What’s the big ‘D’? It’s debt. Yep, it’s time to get down to the business of paying down debt. Go ahead and call me a meanie and stamp your feet since I’m no fun. I can take it. Debt is not your friend, and you should not be friendly with your debt.

In order to deal with debt, you’ll need two things. First, you need to be brave and find your sense of debt-hating desire. To dig yourself out you must want to do it, badly. Getting all wishy-washy and whining about your money woes doesn’t do you much good.

Second, you’ll need the numbers from your Net Worth Spreadsheet — where you listed your debt — and the Budget Spreadsheet — which shows both your income and expenses.

Now go ahead and download the next free tool, the Debt Reduction Spreadsheet.

Download: Debt Reduction Spreadsheet

The Debt Reduction Spreadsheet is not a fancy-dancy tool — I wanted to keep things simple. The idea is to track your creditors, list the balances due, acknowledge interest rates, make monthly payments, and then target one debt using the amount you have available for extra payments. Phew!

If you’re dealing with credit card debt, try my handy Credit Card Calculator to see how many years it will take to pay off your balance based on your minimum monthly payment. Results are shocking!

If you need to get wise to creditor tricks, read these 5 Sneaky Credit Card Tricks to Avoid to see if you’ve made any of these common mistakes.

Making even a small dent in debt repayment is a positive step. If you need some inspiration, see my very popular story The real reason you’re broke and read the comments. You’re not alone.

Love,
Kerry

Next Steps: Check out Day 5: Plan for the future