9 Ways To Make Your Debt Easier To Manage

If you’re in debt and you’re struggling to find a way to get your finances back on track, then take a look at the following post. We’re going to be listing some of the top ways to help you manage your debts and work your way towards becoming debt-free. Keep reading if you want to know more.

Budget Planning

One of the most important aspects of helping to make sure you can pay off your debt is budget planning. This consists of putting together a budget plan and keeping track of your finances month by month. Not only will this allow you to get a better idea of where your money is going after your income, but also how you can afford to cut back on other outgoings to save money for paying off your debts. You will need to gather together all your financial documents and any bills, debt payment letters, and emails to start piecing together your total outgoings each month and how much you’re spending. You can then split your budget plan up into different sections such as household bills, shopping, and entertainment. Once you know the general spending habits for each area of your budget plan, you can start to implement changes such as cancelling direct debits you no longer need or cutting down the cost of shopping. Each penny you save in other areas can then go towards helping to pay off your debt.

Consolidate Your Debts

Consolidating your debts means gathering together multiple debts into one area. This is a great way to help your debts more manageable as it places all your debts into one place, from which you can get a clearer idea of how much you’ve got left to pay off. It will help you to avoid losing track of debt payments, which can result in increased interest and even more expensive debts to pay off. Placing your debt into one easy to track location saves you the hassle of worrying about forgetting debt payments that could further affect your score and give you a nasty surprise further down the line. Transferring the balance of debt on existing credit cards could help you to reduce the interest rate you’re currently on and make your debt payments easier to manage each month. Make sure to do plenty of research into the best provider when considering carrying out a balance transfer to consolidate your debts.

Applying For Loans With Bad Credit

If you have an unexpected payment that you will struggle to pay off straight away, or you’re hoping to spread the cost of something, then a loan can be a useful way to help break up the cost and make it more manageable. However, when you’re trying to apply for loans with bad credit, it can make it incredibly difficult to be accepted. There are some providers out there, however, that will accept loan applications even with a bad credit score, but it can affect your interest rates. For more information on applying for loans in this kind of situation, then take a look at this guide on bad credit loans.

Prioritise Different Debts

If you’re in a position where you’re trying to pay off multiple debts, then you will need to prioritise which ones will get paid off first. Take a look at the information you have on your current debts and the balances they are carrying. The way you prioritise paying them all off could depend on the current balance of each, the interest rates, and when they need to be paid off if it hasn’t already passed the deadline. You could even have debts you owe to family or friends that you want to prioritise paying back as soon as possible. Putting together a calendar or spreadsheet can help you to oversee your total debts more clearly and how you can plan to pay them each off.

Debt Payment Plans

Most providers or debt collection agencies will work with you to agree on a manageable payment plan with which you can start paying back your debt in a way that works for you. For example, setting up a manageable monthly fee at which you will pay the debt back each month. If you haven’t already got one in place, ask if it’s possible to set one up to help make your debts more manageable and easier to keep up with. Once you have a payment plan in place, you can then factor this into your budget planning for each month to keep control of your finances.

Professional Financial Advice

Although it can require an initial investment, it could be worth considering seeking professional advice from a financial advisor. They will be able to look at your individual financial situation and be able to come up with a plan to help you get out of debt, in a way that is manageable for you. They can help you have a better understanding of your finances and the steps you need to take in order to bring them under control. They will also work with you to identify and achieve targets and goals for what you want to gain from your finances, and the financial position you want to find yourself in eventually. Having a plan and a timeline in mind will help to make your debt seem less daunting and help you to understand what needs to be done to get out of it.

Avoid Credit Card Temptation

If you’re finding it hard to avoid unnecessarily spending on your credit card, then it could be time to get rid of them and avoid the temptation of further spending. As credit cards make it easier for us to make impulse purchases we can’t truly afford, it’s easy to fall into debt when we can’t then keep up with the repayments. Once you have paid off the debt on a credit card, you could consider cancelling it and removing the temptation to continue sending. However, if you find it’s possible to resist impulse spending, then it could be worth keeping your credit card to use wisely to help improve your credit score. If you’re in debt or you know you’re going to struggle to keep up with payments, then you should only be using your credit card for small, manageable purchases or to help spread out larger payments but only when you have a financial plan in place to pay it back.

Make Payments On Time

If possible, it’s best to avoid making late payments on your debts as this can further increase the interest you will have to also payback. Creating a plan will help you to keep track of your debts, finance plans, and loans and when they are all due to go out so you can make sure you have the money in your account to make the payments on time. Avoiding late payment charges and increased interest rates will help to make your debts easier to manage in the long term and help to improve your financial planning.

Start A Side Hustle
If you find that even after you’ve started budgeting and tracking your finances more closely but you’re still struggling to pay off your debt, then you could look into starting a side hustle alongside your main job in order to earn a bit of extra income. Popular side hustles include affiliate marketing on social media, making and selling your own products, and freelance working. For example, in terms of freelance work, you could consider roles such as becoming a virtual assistant, copywriting, or website development. The type of side hustle you start will depend on your individual skills and attributes, so be sure to do plenty of research to find what would work best for you.