Discover Debt Freedom!

One of the most important things that you can do to get yourself out of debt is to quit paying your creditors and start paying yourself.  I am not talking about avoiding paying your bills, getting deeper into debt, and destroying your credit score.  I am talking about not creating situations where you need to charge the purchase to a creditor and then pay interest on the purchases, which increases the overall cost of the item that was purchased.

In the recent years of easy credit, low interest rates, and zero money down, individuals across the nation became very comfortable with charging whatever they wanted to their credit cards and paying for it in installment plans.  Now many of those individuals are getting a nasty shock as credit card companies skyrocket the interest rates on some of those cards, even for their most responsible card holders.

The common sense thing to do would be to avoid using those credit cards for purchases and pay off the balance of the credit card so that you can stop paying for past purchases.  In reality, many individuals will have to be completely reconditioned about their financial situation to be able to adhere to this recommendation and begin getting themselves out of debt. 

In the United States, a large number of individuals have been conditioned to purchase things that are not really necessary (example: people who switch cell phones every year to have the next greatest thing) but have not been conditioned to save their money to purchase the things that they want.  The result is the average American citizen owing thousands of dollars to credit card companies and banks for the privilege of purchasing things that they do not need.

The first step in reversing this trend is to stop purchasing frivolous items with the credit cards.  If you like that little red dress in the store window or that new golf club, wait until payday, pay all your bills, and with the money that is left over, decide whether you can afford to purchase the item that you want.  By paying cash for the item, you are making sure that you won’t still be paying for the item years later in the form of interest payments to the credit card company.