This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about paying off my credit cards! While it’s a great feeling to have that debt all wiped out, I also want to make sure that I don’t slide back into the same old behaviors. Over the past six months, I’ve really changed my relationship with money.
For most of my credit history, I overspent, took out student loans to pay off debt, and overspent again. It’s a vicious cycle! Anyone tempted to follow in my footsteps or take out a home equity loan or consolidate credit will probably discover the same can of worms I did. Each time, I thought that this was absolutely the last time I would need to use loans to pay off my credit cards. Then, the next semester, I’d be back in the same old spot. This time, I feel that I’ve actually made some progress with the underlying behaviors that led to my overspending ways.
by christopher.woo
Now, I want to keep it healthy! I’ve identified three key concepts that helped me, the three R’s of debt reduction if you will:
- Reflect
- Replace
- Renew
These three verbs enabled me to change my ways and make it through some rough patches. In this series, I’ll explain each one in more detail, a three-step approach to my new relationship with money. It wasn’t simple, and it didn’t happen overnight. However, it did happen, and faster than I thought it would! Check in tomorrow to see how important some serious reflection is for successful debt reduction. Any other R’s come to mind?
My Daily Dollars 