Get Your Life Together!
FINANCIALLY
Are your finances stressing you out? If one of the things that are making your life undesirable is your financial situation, then you might at least take solace in the fact that you are not alone in this problem. The vast majority of people have money issues that provide them stress to some degree…even the person you see driving the fancy car and wearing the expensive clothing may be closer to bankruptcy than you are, they just don’t show it. You needn’t feel as though you are the only person in the world who feels as though they can’t manage their finances, this is certainly a common situation. If your finances keep you awake at night, then you should make getting your finances in order a main priority.
Face the facts. For some people, avoidance is a defense mechanism that they use, whether consciously or unconsciously, to avoid unpleasant situations. Sometimes when finances get a little out of control, particularly when bills start to get paid late or not at all, people begin to simply not open the bills when they arrive in the mail. Some people stop answering their phone out of fear that a collector might be calling to demand a payment. You have undoubtedly heard the saying “you have nothing to fear but fear itself.” No matter how dire your financial situation, there is no way to attack it and bring it under control if you do not sit down and figure out exactly how much you owe and to which lenders.
What are your spending habits like right now? Shopping is a funny thing. For some people, the act of shopping can temporarily relieve the stress that is a product of financial problems, which are themselves a product of too much shopping to begin with. It’s time for you to examine if you are continuing to use the same behaviors that are digging you deeper into debt. Whether you are the kind of person who can simply stop the shopping habit cold turkey, or if you are the kind of person that needs to cut up all the credit cards in order to stay out of the mall, the important thing is to take a long, hard look at what sort of spending habits you have, and how they are affecting your overall financial health. Sometimes small adjustments can make a huge difference, while other times a major overhaul is needed.
Have you ever actually learned to manage your finances? There are many people who simply learn how to manage finances through trial and error. Unfortunately, many parents do not bother to teach their children how to balance a checkbook or manage money. If you are in this situation, then realize that there are not only many books written to assist you in learning how to handle your finances, but there are also plenty of people who teach financial management for a living. Your bank or credit union might actually have someone like this on staff that will not charge you any sort of fee to sit down with you and teach you how to balance your checkbook and manage your accounts. You will be pleased to find that once you get the basics down, these sorts of tasks are actually quite simple.
Are you enrolled in a CCCS program? CCCS stands for Consumer Credit Counseling Service, and there are many of these sorts of programs around. These are companies that make deals with your creditors to take lower payments or to eliminate interest payments in exchange for the guarantee that they will be paid monthly by the CCCS company. Instead of making monthly payments to your creditors, you make one large payment to CCCS that in turn distributes the money to the people you owe money. Before you start to convince yourself that this is a great deal, consider a few things:
· Some CCCS companies are just out to get your money.
· Some CCCS companies do not pay your bills on time.
· Some CCCS companies leave you worse off than before you started the program.
These factors are stressed here because many people turn to these sorts of programs out of desperation and out of an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. You should realize that just because a particular consumer counseling organization has a nonprofit status, it does not necessarily mean they are out to do any sort of benevolent service to the community. Instead, they are utilizing a sort of loophole from the Internal Revenue Service that allows the company to tout the "nonprofit" designation. It makes the company sound like it is out to do good for society, but in reality they are out to line their own pockets. If you feel compelled to utilize the services of a CCCS program in your quest to get your financial life in order, be sure to first check with the Better Business Bureau to make sure you are not getting involved with a company that has many complaints lodged against it. You should be aware, however, that if you take the time to contact your creditors yourself and explain your current situation, you will probably be able to strike a deal similar to what the CCCS company would be able to get for you, except without the monthly fees charged by CCCS.
Are you pawning items or using check-cashing companies? If you are running out of money each month before your next paycheck, you might find yourself turning to various outlets to get the money you need until payday. It is safe to say that if you have started relying on things like pawnshops or payday advance check-cashing companies to buy necessities, then you are in serious financial trouble. First and foremost, you need to stop your dealings with these sorts of businesses and realize that they are costing you much more in interest and fees than you at first thought. You cannot hope to have a healthy financial future if you are constantly giving away your hard-earned money to unscrupulous businesses. If this sounds familiar to you, then you need to place top priority in finding a way out of this vicious cycle. In the end, you will save quite a bit of money.
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