The Key to Success: Living Below Your Means

Many people are simply having a terrible time making ends meet month to month. People have boatloads of bills and some people have late payments on top of them. House payments, car loans, electricity payments, food, gas, student loans, on and on and on it goes.

People are drowning in debt. The average student loan debt for 2014 graduates is $28,000. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/13/average-student-loan-debt-hits-30-000

According to one source, the average American credit card debt is $7,200.00. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/americas-skyrocketing-credit-card-debt/

People are drowning financially and no one seems to want to talk about it. It's the secret struggle of many.

What is the answer to this? The answer to this is, more than anything, living below your means. I can already hear the cacophony of protests. "There is no WAY I can live below my means! I can't even live within my means much less below it!"

The truth is, most everybody can live below their means. This doesn't happen by itself, however. A strategy needs to be created. The first thing to do is the last thing some people want to do. That is. sit down and look at all the bills and create a budget. This might be terribly scary, to find out exactly where you are financially. The second thing to do is create a list of three goals.

Once you list all of your bills, take the smallest credit card owed on and think about how much you could put on it extra every month. In order to do this, you will have to cut out something else. Stop buying Starbucks and make your coffee at home. Stop buying those convenience foods and spend a little extra time on the weekends making meals and lunches. There is almost no one who can't cut back something. Learn to use what you have instead of making new purchases. Once you find something to cut back on, take that little extra and place it on the smallest credit card you owe money on. If that's $10.00 or $20.00 a month, that's fine.

If you owe $300.00 on that credit card and you usually pay about $20.00 a month, now you are going to pay $40.00 a month. You will pay this card off twice as fast. After you pay it off, you will then have $40.00 a month to put onto the next card. This is a snowball effect. Once the ball gets rolling, the feeling of being in control of your future should encourage you enough to keep going! The peace you feel will be worth it!

Don't get discouraged! This is a long slow process, but in the long run, you will be so glad you did it!

Look up Debt Free on Youtube and find videos to watch to encourage yourself along the way. You are not alone! Many people have been where you are and have worked hard to change that.

Happy Savings!