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Five Ways to Live Debt Free You’ve Never Thought Of

Little Known Tips to Help You Live Debt Free

You’ve likely heard a lot of tips that can help you save money and live debt free. Stop eating out, quit buying lattes, spend less on clothing, etc. These are all good tips, but if you need a bit more assistance paying down your debt and achieving a debt free lifestyle, here are some tips that could help you out.

Negotiate Lower Rates

You might not think that you have any room for negotiation with your creditors. However, depending on your payment history and account standing, your creditors may be willing to reduce the interest rate that you pay on your debt. Depending on how much you owe and what you are being charged in interest, this could save you quite a lot of money.

Be honest with your creditors. Let them know that you are having difficulty making your monthly payments, but that you’re trying to pay them and that your goal is to live debt free. Tell them that it would be easier to pay off your debt if you had a lower interest rate. Many creditors will appreciate your honesty and, in reality, they would rather get less money from you in monthly interest payments than risk having you default on the debt.

Of course, if you have a good relationship with a creditor (you make payments every month, etc.) there is a greater likelihood of them working with you to pay down your debt.

Sell What You Can

A little extra money can help you achieve your goals and live debt free. Every little bit counts. Try selling some items that you have at home to make some extra cash that you can use to repay your debt.

Your first thought might be that you don’t have anything valuable to sell, but that likely isn’t true.

Clothing, collectables, DVDs, video games, electronics, and a wide variety of other items can be very popular at garage sales or on online classified sites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. You don’t have to have incredibly valuable items to sell either. Think about it. If you sell twenty items you don’t use anymore for five dollars each, that’s $100 that you can apply towards reducing your debt.

Cut What You Don’t Use

Monthly expenses chip away at your available income and make it more difficult to pay off your debt and live debt free. There are some expenses that can’t really be cut, of course. You need to spend money on rent or mortgage payments. You need to pay your electricity bill or shop for groceries. Of course, you might be able to reduce some of those costs (and you certainly should if you can) but this tip refers to cutting some monthly costs entirely.

Do you have a gym membership that you never use? Are you paying for cable channels that you don’t watch? Do you subscribe to magazines that you don’t have time to read? These monthly costs can add up over time. You might not even remember that you have them, but they’re making it tougher to pay down your debt. Cut them and get one step closer to a debt-free life.

Go To The Library

Now that you’ve cut some services, and likely reduced your spending to save money, you might think that you’re going to be bored and restless. But you don’t have to be. The solution to that is the public library.

Libraries have all kinds of things available for free! Not only can you borrow books, but you can also take out DVDs and CDs for free. Some libraries even offer ebooks, online magazines, and movie streaming services for free to anyone with a library card.

You don’t need to spend money to entertain yourself. Visit a local library, save some money, and then pay down your debt faster.

Start a Side Business

A lot of the points listed here are about saving money or cutting costs. However, another way to live debt free is to earn more money. How do you do this? Start a side business! It’s easier than you think.

Consider your hobbies and skills and then find a way to get someone to pay you for doing them. Do you like pets? Start a dog-walking or pet-sitting business. Are you artistic? Sell your arts and crafts projects locally or online through a site like Etsy. Even if you only earn a small amount of money each month, this will help you make some extra cash and live debt free in the long-run.