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So, it’s pretty bad huh? You know you have several credit cards, all with varying amounts on them, a small bank loan and perhaps you owe your sister some money too. You don’t want to think about totaling it all up and looking at that figure, because that figure is *scary*.
1. All the self-help books (God bless Alvin Hall) will tell you to get out all your bills and find the total of your debt. I’m going to tell you NO. Don’t do that. When you look at that final figure you will be frightened, sad and desperate. You will start thinking incredibly negatively and the net result will be you paralysed by fear. Far better to take a single card/loan whatever and concentrate on that. By all means, keep the others ticking over on minimum payments, but only focus on the one that you’ve chosen.
2. Stop thinking about the debt that you’ve chosen. Start thinking about how great you are going to feel when it is paid off. You are going to feel really empowered and positive :-) Concentrate purely on the feeling of paying it off.
3. Are you signed up to Ebay as a seller? If not, do it today. List something. Anything. Start with a low bid price to encourage interest. Try writing a slightly off-beat/funny listing - I’ve found it very useful for generating interest in otherwise boring items.
4. Sign up to Amazon Marketplace as a seller. It’s really easy. You can list CDs and books very quickly. List five books/CDs.
5. Make a list of the cheap meals that you can make at home. Make a list of the ingredients that you would need to buy in order to make them. Set yourself a budget (I work on £25 a week for a family of four) and get the ingredients.
6. Make *at least* one meal meatless - pasta and cheese, veggie soup or a risotto are all good, cheap, tasty meals - meat is expensive, both for your wallet and for the planet. You’ll enjoy your meat that much more if you have a break occasionally.
7. Investigate your local cheap supermarket (Lidl or Aldi are particularly good in my experience), or if you *must* shop in Tesco (don’t do it! don’t do it!!!) try buying all the value brands. My husband used to work in a bread factory, and tells me that the only difference between a Hovis loaf and a Tesco Value loaf is the bag that it is put in. Same with certain brands of sausages and cereals…
8. Think of a service you could offer (babysitting, garden mowing, housepainting etc.) print out a small card from your computer advertising the service with your phone number on it, and put it in the local newsagent’s window.
9. Can you play an instrument? If it’s sunny, take the instrument (and some friends) and go practice somewhere public where people loiter (tourist destination, shopping centre, marketplace etc.). Put a hat out, seed it with some money and see if someone throws you spare change. (It’s what I’m planning on doing tomorrow!)
10. If you have a website, consider putting Adsense on it. You can put it somewhere out of the way and non-intrusive. Tell me it’s there, and I’ll come visit :-)
The key to all these things is that you have to *do* them. Really. Just reading them doesn’t work. Print the list out, stick it on a pinboard and cross the things off as you do them. Thinking about taking action won’t wash.
About the Author: Annie Walker
It has been said that if the first thing you think about in the morning is writing, then you are a writer.
If that is the case, then I'm probably someone who would really like to stay in bed :-) Once I've been forcibly wrenched away from my duvet, then I think I qualify as a writer...
I've been writing for 25 years: fiction, non-fiction and songs. I'm lucky enough to have been published in both the UK and US and had songs covered by US, UK and Canadian artists.
Current hobbies are performing with several bands and indulging my money-making and thrifty urges at The In-Debt Net. Come visit!
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