How to Eliminate Credit Card Debt (or at Least Whittle it Down in Time for the Holidays)

My least favorite word: DEBT. We've probably all been in debt at one time or another or know someone who is or was or maybe will be in the future. The secrets to making money are not nearly as well known as the secrets to getting into debt. Some of my favorites include:

1) Spending money faster than you earn it.

2) Inability to create a budget and stick to it

3) Impulse buying.

Hey, the list goes on and on. Rich or poor, most people spend more than 10% of what they make, no matter how much they make. Years ago, I learned a simple method for saving and spending that isn't as hi-tech as it might seem. In the long run it enabled me to eliminate any debts I may have had no matter if they were big or small.

I learned to treat myself as a business. When I looked at myself in the mirror I saw a virtual corporation. Donald Trump should have it so go. And because I looked at myself as a business I took an immediate interest in my cash-flow: I looked at what money was coming in and what money was going out. And itr wasn't a pretty picture. As a "business" I saw the future and it wasn't pretty.

But I wasn't discouraged. I created a "cash flow chart" - which can be prepared simply with an excel spread sheet.

You can reference one that I found online to use as your guide: www.relfe.com/A06/Eliminate_credit_card_debt.xls.

This is a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. You will need a spreadsheet program that will read the Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet format to use it. We advise to use the FREE alternative to Microsoft Office (the same as the French government is using) called Open Office available from www.OpenOffice.org.

Download it to your computer. Then do the following:

1) Change the dates which currently read "week 1", "week 2" etc. to the dates that you get paid on. If you get paid monthly, then these will be one date for each month.

2) Where it says "Income 1" replace that with the name of where you get your first source of income from. If you have more than one source of income, write those names where it says "Income 2", "Income 3".