Debt Payoff…..these words may cause feelings of excitement or dread for you depending on what your situation is right now.  My hope is you are feeling that excitement build up inside of you to the point you are almost bouncing in your seat with anticipation to get started.

Paying off debt is life-changing.  Like, for real. Seriously life-changing.

If you are ready to get serious about getting out of debt, you have come to the right place.  If you follow these steps, you are going to be headed for success and a new life where you actually have control over your income.  

What inspired you to become debt free?  

Have you been perusing Pinterest and see people paying off huge amounts of debt in a short time?  

Have you been living paycheck to paycheck and you don’t think it’s fun anymore?

Do you know someone trying to get out of debt and you want to see what it’s all about?

Or, are you like I was……..scared about your future.

In 2015, I was a scared newlywed with a new house I couldn’t afford on top of $320,000 of debt.  My husband and I had over $500,000 of debt including our home.

When you actually face that number, you get scared.  Really freaking scared.

I spent an entire month taking the time to organize our finances and do research into how we could get out of this mess we had made.  I ran across a man named, Dave Ramsey.

He has a strong following and you either love him or you hate him.  If living debt free is totally new to you, you must read The Total Money Makeover.  It will completely change how you think about debt and your life.

Dave’s plan is awesome because it gives you the exact steps to follow to get out of debt.  BUT, you may find some of the steps difficult if it is something you have never done before.  

Getting out of debt is an amazing thought and plan, but when it comes time to implement it, life is going to happen and it is going to try to keep you down.  

Once you know you want to become debt free (you can be following Dave’s plan or not), there are certain things you need to do to make sure you are successful.

Debt Payoff Tip #1:  Quit accumulating debt.

If you are going to become debt free, you have to decide to REALLY, ACTUALLY, TRULY be debt free.  This means you do not finance anything anymore.

No new car with a sweet payment the dealer convinced you would be silly to walk away from.  No new furniture you can finance with zero interest for 12 months. No freaking payments.

You do not borrow from anyone for anything, ever.  No more debt.

You no longer use a credit card and you get rid of your credit cards.  Even “paying them off every month,” still constitutes as taking on debt.  When you swipe that card, you have added debt to your life until it is paid off.  

If you have the money anyway, you do not need the credit card.  Get rid of it.

I recently had a friend tell me they were debt free, but they still had a car payment.  That is not debt free. Debt free means zero debt. You do not owe a dime to anyone.

When times get tough, you will need to figure out how to do without or come up with extra money to pay for it.  You will not go into more debt for anything.

To help make this easier, you will have a $1,000 emergency fund in place for those times when a car part needs replacing, your water heater breaks, your AC goes out, you have unexpected dental work, etc.  

Related Posts:

Why You Need an Emergency Fund & How to Make it Happen

15 Effortless Changes to Quickly Save $1,000

It is much easier to not accumulate debt when you set yourself up with a safety net.

Debt Payoff Tip #2:  Set goals.

If you decide to pay off debt, you have to set goals.  

Let me give you an example.  You may say my goal for the next year is to pay off debt.

Super cool!  But what does that actually mean?  How much debt are you going to pay off?  When are you going to have this accomplished by?  

Instead, you should be doing something like:  I am going to pay off $5,000 in 6 months. This actually makes it a real goal and it is measurable.

You are going to know if you accomplished your goal or not.  There is no way around this. Some people try to cheat by setting very broad goals so that “everyone’s a winner!”  You are not going to play this way.

You are going to set a specific and measurable goal and you are going to do everything you can to accomplish it.  AND, you are going to know if you accomplished it. No questions.

The awesome part about the goal setting is if you are really motivated and driven by it, oftentimes, you will even surpass what you had set for yourself.

Think of it as a game and just go nuts!  You will be shocked by what you can accomplish when you really challenge yourself.

USE OUR DEBT-FREE GOAL SETTING WORKSHEET TO START MAKING SOME GOALS TODAY!  GET IT FOR FREE BY SIGNING UP BELOW!

Debt Payoff Tip #3:  Organize your repayment terms.

This may be a bit difficult to swallow.  This was probably the hardest part for me in facing my debt.

I remember sitting in my room with all of my debt paperwork strewn across the bed and the floor.  It looked chaotic, overwhelming and honestly, it made me ill to look at it. I did not even want to know how much debt I had.

No matter how difficult this may be, you have to face your debt.  This may take you a little bit, but you need to get the information on every single one of your debts.

Use our Debt Truth Worksheet to organize all of your debts so you know exactly what you have.

Information you need for each debt:

• Debt name
• Total payoff amount
• Monthly payment
• Interest rate
• Due date

This step is critical so you know exactly what you’re facing.  It really isn’t fun, and can totally feel overwhelming, but you have to do it.  Just rip off the band-aid!

This is also a great time to make sure you have online accounts set up for each debt to monitor repayment and know exactly where you stand.  

Take a morning with your coffee or take the evening with a glass of wine and pull out all those papers and just start writing everything down on the Debt Truth Worksheet (download below).  You will be done before you know it.

You can’t face an enemy you don’t know.  You need to get to know your enemy. You are going to destroy your debt, so you are going to find it’s weaknesses and know every detail about it.  

Once you have all the information written down you are going to feel so free!  Will you still be facing your debt? Yes. BUT, you will have it all right in front of you and it won’t be so scary.  It’s like facing a giant in the daylight, head on, versus facing the giant’s shadow that looks twice as large when it’s hiding from you.

Bring all your debt to the light and get ready to destroy it!

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE DEBT TRUTH WORKSHEET TO FACE YOUR DEBT TODAY.  GET IT INSTANTLY WHEN YOU SIGN UP BELOW!

Debt Payoff Tip #4:  Understand your payoff timeline.

There are two ways to attack your debt.  One is the debt avalanche method. With this method, you pay off your debt based on the highest interest rate.  Meaning you order them from highest interest rate to lowest interest rate and ignore the total debt amount.

The second method is the debt snowball method.  This is the method Dave Ramsey promotes, and this is also the method I subscribe to.  

With the debt snowball payoff method, you will list all of your debts from smallest to largest, IGNORE THE INTEREST RATES, and begin to attack them.

For the snowball method, you will pay minimum payments on all of your debts except the smallest debt.  You are going to hyperfocus on your smallest debt and throw every single extra dollar you have at your smallest debt until it is paid off.

Once your first debt is paid, you will take the minimum payment that loan had and you will roll that into the second debt’s minimum payment.  This is how you build your “snowball.” Then you hyperfocus on the next debt until you knock it out.

You continue this process until you are debt free.  It is so simple!

This method is awesome because it gives you quick wins in the beginning and it builds momentum as you progress.  

USE OUR DEBT SNOWBALL CALCULATION SHEET TO GET YOUR DEBTS IN ORDER AND SEE HOW QUICKLY YOU CAN BECOME DEBT FREE!  SIGN UP NOW TO GET STARTED!

Once you have your snowball sheet filled out, you can see how quickly you can have each debt paid off.  The awesome thing is, when you start setting payoff goals, I guarantee you will exceed your goals every time.  

Once you are on fire for debt payoff, you are just going to crush it!

Debt Payoff Tip #5:  Stay fired up.

Debt payoff is really only 10% of the money and 90% of your behavior.  Meaning, your drive, determination, grit, and unwillingness to give up is going to determine if you are successful or not.

• When things get tough, how will you keep going?
• When friends and family make fun of you, how will you continue to stay motivated?
• When you begin to question what you are doing, what’s going to keep you on track?
• When you have to say no to something fun for the thousandth time, what’s going to encourage you?

You have to have motivators in your life to keep you on track because things are going to get hard.

It doesn’t matter how strong you think your willpower is or how resilient you feel you are, you will need encouragement and motivation at some point.  Debt payoff is a journey, meaning this will not happen overnight.

You are going to get tired of it, and you are going to want to give up.  Spending money on fun things is way easier than paying off debt and saying no to all the fun things you used to do.

So, what do you do when things get hard and you want to just quit?

You need to have motivation and encouragement all around you, every single day.  

What does that look like?

• Debt Payoff Countdown Sheet (download below)
• Motivational quotes written in places you see every day
• Debt Free Vision Board
• Reading Blogs
• Listening to Podcasts
• Watching Dave Ramsey’s Debt Free Screams on YouTube

Here’s what this looks like in my own life:

• I have a Debt Free Vision Board hanging in my office space.
• I have Debt Countdown Coloring Sheets hanging in my bedroom.
• I have motivational quotes posted on my bathroom mirror.
• I read inspirational blogs daily.
• I listen to Dave Ramsey’s debt-free screams on my drive to work at least once a week.

Becoming debt free is part of my life.  It is something my husband and I talk about at least once a week (that’s also when I check in with our budget and see where we are at for the month).

When you decide to take this journey, you need to be all in.  You need to decide this is what you are doing and that nothing is going to stop you.  Tell everyone you know about it so they can either support you and you will be held accountable for your actions.

I believe you can do this.  No questions. If you can set your mind to this and commit, I know you will achieve it.  

USE OUR FREE DEBT COUNTDOWN COLORING SHEET TO HANG UP AND KEEP YOU MOTIVATED!  SIGN UP BELOW TO GET THEM NOW!

Related Posts:

How to Make a Debt Free Vision Board

35 Inspirational & Motivational Quotes For Debt Payoff

How to Stay Motivated With Debt Payoff

Ready to get started??  Don’t wait another day to get out of debt!

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