Debt problems are everywhere. The excesses of recent years and the low interest rates have encouraged people to spend with little worry about the future and how to pay for it all. The consumer boom has been the driving force behind the growth in many western countries in recent years but now all the signs are that it has come to an end. The carefree spending train is finally hitting the buffers.
Most of us will have been affected by this to some degree or another. Credit cards have become such an essential ingredient of modern life that few of us are immune to their charms. We have been carelessly or ignorantly been building up debt without too much concern for the future. It is now time to face the music and deal with that debt.
If your job is secure you can make long term plans to pay down your debts. Set yourself a target of three to five years with the aim of significantly reducing your debt or even paying it all off.
The very first step will always be to analyse your spending. There is little point in reducing your debts if you will just go out and get more loans or credit. Controlling spending is essential to overcoming debt. There is no other way.
Get a notebook and keep track of your spending. Write down everthing that you have to pay for. A newspaper, a sandwich, a taxi fare & your electricity bill. You need to know where all your money is being spent every month.
Track your spending for at least a month and as you go keep updating the total for the various categories of spending.
You will be surprised. Few of us realise just how much we spend on insignificant purchases and you may discover that a significant percentage of your income is spend, day by day, on crisps or chocolate bars and other non-essentials. Newspapers don’t seem very expensive but every day for a month means that over a month they can amount to a lot of money. That money might be better spent paying off your credit card bill.
As you become more aware of your spending by writing everything down you will automatically become more aware as you buy things. You will automatically pay more attention everytime you get your wallet or purse out to make a purchase and as you do this you will probably find yourself questioning whether that purchase is either wise or necessary.Over time you may well find you just don’t spend so much on the non-essentials.
Getting control of your debts is not just about making your repayments each month. It is a whole approach to financial management and controlling your spending is a vital part of that and should be your first step towards financial comfort.

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