If you have ever struggled to get to sleep at night because the worry of debt has made you toss and turn for hours then it is time to take a positive mental approach to your problem. Quite often clarity is all that is required to rectify any anxiousness and this article outline steps you should take to achieve a more positive mental approach.
Money issues,
debt in particular, can cause many stress related illnesses and also be the root cause of relationship issues that often result in the breakdown of marriages and the family unit. The damage to your mental health, caused by debt, can be countered by putting things into perspective and order, as quite often it is the inability to understand the size of the problem and the processes and actions needed to control it that cause anxiety.
These simple measures listed below, although not aimed at eliminating debt, will help give you a clear picture of your financial situation and get your anxiety under control.
1#
List all of your debt.
Believe it or not, this is quite a painful but liberating process. Quite often the fear of realizing the size of your debt will stop you from ever completing this exercise and therefore, as a result, you will never find out how big or small your debt problem actually is. By never doing this simple task your mind is given a free license to do mathematical gymnastics, often exaggerating the size of the problem. Once you have listed all of your debt you will find the problem much easier to relate to.
2#
Create a plan of action.
You should make a plan of action to deal with your debt; the first part of which should be to make minimum payments on all of your debt as this will allow you use any surplus cash to concentrate on paying off your high interest debt first or to eliminate a debt that can be paid off quickly. The psychological impact of crossing a debt off your list will provide you with an immediate positive mental boost. (Please note that you should always prioritize any loans secured on property.)
3#
Worrying will not decrease the size of your debt, so stop worrying!
Look at ways to increase your income or lower your expenses, in fact the later is the first place you should start, every one can make cut backs somewhere. If you can't do either of these you should contact your creditors and explain the situation, try to negotiate better repayment terms or lower interest rates.
All your time should be spent trying to reduce your debt and spending your time worrying will reduce nothing!
4#
Be proactive.
I touched on this in the previous section and it relates to contacting your creditors. You would be amazed at just how much you can do in order to reduce your debt and eliminate it quicker than you ever thought possible. It's not unimaginable to think that you could be debt free in as little as three years without;
1# increasing payments;
2# getting another job, and;
3# paying your debt in FULL!
There are methods that the financial institutions have known about for decades but do not want the general population using, as it would cause them to lose millions of dollars every year in unpaid interest. These methods are both legal and ethical and will allow you to pay your debt off in a much shorter period of time.
Alternatively, or even additionally, you could look into applying for a slice of the $10 billion bail out fund that the US government has provided to help those in debt you can check out what grants are available and how to apply for them at http://www.grants.gov/, the secret to getting these grants is perseverance, if you get turned down keep applying until your grant application is approved.
Whatever your course of action, allowing the issue of debt to carry on unaddressed is a mistake and will inevitably lead to personal issues, so take action now.
