Click to learn more about MediaSentiment Pro Debt Crunch – Being Resilient When Money is Hard to Find
Getting Out of Debt is all fine and good when you have a financial goals with a workable plan (budget), enough income to work the plan, commitment to make it happen and accountability to ensure you do exactly what you set out to do.
Without all four – it will be an uphill battle to make any progress whatsoever in this “get out of debt” thing. Often I read blogs and find magazine articles that show a lack of financial goals and a budget to be the biggest obstacle to getting out of debt.
For every person that lives near or below the poverty level but is buried under debt there are hundreds of middle class families struggling just as hard. In fact, those family living on 100K a year often have staggering debts and mortgages.
At face value – it would all appear to be relative.
It’s not.
Yes, people that take home $1000 a week probably do indeed have alot of credit cards to pay off or a huge mortgage that needs to be paid. Before they pay whatever bills they pay – they have control of that 4,000 to 5,000 a month to pay what they can.
On the other side of the coin – a family that has two people working full time at $10 an hour (about 40K a year) and pays $100 a week for childcare (that’s low btw) has about $1000 a month to pay for everything.
I’m sure my perspective is tainted as I have been a single parent for most of my adult life so I’m the sort to see much more opportunity for clearing one’s debts when there is more income to work with.
When I listen to Dave Ramsey, I’ve often heard him separate the issues as car poor (owing more money on cars they can’t afford to keep) or house poor (too much mortgage for the income) but often its an income problem.
Okay – what to do when you don’t have money left over to clear up your debt… That’s my question.
I’ve heard it said – Get a second job. That works if you don’t have to pay for child care. As someone that already pays for child care – working a second job would require finding a babysitter in the evening then paying them. That automatically cuts into the extra income you would bring in.
That’s why I work online with affiliate sites and I blog. I have enough trouble working out child care issues with my regular job that I cannot see how to have someone come here in the evening for me to work another job. Instead, I work online.
Tell me – how do YOU bring in extra income to help get yourself out of debt?
Doing yard sales has helped me clear clutter and raise funds for the move. I will be doing yet another couple yard sales to raise money to move into my own place and fix my car.
Only then will I be able to return to my debt reduction plan – in the meantime, I’m creating a preliminary budget that I will follow until I get consistent childcare. That will greatly impact my budget so I will not know what I can afford for a rent until that is solid.
This blog may have started out with the goal of paying off my debt quickly – it is evolving into my own personal journey to get my family stabilized both financially and emotionally as we start over in a new place with a new job. The goal of becoming debt free is still clearly right in front of me BUT…
It looks a bit different from this angle – hang on, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride! 
Tammy
Tags: affiliate marketing, bills, budget, childcare, dave ramsey, debt, family, get out of debt, income, middle class, money, mortgage
