Viable Solutions for Credit Card Debtors

Since the recession, America’s willingness to incur debt seems to have surged back with too many people accumulating huge credit card bills that might take more than 4 years to pay off, as per a report by WalletHub, a finance website. The reports suggest total credit card debt to have increased by $70 billion last year to $900 billion, which is till now the highest amount recorded since the economic depression. Hence, the average US household now owes more than $8000 on their credit cards.

Irrespective of whether you’ve been left with a holiday debt hangover post your holidays or you’re struggling with your previous debt load, you should make 2016 the year to free yourself of all debt burden. This is the best time to put together an appropriate debt payoff plan and also restructure your budget. If you’ve been looking for ways to pay off debt in this New Year, here are some steps to consider.

1. Increase the minimum payments: Provide yourself with a chance of getting out of debt sooner by paying more on the minimum payments which are due on every personal loan and credit card. This way you can prevent the interest charges from accumulating and save money. And if you have a tough time doubling the minimum payment, consider boosting the frequency of payments so that you can bring down the balance.
2. Set yourself brand new spending limits: Are you always turning to credit cards whenever you fall short of money? Do you have a tough time staying within your budget? If answered yes, you should know that this is high time that you set some new spending limits. Take stock of current spending habits and recognize some of the main areas where you usually overspend. Create a frugal budget and try your best to follow it throughout the entire month. Also inculcate the habit of saying No to few purchases.
3. Downsize your life: Well, the idea of compromising your luxuries is not always a welcoming suggestion but this can help at times. If you think that cutting down some of your expenses won’t be possible, try to downsize and eliminate. Pay for only that you need and not for things that you want. Revise the difference between your needs and wants.
4. Consolidate your debt: You can either opt for balance transfer programs or consolidate debt with professional debt relief programs. The debt consultant can help you combine your debts into a single monthly payment and also offer you an alternative debt repayment plan keeping in mind your affordability. Lower monthly payments can ensure easier debt repayment.

Once you take the above mentioned debt repayment steps and gradually start eliminating debt, you should reward yourself. Resolve to pay down debt this 2016 so that you can give yourself a new chance to rejuvenate your financial life. Think twice before saying yes to credit card offers in the near future as they can become nasty debt generators once you start misusing it.

How I Did Some Good Saving on Cross-Country Travel by Road

I have been never much into brainstorming money-saving ideas. However, from time to time, I browse through the tips on cost-cutting, pick up a few that I can easily follow and make a good use of them. There are several areas to cut costs, at least I have learned that but I am reluctant to try them all. One such idea that I have recently applied is how to save money while making a trip across country.
 
I went for a fortnight trip to Sydney from Melbourne by road. After I came back, nobody was willing to believe that I had managed to travel with a petty sum. But I did and here is how I did that.

Moderate Driving
Driving moderately is a way to make improvement on gas mileage especially when you are making a long trip. I made it sure not to go over a certain limit so that I could save on my gas expenses. Most of the motorists pick up high speed while traveling along the highway and during a long trip.
It feels like going on an adventure. But the fact that you fail to realize is it adds to your fuel bill. We had some bags and baggage in the cabin as well as on top of the car. When you carry such loads, it is more important to go slow so that you can get the optimum mileage. It was a tour of 4000 miles that we covered. So it was not a small sum that we saved. Even if small pennies are saved in several aspects of travelling, it could be a big amount.

Discount Deals 
My husband says that I have some bad habits and one of them is to collect discounts on grocery items, clothes or whatever else I could afford even without markdown on prices. I just turned a deaf ear to his arguments and did the same on the eve of our trip. Discounts are available on total packages or individually on some special aspects like hotel booking, flight reservation or special activities.

I did made my vacation plan without involving a tour operator. However, that did not prevent me from enjoying discounts on hotel booking and some particular activities. It was not a peak travel season and most of the hotels had discount offers on booking. Usually, the hotels adopt such marketing strategy to drive the travelers when tourist flow is not very high.

We also availed discount coupons on adventure activities. The organizations running these activities also attract the customers during slack season by offering discounts. We also picked up some passes from our hotel and on the whole, all these contributed to our money saving.

Going for some unusual ways
When you are bent on saving money, you should be ready for some sacrifices if those don’t take pleasure away from your travel. Go with some unusual thoughts to cut costs on your traveling expenses. We booked our hotels for four nights and three days. For rest of our trip, we went for camping. It gave us a real thrill of adventure and at the same time, we saved a lot on accommodation. While resting in camps, we ordered food at the roadside restaurants. Food was tasty but inexpensive.

I managed to save $800 on our road trip. What about your plans on saving money during a trip by road?