Debt Relief and Personal Finance Management - The Important Connection

If you want to get out of debt, you need to have good control of your personal finances. If you want to avoid needing debt relief help next month or next year, you need to have a good control over your personal finances. Debt and personal finances go hand in hand.

When it comes to managing your debt and your personal finances, you need to know more than just where your money is going. You need to sit down and write it out. Don't estimate that you spend about $50 a month on coffee at a local café, know for sure. Here are three things you must do if you want to gain control of your finances and see debt relief:

1 - Add Up Your Income

Take your paychecks for the month and add them up depending on the number of weeks in the year (most commonly 4). This is just your paycheck only; do not add in any anticipated bonuses until you actually get them. If you are married or have your finances merged with a live-in partner, their paycheck must be added up for the month too.

2 - Add Up Your Monthly Bills

To do this, just go through all the payments you send out month after month. Many of these totals like phone, internet, and television will be the same month after month. For utility bills that vary depending on use like water, electricity, and so forth you can do a rough estimate.

3 - Add Up Your Expenses

These are expenses you pay for but they might not be on a monthly basis. In this category should be food or gas. You also want to include any little purchase such as food from the vending machine at work that doesn't fall into the weekly grocery bill total. Anything and I mean anything you spend money on (a new pair of jeans, a pack of gum) should be listed here and added up. If you need help with this total, record all your purchases for one week and times it by four for the month.

Finally, what you want to do is subtract your monthly bills and your expenses from your income total. You should notice a difference and hopefully you will see this difference month after month.

Right now, you have organized your finances and now you need to manage them. If your goal is to seek debt relief, start eliminating expenses that aren't needed to survive. You can, should, and must pay this money to your debt relief company and they in turn will distribute it to your creditors. In most cases, you will see that you get out of debt quicker when you have your personal finances organized and managed.

There has really never been a more advantageous time for consumers to try and eliminate unsecured debt. Creditors are very concerned about collecting and most have government money to make eliminating some of your debt financially feasible.

Check out the link below to locate legitimate debt relief companies in your area: