A few frugal habits to get rid of debt

Guest post by Anya Bennett

The post recession U.S has seen a lot of debt burdened people striving to meet their daily needs. If you are among those unfortunate folks, you can certainly shed off you debts by living a frugal life. If you have acquired a loan on credit card, student loan or other loan, you can easily get out of it by living more frugally. By undertaking a good debt management plan, you can easily make significant changes in your debt levels. To avoid debt, make sure you never spend more than you earn.

Ditch that Credit Card

I had my first credit card in my early 20s. It started out with a credit limit of A$1000. I was pretty excited to have a credit card. In fact I didn't need a credit card then. I have always been a wise spender. My bank just offered me one and I simply thought, "Wow! They offered me a credit card". I felt like I was specially treated. Yeah I was perhaps a bit naive.

The credit came with rewards points. So I started using it to accumulate the reward points. The credit card had an annual fee and the rewards points feature also charged a small amount of annual fee. I was enticed by the rewards points and kept using the credit card even though I didn't need it. The reward points would expire if not claimed within a certain period and the points I had accumulated over a period would be so little that they would just expire before I could claim anything. In 10 years I only successfully claimed reward points once. I could manage to get a kid's watch for my niece.

Debt Is Your Mortal Enemy

Having to pay off debt, no matter how small the amount, is something you would want to avoid at all costs but there are instances where we simply can't avoid debt. For buying a house, most of us can't afford to pay the entire amount at once. We take out mortgage and we start paying that off for the next 20 - 30 years. Buying a brand new car could be another example where debt seems inevitable.

However, there are times when we may be able to avoid debt if we plan ahead and start saving for a purpose. It's also advisable not to incur debt unless you really have to and pay off your debts as soon as you can. The longer you hold on to it, the harder it gets to pay off. On the money you've borrowed, you may need to pay heavy interest on top of the principle.