Cutting Back on Expenses
“Your goal in doing this is to avoid debt collection calls, letters or even bailiffs eventually”
One of the best ways to begin getting any debt under control is to reduce weekly or monthly spending where you can if it is possible. In fact you may have already tried this.
Keeping a track on what it is that you are spending on and when (maybe write it all down) will give you the ability to see what you could cut back on and you may will be surprised at the results.
A couple of examples of how you could save –
- 2 trips a day to the drinks machine at work may cost you £2-00 per day but if you took a bottle of drink into work with you that may cost you £1-00 you have just saved around £20-00 per month.
- Eating out at fast food restaurants can cost a considerable amount per time and if you have the same from your local supermarket it could cost anything up to 80% less.
Many people will discover they are spending a lot more on non necessities that what the originally thought.
You will have a number of what we would call fixed debts per month like your mortgage/rent, car loans, personal loans and anything else that cannot easily be changed or eliminated each month. These are debts that will be harder to reduce and could mean re-mortgaging or changing providers etc.
Then you will also have a number of what we will call variable expenses like fizzy drinks at work and trips to restaurants. Getting rid of some of your variable expenses can result in massive savings each month.
Here are some things you could do to reduce your outgoings per month
- You could prepare meals from scratch instead of having fast food or take-aways 2 nights a week.
- Turning down your thermostat could also reduce your gas/electricity bill every month.
- Getting rid of your mobile and just keeping the landline or the other way around can also save you money.
- Do you indulge in a weekly beauty/styling treatment? Change it from weekly to fortnightly and save 50% of what you normally spend.
By just simply cutting back on unnecessary expenses and luxuries, most people find they can free up money each month that can then be used to pay down on your debt.
Your goal in doing this is to avoid debt collection calls, letters or even bailiffs eventually.
Help from a professional will be beneficial and the costs can be outweighed with the savings gained. If you would like some help please try our free debt calculator it will only take you 60 seconds of your time.
