Cutting up your cards. This is one of the first thing you must do if you want to get out of debt.
Are you fully committed to getting out of debt? If so, then you are ready for one of the first steps. It is not a budget. It is not coming up with a plan.
You need to must start cutting up your cards.
No. Don’t just put them away. Literally take a scissors and cut them up into pieces.
This is a tough thing for many to do. It is scary to give up that safety net. Trust me. I get it. After all, what happens if you can’t cover a bill or the car needs repairs? How will you cover it?
If you followed our steps, you will have your $1000 in savings. If you are not yet there, that is still not any reason to keep your credit card. You don’t want to take one step forward and fall two steps back. Remember that for most of us, credit cards are what got us into this debt in the first place. You are making changes to your financial health. No longer using credit cards is one of them.
When you use your cards, you continue to increase your debt instead of paying it down. You have to stop spending. Over and over again, I have people comment with “but I can’t reserve a room or rental car or anything without a credit card.” Good news! You can use your debit card!
I have only ever had one company tell me a debit card would not work and you know what??? I didn’t do business with them! There was another option available to me and they did accept my debit card – so they got my business.
Make sure that you also call the credit card companies and tell them to close the accounts for future purchases. Be careful as many of them will try to talk you out of doing so. Just tell them “I’m doing this because I am getting out of debt” or tell them “I live with cash and not plastic.” Don’t allow them to guilt you out of closing the accounts.
I know it is scary, but you’ve made the commitment NOT to live with any more debt and one step in achieving that goal is to eliminate accruing more debt. Cutting up your cards is the way to achieve that. Once you do this – you will feel liberated and definitely be on your way to living a debt free life!