{"id":4438,"date":"2015-03-23T08:30:55","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T13:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billlosey.com\/?p=4438"},"modified":"2015-03-23T08:30:55","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T13:30:55","slug":"2-simple-ways-to-rein-in-your-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/2-simple-ways-to-rein-in-your-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Simple Ways To Rein in Your Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Great Recession faded, American household debt gradually decreased. <\/strong>In fact, it declined by $1 trillion between mid-2008 and mid-2014, according to the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n

Now household debt is increasing once more.<\/strong> The Fed found it climbing by $78 billion (0.7%) during Q3 2014.<\/p>\n

On the macroeconomic level, that can be interpreted as a positive: it hints at greater consumer spending, easier credit, and more lending taking place to accommodate consumer borrowers. On a microeconomic level, it is more troublesome. It may mean a change in perception, with debt not seeming as onerous as it once did.<\/p>\n

If households really are looking at debt through rosier-colored glasses, they might do well to remember an inescapable fact. When they use a credit card or take out a consumer loan, they are borrowing money they do not have for things they do not absolutely need. The average indebted U.S. household was carrying $15,611 in credit card debt alone in December, the Fed notes. Even if Mom or Dad is a business owner or self-employed entrepreneur, that is an awful lot of revolving debt for a couple or family.<\/p>\n

There are only two ways to reduce debt.<\/strong> One is spending less, the other paying it down. The first tactic requires a change in habits; the second usually requires more income.<\/p>\n

How about not buying 20% of what you want? Or alternately, paying for everything in cash? Either strategy might reduce your household debt significantly in a given month.<\/p>\n

Where can you find more income?<\/strong> Life may allow you to take on an additional, part-time job \u2013 or a higher-paying one. Most people do not have either option at their disposal, so they must look for additional short-term or recurring income derived from consumer savings: they stop eating out or drinking lattes, they stop subscribing to cable or keeping up health club memberships they seldom use, they elect not to buy any clothing for a few months, vacation locally or drive the same car for a decade. All that can put more money in a family\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n

Most households lack budgets. Rather than being old-fashioned or bothersome, they are instrumental in determining spending patterns and opportunities for savings.<\/strong> What is mysterious about your personal finances can clear up with a budget, and you get the sense of being on top of your financial life.<\/p>\n

Debt can be managed.<\/strong> When you look at your spending habits, ideas to reduce it, control it and defeat it will surface.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Great Recession faded, American household debt gradually decreased. In fact, it declined by $1 trillion between mid-2008 and mid-2014, according to the Federal Reserve. Now household debt is increasing once more. The Fed found it climbing by $78 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billlosey.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}