Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
Here’s my little Happy New Year gift to you. Each day in January, I’ll bring you a simple, concrete and easy to put in place tip to fuel your efforts to Save Money, Pay Off Debt, and Be Awesome this year. Looking for a quick plan? Well this might not to be the right place for you. Most things down well take time. But that doesn’t mean you can’t begin to implement systems in your life that will help you achieve your goals. I’ve said it many, many times before. Paying off debt isn’t complex. It’s just not easy. You have to punch the clock daily and do the hard work. Here’s another way to make that happen.
Day 13: Work It
Debt is no fun, Lords and Ladies. It keeps you from the great things you’re destined to do. It keeps you from giving to make the world a better place. It keeps you from saving to provide your family a future. It keeps you from spending and enjoying the money you actually earn on things you need and even things you want.
Getting out of debt? Believe it or not, that actually can be fun. But it takes intentionality and hard work. We didn’t just wake up one morning and *poof* $127K in debt was gone. Over four years, we radically reduced every expense in our household, scaling back to an absolute minimum. Seriously friends, we even quit eating meat for a few months. We were dead serious about Slaying the Debt Dragon, using every weapon we could.
At some point though, scaling back your lifestyle isn’t enough. To pay off debt, you must make more money. Whether that means renegotiating how you are paid, taking on extra work, or even quite possibly getting a new job, your income needs to increase to get enough leverage to quickly eliminate your debt load.
The King of Free took on a couple of extra jobs during our debt slaying journey. It was challenging for our family; however, we took a few steps to guide the process.
If at all possible designate specific nights for extra work
Before the King of Free took on extra jobs, he first began working longer hours when possible at his first job. That meant at least two days a week, he worked from 7 am to 7 pm. He would come home and play with the girls for an hour before they went to bed. This was certainly grueling for him, but also meant long parenting hours for me. We agreed that the other nights he would be home early enough for us to eat dinner together as a family. I knew we could get through the long days when the safety net of those other nights.
Realize this is only a Season of Your Life
Work might not always = a carnival of awesome fun. Work is well . . . work. It’s hard and not always what we want to do. However, it won’t last forever. If you get enough hustle in your step, you won’t have to dwell in long hours for long. Keep your eyes on the prize, that perhaps your employment will look much different than it does right now.
Use Your Passion to Make Money
Love dogs? Start a side shuffle grooming. From photography to mowing lawns, from childcare to baking, lean into your gifts and then monetize them. Work doesn’t mean you have to hate what you do. You might have to exercise your creative muscles to figure out how to make money from your passion. Above all else, don’t spend money to make money. At this point, you have no money to invest. You are in debt. I’ve seen way too my people buy into the myth that you have to invest in equipment/inventory/a business model and end up in even more debt. Small intentional steps toward getting out of debt are essential. Don’t set yourself further back.
Work it friends. It won’t last forever but its effects will last much longer. You can do it.
Miss the first twelve days of Kicking Debt in the teeth? Have no fear! Read:
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in The Teeth: Believe
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in The Teeth: Stop It
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Sell, Baby, Sell
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Use Cash
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Plan Meals
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Mind Over Budget
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Read a Book
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Quit Eating at Restaurants
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Dream On
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Set Limits
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Communicate with Your Spouse
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: Move It
Want to be sure you don’t miss a single one of the 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth? Be sure to subscribe to my daily newsletter! Look for the bar that looks like this in the upper righthand corner.
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I’m so looking forward to sharing this month of challenge and inspiration with you. Together, we can show debt who’s boss and give it a swift kick in the teeth this January and throughout the year in 2014. Away we go!
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
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