Does your debt nail you down?

 It's time to get MOTIVATED! It's time to get ENGAGED! It's time to be HOPEFUL!
Our current financial status whether good or bad is not a description or map of who we are. We decide who we are and we are in control at all times. Take back your control mentally by building confidence in knowing you can achieve your goals. Once we open our mind to it, we can begin to create the tools to knock our debt down and out. Debt shouldn't nail you down. By nailing you down, I mean debt should not control you and limit your personal life enjoyment.

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Our financial status is simply a creation of past decisions and current income. If  we want to change it to make it better, we have to be optimistic. You can't win a fight if you think you are going to lose. If your money is limited, there are ways to have fun without spending money or by being frugal with your money. For example, try substituting a night out at the restaurant for a family potluck or substituting a day at an amusement park for a nature walk or picnic at the park. If your money is not limited but you make spontaneous purchases that limit your savings then you should put place your savings in an account before your go freely spending. 

The biggest way to fight debt is to increase our disposable income. Disposable income is everything you have after you pay your essentials. Three debt fighting strategies that have helped me are below:

      1.  Find out how much interest is added monthly to your credit card or loan account. Then pay the total interest plus your minimum payment plus a little extra cushion. These payments can be divided into weekly or biweekly submissions but will help you aggressively take control of the account.

Courtesy pic by www.idcwebs.com

                2.     Pay the account with the highest balance first; preferably the higher interest rate too. As you pay one account off, snowball the payment used for the previous account to remaining accounts. You can pay each credit card account until it is under 35% of the credit limit or you can pay it off to use only during emergencies.

3.      When creditors threaten to report you to the credit bureaus, be proactive early, and find out if you have other options. Ask for a payment plan to avoid reporting and see if you qualify for a reduction for being concerned about the account being paid.

Watch for our next personal finance post on ways to increase our income so we can begin to increase our disposable income. Feel free to leave comments on this post or social media on Instagram @practicalwallet, Twitter @practicalwallet,  and Pinterest @practicalwallet.

  

Please Don't Wake Me Up!!!

Oh hey, did we have the same dream? You know the one I'm talking about. The dream of when you reach under your seat to find an envelope taped to your chair. And inside of the envelope is a silver key. Then you look up from the key, into her big brown eyes and its Oprah grinning hard...YES I SAID OPRAH...she screams and points to you and the other audience members “YOU GET A HOME, YOU GET A HOME, EVERYONE GETS A HOME?"

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Okay okay, now maybe that was just my dream but please don't wake me up! Maybe I dream too hard or maybe I don’t dream hard enough. Only time will tell. What is real is my debt which is double my income and like most people I don’t qualify for any type of assistance so I just pray and plan. But like Les Brown says if “you fall, fall on your back. If you can look up, you can get up!”

 Sometimes it can feel like the our problems are the worst but things could and can get worst. Bottom line is our problems shouldn't handicap us, we have to imagine our problems on an obstacle course-we can go over, around or through but don’t just give up. Some of you may think as you read that I am an expert, financial wizard, or at least a previous home owner or maybe at least a child of a home owner.

The answer is no to all of the above instead the truth is I have been gathering resources and information and keeping notes everywhere, screen-shooting anything that I can use or benefit from, and everything is scattered. I started transferring my notes to my computer and realized that I can help more than just my family and friends. I can reach a lot of people in similar circumstances or people who just don’t know where to start; I can guide them based on what real experts are doing and share their success stories and paths.

Now I named this blog a very weird name and I realize it’s hard to put on a t-shirt and sell it but I’m not selling anything (in this moment) other than inspiration. If you were shopping in Macy’s for a “practical wallet” you would want a wallet that has lots of sleeves to put credit cards and IDs in and maybe some family pictures and then a convenient place for cash. This wallet would be nice on the eyes, maybe leather, if mines it would be pink and the right size.

Well this practical wallet is going to create enough sleeves to direct you in a practical path of home ownership, retiring financially secure, and building financial security for yourself and family. Like I said earlier, this is a platform to inspire people and help you recognize the tools to protect yourself and invest in yourself in the areas of home ownership, retirement, and personal finance. 

There is so much to take in so check back often and read my posts on the 5^th, 15^th, and 30^th of every month, use the information in your plan as you see fit, leave feedback, share my posts, and subscribe to stay in the loop. My next blog post will dive into a benefit comparison of home ownership versus renting on February 15th, 2016.

Feel free to leave comments on this post or social media on instagram @practicalwallet, twitter @practicalwallet and pinterest @practicalwallet