RapidDebtLoss.com

It’s simply amazing how people sacrifice so little to sacrifice a lot.  Millions of people around the country are living the American dream and the mountain of debt that goes along with it just because they don’t want to start a (GOD forbid) budget.  Check out this story I simply had to shake my head at:

Mary earns an after-tax weekly salary of $675 and gets weekly child support of $142; her income averages $3,462 a month.

Her monthly expenses: $1,485 for rent, $175 for utilities, $275 for a car payment, $361 for car insurance, gasoline and maintenance, $415 for her son’s college tuition, $124 for cable television and Internet service, $350 for grocery bills and $100 for dining out. That’s a total of $3,285 — and it doesn’t include incidental costs for clothing, hair care, gifts or entertainment.

She’s also overdue on several bills, including $282 for medical costs, $233 for a student loan and $80 for 2-year-old phone charges.

In a nutshell, Mary spends close to or more than she earns each month, and she runs out of money before she can make payments on her existing bills. That means there’s nothing left over to pay down her growing debts.

Mary is the first to admit a lot of her financial problems are in her head. She’s always had trouble with money, so her financial woes have become part of her identity — so much so that she carries her folder of bills with her wherever she goes, like a security blanket.

She says she wants to have the means to take vacations and buy presents for her grandchildren, even have a little in the bank for emergencies. But her self-sabotage has stopped her from attacking the real problem: her attitude about money.

Mary, like most people, dreads the “B” word: budget. But budget is not a dirty word. It’s the secret to financial freedom.

Without reading the article any further I immediately so ways to improve her situation in a matter of months. Instead Mary, would rather sacrifice budgeting instead of her attitude about wasting money.

Off the top of my head, I see she could lose some cable television programming and possibly opt for cheaper internet services. She could sell the car and buy something older while at the same time being reliable.  Doing so would also lower her car insurance rates.

So lets say she creates a budget and is able to milk $200/month (on the low end) out of the deal. The $80 phone charges would be pai off the first month. That leaves $120 left over for the month. Next month add that up with the $200 and pay off the $282 medical costs. Take the rest and pay off the $233 bill the next month.

After 3 months those debt collectors are paid off and now she has $200 to spend on more debt in order to get the debt reducing snowball rolling.

Life shouldn’t be that hard people.  Sacrifice your laughing now so that you won’t be crying later. Reverse the trend!