The end of the year is here again, and after a year of financial turmoil, now would be a good time to stop and take some time to reflect on how you spent your money this past year. December is always a great time of year to create financial goals so you can begin them early in the New Year. By setting yourself goals they serve as a motivational tool throughout the year to strive toward a better financial future and reducing your debts.
Click on ‘read more’ for some helpful hints to better manage your debts:
Reduce your Debt
Print and collate all of your account statements for the past year
Create a spreadsheet to itemise your spending habits, i.e. how much were you spending on clothing? How much did you spend on eating out at restaurants or lunch? How much did you spend on the house or your children? What was your spend on petrol? Etc.
Now evaluate the amounts
For example if you realise that you have spent $2000 in the year for your daily lunch and coffee, a goal to set for 2010 could be to start bringing your lunch from home regularly. If you find out that you were purchasing clothing on a credit card and not paying off the balance at the end of the month, a great goal for 2010 could be to start a monthly clothing fund and only use cash for clothing, not credit.
Write your goals down
Don’t rely on mental goals. Write them down so you can reference them at the end of 2010 to be able to compare your results and see what kind of progress you made in the year.
Make your goals specific
Don’t just write that you will decrease the amount you spend on eating out, make a specific goal like, “I will decrease my spending on eating out from $200 a month to $100 a month.”
Goal setting is something that we all talk about, but we rarely follow through on it. The way to avoid this is by keeping your goals simple, making them attainable, and keep them somewhere visible like your refrigerator door so that you are reminded daily of them.
Permanent debt reduction solution
If you are at a point where your debt has become too hard to manage there are easy solutions to put you on a path to becoming debt free faster and easier. Australian Lending Centre is a specialist in debt consolidation solutions and have a variety of debt relief options, such as debt consolidation loans, refinancing, bad credit loans, debt agreements and more.
To speak with a debt consolidation consultant on how you could better manage your debt problems call us today on 1300 138 188, or fill in an enquiry form to your right and a debt consolidation consultant will contact you shortly.
