With inflation soaring (gosh I’m sounding like a regular bad news newspaper) and fear setting in after a relatively joyful Christmas – everything is better post-Covs – it’s easy to have overspent without realising it or maybe you do. Well, here are six steps to take to crush your post-Christmas debt hangover:
1. Complete an inventory – all assets and liabilities and find out what is your net worth. This is something I complete every 1st of Jan to keep a record somewhere that I’m heading in the right direction. So you are not either staying in the same situation or your debt is getting worse. Go to www.futureme.org and send yourself an email for next January – it could be nice to see how far you have come over the last 12 months.
2. Review the last 12 months of bills through either your savings account or your credit card bills – what came in when – so now plot them on a calendar and start getting sorted for this year. Add in those credit cards you haven’t paid off and start with the smallest balances each month – knock them hard.
3. Maybe consider a balance transfer to a new credit card provider who might give you a significant interest-free period but stick to it. This is a once-off opportunity. The saddest thing I see is people who think they can do this every year which can badly affect their credit file and makes them look like poor risks for lenders. Don’t be that person.
4. We suggest you review all insurances and potentially save some money by moving your policies to a cheaper provider. Note some do not charge extras for allowing monthly installments while others do and this can be a huge help in paying monthly, when money is tight.
5. Check out what you are worth in the market by checking out your job on seek.com.au. You might even find a better opportunity.
6. And finally, when shopping online, abandon that cart. Whenever you put something into an online shopping cart, consider leaving it there for 24 hours to assess do you really really need it. If you still want it, great, as often the vendor will provide you with a discount that happens just cause you abandoned the cart so happy days and if not, you wasted nothing but strengthened your resolve to save – well done.
As always, if we can be of any assistance and you would like a one-on-one consultation for any loan type, please reach out and book a time here.
