Debt- Easier Spent Than Gone

I’ve been having an email conversation with one of my readers about the debt burden she and her husband are carrying and how the stress of it has been affecting her. Just the other day she broached the subject with her husband and they, for the first time, sat down and discussed how their debt made them feel and what they could do to turn it around. She said that bringing up the subject made her very nervous and she was truly afraid that the “big D word” might come up if a fight ensued.

Thankfully they did not have a fight but, instead, worked out plans to take them forward and out of debt. They know it won’t be easy and that they may need some help along the way but because they are working together on it the problem doesn’t seem so big.

I gotta tell you, I know exactly how she feels. For the longest time I would try to finagle our bills and make the money last all month. It was truly a stretch and I was beginning to feel like I have a huge weight on me. Somehow Doug & I, though we had a nice income coming in, were running behind all the time. I was playing a constant game of catch up.

To put it simply, debt sucks. Yet we’ve been taught that we need to “build our credit” so we can buy things. I’m not really sure who sold us that bill of goods, but the spending public bought it- hook, line & sinker. (Just a note- if you pay cash you don’t have to borrow! And if you have enough cash to put down 20%+ on a house no one cares if you have a credit score!) And now the majority of us are living paycheck to paycheck trying to pay for the stuff we “had to have” that we never get to use because we are too busy paying for the stuff. Stupid.

As we work to pay off our debt I do a lot of reading about the help that is out there. I know I have quite a few UK readers (a surprising number, actually, thank you!) I thought I would share this info I found about IVAs. Apparently this is a structured agreement to help you pay back your debts over a set period of time. Plans are set up with each creditor and some debt may be forgiven and interest rates are frozen. Basically it gives you a mediator on your side to help negotiate with the creditors.

Getting into debt is easier than getting out of it. Don't be ashamed to ask for help.