Tightening Your Bootstraps:

Tip #12: Have Balance.

Have balance by living for today and tomorrow. My husband lives for today—“You never know if we will be here tomorrow.” I live for tomorrow—“What about having money for tomorrow?” The living for today mentality can have you doing things today that you will regret tomorrow. If you don’t have a plan in place to pay off your credit card immediately when you return, it’s not a good idea to leave for a vacation, charge all expenses to your credit card, and make a mental note to eventually pay the credit card off later. It ends up costing much more money and stress than it would have otherwise when you come home from a great vacation only to worry about how you will pay for it.

Living for tomorrow is not a better solution. In fact, you may regret not living for today if you continually focus on tomorrow. An example of how living for tomorrow may not be a great plan to follow is putting so much focus on tomorrow that today is wasted; this will cause the years to fly by without you getting any enjoyment from life. Now, the best living is to plan, research, and save the money needed for tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, enjoy it and feel better.

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Tip #74: Focus on One Bill at a Time.

Now that you know your bills versus your expenses, identify which bill to focus on first. Debt can grow (one example would be a credit card with interest rates and the compared payoff immediately vs. in one year). While eliminating debt may take time, you will be amazed at how fast you start to eliminate debt, one bill at a time. Let’s take credit cards as an example to focus on one bill at a time.

If you have five credit cards, identify which credit card has the highest interest rate. Pay the minimum payment on the other four credit cards and put as much money as possible toward the credit card with the highest interest rate. Once that credit card is paid off, continue to implement the same snowball method with the remaining credit cards. Once the credit cards are paid off, identify the next bill with the highest interest rate that will be your focus (e.g., a car note, student loans, or medical bills).