Paying down debt and saving for tomorrow

It is known that most American's have some sort of debt. Right now the average American is carrying around about $9,000 in credit card debt. This is an astonishing figure but the sad part is 2 out of 5 Americans will tell you they have $20,000 or more in credit card debt. Personal loan debt is just as high and then you add on student loans and car loans. One thing you have to remember is that no matter how much money you have, you won't ever have enough to satisfy your "wants" only enough for your actual "needs". Smart budgeting will help you to live a comfortable lifestyle and can prevent you from getting out of control with the debt cycle.

Watch out with credit cards and personal loans, they pose a vicious debt cycle to most Americans and it won't do much to help you move forward with a comfortable lifestyle and a smart retirement plan. If you have debt your goal needs to be to pay it off as soon as possible and then start saving your money. If you try to save while you are paying off debt, you will end up paying more money toward interest and you won't be able to prepare yourself for your future.

If you have a lot of credit card debt, rolling it all into a personal loan may be a wise decision but you do have to put those credit cards away so you don't rack up more debt on them. Then you can put all of the money you have towards your debt so you can pay it off sooner. Only having a single monthly payment can be much more affordable than trying to pay of multiple loans at the same time. You are less likely to have a late or missed payment and you won't struggle with living paycheck to paycheck as you can set aside the payment amount ahead of time and have more money to live on from your next paycheck.

Open a savings account and commit to placing at least $25 into the account each paycheck. You never know when a problem will arise and you suddenly need money to use. Having some money in the savings can prevent you from taking out another personal loan or using a credit card to pay for the emergency need. Most people say that you need to have at least 3-6 months worth of your working income in your savings account but this isn't possible for people with debt. You just need to focus on doing what you can.

While you are suffering from debt one of the best things you can do for yourself is to start a second job. Having additional income will allow you to put more money toward your debt. Use all of the money you make at the second job to pay off debt.

Learn how to live on a budget. When you live on a budget you will avoid overspending and you will be able to create a healthy financial lifestyle. This type of lifestyle will prevent you from getting into debt again and it will allow you to prepare for vacations and other things. Taking the time to plan out your finances and to prepare yourself for emergencies makes it much easier to live and to avoid worrying about where you will come up with the extra cash.

Since you do struggle with debt, do not use credit cards. They are only there for a major emergency and depending on them for everyday expenses will continue the debt cycle. If you are married have a financial meeting with your spouse so the two of you can see where you are at and what you can do in order to make your living arrangements more affordable and to keep you out of debt.