As you know, debt management has recently taken the center stage.

Back in the good old days, money management was the buzzword we were most familiar with.

Recently debt, credit spending and wastefulness has stolen the show.

Living above our means has become mainstream.

How could this happen?

How did we manage to get into this money mess?

MONEY MANAGEMENT?

We managed it all by stuffing our credit card receipts in our wallets. Money? What money?

Most of us forgot what it was like to carry cash, or use it.

Keeping up with the Joneses was passe.

We were keeping up with the Smith’s, Brown’s and Everyone Down the Street. And Everyone Else’s Town.

And they were keeping up with us. Life was a smorgasborg.

Just say charge!

PAYDAY HAD TO COME

In hindsight, and even as we were steadily building debt instead of assets, we knew that payday would have to come some time.

We were like kids in a candy store.

Credit had never been so easy to get. Or to spend.

Some people managed to keep their wits about them, but many of us didn’t.

The question had become… ‘do I have enough credit’ to make the purchase, rather than ‘do I have enough cash’.

And it all added up. And added up. And so on. And so on.

A DOLLAR IN HAND IS WORTH TWO ON THE CARD

The trouble is of course, that if you are putting purchases on a credit card, and not paying in full EVERY MONTH, you are automatically adding interest charges to the total cost.

It’s obvious.. painfully obvious as we watch those interest charges rise on our monthly statements… but somehow we seem to miss that fact when considering using a card that already has a balance we haven’t been paying in full.

It gets even worse if it keeps growing.

Out of control. And then it gets scary.

Is it really worth it? The cost. The fear. The loss?

As irrational as it looks, it’s not hard to do, if that is your frame of mind.

THE DO IT YOURSELF METHOD OF MANAGING DEBT

In almost every area of life, success… and failure… builds on one thing.

I like to call it ‘non negotiables, or giving ourselves permission.

If we give ourselves permission to eat junk and skip our exercises, we will.

What do we get?

A few sizes bigger and unhealthy.

If we give ourselves permission to skip clean up and watch tv instead, we will.

What do we get? A big mess.

And if we give ourselves permission to spend on credit, we will. What do we get?

A load of debt.

The good news?

It’s fantastic really.

The FANTASTIC news is that self permission is up to us.

We can decide today to eat good food, to do our exercises, to clean up AND to manage our debt by taking the first step… quit spending on credit and start using cash.

It’s not up to anybody else. The good news is that means that we don’t have to depend on anyone else to do it.

We can do it for ourselves.

No charge.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to 5 Top Tips to Dig Yourself Out of Debt, a printable worksheet that you can use daily to help you to grow our savings and reduce your debt.

Get it with your free Making Change – Stash the Cash Money Management System that I created and use myself to manage my family’s spending – and saving.

http://queenofkaos.com/home/money-management-making-change/