Say the word “budget” and many people automatically think “restriction” or “deprivation”. But you know what? Budgeting is not like dieting. It’s not something you “go on”, and it’s not in place temporarily because you need to achieve some other goal.
A budget is just a plan for how you want to handle your money — so you can get the things you want in life. Read the rest of this entry
Like many things, debt can get to be a habit. But something sets a habit into motion, which means it can be helpful to identify your debt triggers. Note that a trigger isn’t a cause of debt. A trigger is just something that often happens right before you take on debt.
To find this, look back over the last 10 or so times that you took on debt. What were you doing at the time? And what did you go into debt for? Read the rest of this entry
You want to get out of debt. You dream of being debt free. You work hard at it, sending in extra payments and finding additional ways to cut back and bring in more money.
And sometimes, it still feels like you’re getting nowhere fast.
But you are getting somewhere — even if you’re having setbacks, or not seeing your balances go down as quickly as you would like. (Believe me, there were days when it seemed like our debt was only creeping down.)
That’s why it’s really important to nurture your debt free dream on a regular basis. Read the rest of this entry
To celebrate the launch of my updated Pay Off Debt app — available on iTunes at http://appstore.com/payoffdebt — I’m giving away an iPad Mini plus a copy of the app to one lucky winner. Just use the Rafflecopter form below to enter! (And thanks to my blogging buddies who are helping get the word out about this giveaway.) Read the rest of this entry
I'm Jackie Beck, personal finance writer and creator of Pay Off Debt -- an app that's helped tens of thousands of people use the debt snowball method to pay off debt. I want to help YOU do the same. Want to know more? Check out the About page.
