HOW TO LIVE A DEBT- FREE LIFE

Debt is a common phenomenon in our present generation and age. Living a debt-free life can be seen as an ambitious goal. It doesn’t help that modernization has made borrowing so easy for everyone to access. From credit cards to students’ loans, down to modern-day applications that could allow one to take a loan within short minutes, we have gotten so used to debt that we can no longer envisage life without loans.
There’s a saying that “Not all debts are bad debts”. However, having a debt hanging over your neck can be a lot frustrating and downright draining. So, how do you get to live a debt-free life while aiming for financial stability? The steps below are proven and could help you do so if followed judiciously;

• Learning to say “No” –

Most debtors are people who cannot say no to peer or family pressure urging than to spend well above their net worth. These are people-pleasers who would give up anything to belong, including their financial freedom. You cannot be debt-free with this perspective. However, learning to say “No” to some unplanned expenses, frivolities, peer and family pressure is just the push you need to get you out of debts.

• Learning to care less about people and their opinion –

For some debtors, their greatest weakness is caring too much about people, to such extent that they end up falling into an even bigger debt in a bid yo either help them out of their own debts or fund their extravagant lifestyles. Caring about others is not a bad thing and will never be. But this habit becomes problematic when the over-caring leads you into a lifestyle that is detrimental to your health, your emotional and psychological wellbeing, and even to your future as well as that of your children. Realize that most often, these people you care too much for could actually live without you and would change you for another source of money if given the opportunity. So, why kill yourself for people that wouldn’t die for you? Why prevent yourself from being debt-free.

• Track your finances –

Most debtors are people who do not track their finances. You earn a huge sum in a month, but if I asked you, would you be able to categorically state what, how and when you spent the money? Financial freedom starts with being able to give accurate account of your finances. If you are not able to give this account, how would you know the unnecessary expenses you indulge in, but which you need to cut down on?

• Never falling prey to scam –

A most recurring finance-draining act that I have heard of is falling pretty to scam. However, I have found that people who fall easily to scam are those who are too much in a haste to get rich quick. In your mission to attain financial stability, ensure to adequately analyze every investment opportunity, especially those ones that assure you multiple returns within short hours.

• Stop playing the victim, become debt-free-

A common habit most debtors have is playing the victim’s card. For this type of debtors, every other person around him is the reason and ready-excuses behind his debt. Every other person should be blamed but him. Until you begin to actually acknowledge that you as the debtor are 100% at fault and have no excuses for incurring debts, then the odds that you’d make any worthwhile change is close to non-existent.

• Put your money to work –

While saving is a good habit to cultivate and should be encouraged, but the truth remains that for the average man, it would probably take working for over three-quarter of your life to save up enough money to live the remaining one-quarter of your life in as much affluence as you hope for.  So how can you live debt-free? Like Temitope Oshin would say, ” You work too hard to simply spend your money anyhow. Make your money work for you – after all, you worked for it”. And one of the major ways of having your money work for you is by investing in a diverse portfolio. Get some ideas here.

Read More: How to Save and Invest.