5 Steps To Live A Debt-Free Life
Careful preparation, effort, and even luck are needed to live a debt-free life. A debt-free lifestyle is not an objective that is simple to achieve, depending on your financial status.
What Is A Debt-Free Life?
A debt-free lifestyle entails having no outstanding loans in your name. That includes everything about it, from your mortgage to your credit cards.
There are several advantages to being debt-free. Imagine a life where the only bills you have to worry about are the necessities like shelter and food. You might have less stress and be able to take more trips or donate more money to charitable causes. A well-thought-out plan also leaves you with money to invest in your family’s future and save for retirement.
However, for most individuals, debt freedom takes time to come. It takes a lot of sacrifices to achieve that level of financial independence, both in terms of paying off existing debt and staying away from taking on new debt. Having the means to support such a lifestyle is also necessary.
How To Live A Debt-Free Lifestyle
- Know The Difference Between Wants And Needs
One of the most fundamental guidelines for limiting expenditure is also one of the trickiest to grasp. To put it simply, needs are what we require daily, including housing, food, and clothing. In a nutshell, everything else is what one wants. There are numerous ambiguities, though, as with most things.
For instance, you may want to buy a phone, but you don’t have to immediately get the most recent iPhone model. Even though it’s not always straightforward, separating your requirements from your wants will help you stay debt-free.
- Personal Reflection
Getting out of debt and keeping it that way are two different objectives. Debt-free individuals are quick to pose challenging questions to themselves. You might manage without taking on any obligation for a few months, but after that, you might start accruing credit card debt or getting a home equity loan. A cyclical return to debt could mean that while you have the practice of paying off what you owe, you lack the self-reflection necessary to keep you out of debt.
Create a sustainable emergency fund so you won’t need to use credit when times are tough. You can do this with Mintyn, as we offer a feature that enables you to have emergency savings for home repair, auto repair, health, etc.
You should also evaluate how your emotions impact your expenditures. Do you find it difficult to put off making a large purchase because you believe you deserve it? Insight into what it will take to achieve a debt-free living can be gained by analyzing what occurs just before that cycle repeats.
- Control Your Expenses
Regular household expenses are the bills that you are aware you must pay each month. It’s a terrific method to regulate your spending and prevent taking on debt to keep your regular expenses as low as possible.
Begin by noting the usual expenses you are aware of each month. Make a note of all your costs and search for places you may cut back on them, including rent, utilities, health care, and auto payments.
It is seldom simple to reduce everyday necessities. However, if you can afford it and are paying for it each month, you will soon have additional cash that you can utilize instead of taking on more debt.
A reasonable budgeting guideline is as easy as 50/30/20. Set aside 20% of your monthly income for savings, 30% for non-essentials, and 50% for regular costs. It’s a sensible strategy to keep spending and saving balance and prevent you from relying on credit cards. You can fiddle with the figures if necessary.
- Create A Budget
Use your financial state (debt and income) to make a thorough budget. You must take this slow and steady to avoid forgetting every detail that needs to be on your budget, as you are honest with yourself.
Give an overview of your monthly gross income to begin with. Write down your subsequent expenses, separating them into “necessities” and “discretionary spending.” Set yourself some boundaries once you’ve finished with all of your categories. Consider your current spending and be reasonable. It’s impractical to establish a goal of just spending NGN 30,000 per month on food if your typical monthly grocery budget is about NGN 70,000.
- Increase Your Source Of Income
Debt may be imminent in some instances if you encounter unforeseen circumstances far beyond your financial capability. This may, in turn, lead you to go to loan sharks to borrow money with ridiculously high-interest rates to pay on the loans. But you might be controlling the situation when you have different means of income that constantly fetch you money.
In today’s world, living on a job may not suffice as the best way to stay atop debt, so it is advisable to have one side hustle or the other to complement your finances.
Conclusion
Life is good and happy when you live a debt-free life because you will have peace of mind and live healthily. With the ways, as mentioned earlier, of living a life devoid of debt, you must improve your spending habit as you always prioritize necessity over luxury on the scale of preference.
