Maybe I’ve had this wrong all along, that having a large amount of debt means you have a debt problem. The light bulb has finally come on, and what is absolutely clear is that a debt problem isn’t necessarily based on the size of your debt. Whether you charge a dollar or thousands of dollars on your credit card, if you can’t pay the full balance off when the bill arrives at the end of the month, then you are on your way to a debt problem. Why? Because carrying a credit card balance often leads to a bad situation due to high interest credit cards. And even if they are low interest credit cards, many times the credit cards are used for necessities and this in itself makes it a bad type of debt especially if you can’t pay off the balance. So by running a credit balance it would stand to reason that you have a debt problem, which means you are living beyond your means. Read more »

A new report suggests that the amount of savings held by Scottish residents to see them through tough times is ‘worryingly low’, Scotland on Sunday reports. Read more »

It’s in human nature to put blame on something external when things go wrong. When it comes to a financial crisis, we can blame it on the economy or even creditors as excuses for it.  Of course there are events that can occur we have no control over like job loss or health issues that can also put us in a debt situation.

If you are deep in debt and seem to be going in circles trying to get out of it, then you do have to ask yourself if a self-saboteur is causing your debt problems. That inner self who kicks your self-confidence and is preventing you from rising above your financial difficulties by keeping you in chaos. If so, then it is time to stand up to the bully and get your life back in control.

That would mean:

• valuing money and not spending unnecessarily on things you really don’t need
• tightening your finances by creating a budget and sticking to it
• living within your means and not using credit as a solution
• not putting yourself in a situation that keeps you in financial crisis month after month
• reading financial planning books to help you manage your finances better and save money

If you don’t take the steps to make the necessary changes to improve your financial situation  and continue to sabotage it from happening,  then you are going to be a long-term member of the self-saboteur club.

While I was making a plan to find ways to get rid of my debt, one of the first ways came into mind was blogging. I thought to myself, why don’t I start a blog where I can discuss my debt problems, keep track of my progress and just blog about debt and money issues. It’s not bad enough that I am already kicking myself for getting this deep into debt in the first place, why not make a public spectacle of myself too. I figured there must be enough people out there who can relate or would be interested to see how I’m tackling my debt.

I also thought if I can somehow make the blog popular enough, I could generate money out of it…which I could use towards reducing my debt. Of course it’s not easy starting up a blog and creating an instant fan base. You really need some stand-out gimmick for that, which I don’t have. I though needed something that not only is going to challenge and motivate me to succeed, but I could offer something of value that could attract visitors who would return.

So I added a debt free challenge to my blog, where I set a target date to eliminate my debt by with a live countdown. This should be interesting enough for people to see me succeed or fail, or just provide some amusement either way…while the clock keeps ticking. 

Now I just needed to add things that I could generate money from. So I asked for donations…which probably would  offend a few (or many)…or might draw enough attention to actually work. But of course I was not expecting that I could just hold a cup in hand and wait for someone else to get me out of my financial mess..no not at all. I just wanted to keep my options open just in case someone thought “I wish this blogger would accept donations”.

 I also wanted to make the blog versatile just in case some were tired of the discussion about debt and just wanted to spend money to buy an ipod or something. So I added a store, auctions and ebooks section that might interest someone to purchase an item that they were interested in and at the same time could help me get rid of my debt.

Then if my blog really grew in popularity, maybe those big advertisers would come along and advertise on my site for a nice sum…putting a big dent in my debt.

Or maybe…someone would be so impressed with my blog that they would offer a pretty penny to purchase it and completely wipe out my debt. 

Ah yes…blogging away my debt is how I’m going to achieve my goal to be debt-free.