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Health & Fitness

Budget Mondays 8/5/2013

Monday – 8/5/2013

It’s Monday – a painful day for most people, yours truly included. Sometimes it is made even more painful as we remember just how much money we ended up spending over the weekend.

Budget

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It’s one word that can make people cringe, angry and sad all at the same time; a rare occurrence indeed. There are plenty of reasons for this – people are told at work that their budgets are being cut, their ideas cannot be funded because they are not in the budget, and in our personal life, our budgets don’t usually quite match up to our desires.

This installment of budget Mondays focuses on a topic that is near and dear to many people’s hearts….and wallets. That topic is credit card debt, the problems it causes, and some tips to help get out from under it. I am sure that I do not have to go into all of the downsides and risks of taking on large amounts of credit card debt – these are well known, and have been personally experienced by many. The problem is well known, so let us look at some possible tips to help solve it.

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1) Organize your credit card debt, and make a plan of attack. Are you going to pay off the card with largest balance first? Or will you be focusing you efforts on the card that penalizes you with the highest interest rates? Whatever you decide on, at least you have decided on course of action.

2) Rethink how you use your credit cards. Many people use their credit cards for “routine purchases,” and this could be partially due to the rise of direct deposits – if you have no cash in your pocket it is easier to swipe the plastic than go to the ATM and get some cash. If you use your credit cards less, you will have less to pay back.

3) As painful as it may be in the short-term, you may want to consider paying more than the required minimum balance. While it might be a hit to your short-term budget, the long term benefit of reduced credit card debt far outweigh any short term discomfort.

I have attached a few links that include these tips and more.

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