Christmas is still a few months away, but it’s never too early to start thinking about a gift that could change your family tree for years to come: freedom from debt!
Source: 4 Ways You Can Move Toward Debt Freedom by Christmas – daveramsey.com
4 Ways You Can Move Toward Debt Freedom by Christmas
Christmas is still a few months away, but it’s never too early to start thinking about a gift that could change your family tree for years to come: freedom from debt!
Right now, that might seem like a huge holiday wish; and, honestly, you might not be able to clear all your debt by December. But that shouldn’t stop you from taking the first steps toward debt-free living right now.
By starting your journey today, you can make amazing progress in a short amount of time. For example, in the first 90 days of attending Financial Peace University, the average family pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700!
That’s an $8,000 turnaround in just three months! And that kind of momentum can carry you through the holidays and into 2016 with a renewed sense of hope. But you need to start now.
Here are four things you can do today to gain positive traction before Christmas.
1. Join (or Start) an FPU Class
If you’re not already in FPU, now’s the perfect time. Classes are starting across the country, and you can use our Class Finder to locate one near you.
Of course, you also can help yourself while helping others by becoming an FPU class coordinator. You don’t need experience to lead a class. You just need a heart that wants to see change in your life and in the lives of others.
2. Get on a Budget
One of the first things you learn in FPU is how to create a budget every month. That’s really important because while you may have wandered into debt, you’ll never wander out. You need a plan!
Budgeting gives you discipline to put that plan into action. It also puts the power back in your hands instead of letting your money call the shots.
Related: Check out our latest budgeting tool at EveryDollar.com
3. Work your debt snowball
The first FPU Baby Step challenges you to build a $1,000 starter emergency fund. The second Baby Step has you attack your debt using the debt snowball.
The idea’s pretty simple. You work hard to pay off your smallest debt as quickly as possible. Once that’s done, you take the money you had been paying on that debt and add it to the payment for your next smallest debt. Over time, the snowball grows and more debt gets paid!
Again, this doesn’t happen by accident. You have to get mad at your debt instead of defending it. You may even need to increase your income by selling something or getting a second job. But as the snowball grows, so does your hope for living a debt-free life.
4. Stick to the Plan
Since 1994, more than 2.5 million families have broken the chains of debt through FPU. It worked for them. It will work for you. You just have to stick with it!
A journey of a thousand miles really does begin with one step. The best day to take your first step toward debt-free living is today. Make the move now and make progress by 2016!
If you have a passion for seeing people experience life without debt, you’re what FPU coordinators are all about. Sign up today to become a coordinator and join the movement that’s changing the nation—one family at a time!
