting Easter holiday – by following some of these strategies for taking smaller steps towards our debt management, I think we can prolong our positive moods well until our next holiday weekend. Try adopting this ‘baby steps’ approach to improving your finances and have yourself jumping for joy all spring and summer long.
