DEALING WITH DEBT - 5. THE SOLUTIONS

Debt feels like a lead weight that hangs around your neck. See previous articles here. Freedom from it is an important and a very useful goal to pursue. No matter the amount you owe, it’s possible to finish paying up and be debt free. Getting out of debt is not always an easy ride, but it’s doable, and many people under worse conditions have done it. The truth still remains that you must not be in debt to enjoy the best of life, NO! You mustn’t! Freedom is a better option. God never set us free in so many other areas, so that we could stay as slaves in the area of debt. Enough of gist, these steps will help you to start off in your journey to becoming debt free and in dealing with debt squarely.

1) Decide to Live a debt free life.

It all starts with a decision, going to school, getting married, giving your life to Christ, borrowing, becoming debt free etc. Life is all about decisions. You are the one who is totally responsible for your life and actions. Where you are today is as a result of decisions you took (deliberately or otherwise), and if you must come out, you must DECIDE (not wish) to do just that. What many people do is wishing, which doesn’t achieve anything because it is not backed up with any deliberate plan or action. Decisions are strong desires that leads to careful and conscious plans and strategies followed up by actions that will lead to a desired result. Until you decide to act, nothing serious will happen. You must come to a point where you become tired of being in debt. The place where you start seeing debt as a major reason your progress in life is being hindered, because it truly is. Settle it in your heart to give it all it would require to get out of debt and you good to go.

2) You must understand your current position.

After you have made the decision, you must sit down with a pen and paper and do a critical assessment of your financial position. You can’t turn things around if you continue to ignore what you owe. What is your net worth? By this I mean, the total of your assets and liabilities. Assets simply stand for things that make money for you while liabilities are things that take money from you. To become a better person financially, your assets must be greater than your liabilities. Some people are so deep in debt that they do not even know how much they owe totally. You must make a list of everyone and every amount you owe, all income sources available to you, recurrent expenditure, needs, and wants. Also you need to know the places you go, things you do, and people that make you spend, because some of those people and places will need to be avoided if you must get out of debt.

As per your debt position, you need to find out whether you are

- Hopelessly in debt and still accumulating more,

- In debt but not accumulating more,

- coming out of debt by paying up in little but consistent sums.  

This will enable you to create a clear plan on how to pay off your debts.

3) Stop Borrowing.

To come out of a deep hole you dug, the first step is to stop digging. Did I hear you say you can’t survive without it? You can! Many people who were in worse conditions survived, you too can. Do not add new debts, if your current income is not enough for you, find a way to increase your income. You may need to get a side business, or even sell off some things you don’t really need. But by all means, ensure you do not add fresh debts on yourself.

Some virtues and habits that you must adopt at this point are;

a.) Becoming content with what you have.

You must separate yourself from the bandwagon effect. This calls for a total change of mindset and disposition towards what the society at large has come to define wealth to be. It is OK to be different at times; that everyone is doing it does not necessarily make it right. You are different. You don’t know their own sources of income and how they are ‘meeting up’. Some of them are still hopelessly in debt and are just putting up false appearances. In the actual sense, it is not really everyone that has bought into the materialism concept that has engulfed people today. Get this fact today, your true definition is not based on the cars, clothes and shoes you drive and put on. Jesus Christ summarized this in Luke 12:15  While it is good to have some of these things, they are not the central point on which our life revolves. A little change in your current unsustainably high lifestyle can deliver you from a life full of debt, you must learn to be content with what you have and stop comparing yourself to others. In the words of Pastor Bankie, “You have no mates!”

b.) Become dangerously frugal.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The approach a person with slight headache gives his/her health is different from the approach a diabetic patient gives his/her own. Both levels also differ from the approach a cancer patient adopts. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Do all you can to conserve as much as possible. I recommend Michelle Singletary’s financial fasting method here. Remember it is a serious issue we are discussing here; this is what it actually means to ‘decide’. Discipline yourself to make do with only your needs at this point; you will thank yourself later in life.

c.) Embracing and accepting Hard Work.

You must loathe and abhor laziness with all in you to stay away from debt. It is a mental attitude. You must love hard work and believe that there is dignity in labour. Manna no longer falls from heaven. This is the time to work and make yourself useful to the society. How can you owe people and sit down all day expecting money to come from nowhere. Get up and deliver yourself. You must adopt what Dave Ramsey calls GAZELLE INTENSITY. (I will talk more on this in subsequent articles).

d.) Learn to be Patient.

You did not get into debt suddenly and you are not going to come out suddenly. It takes time and a deliberate commitment. Even if it will take you years to come out, be patient enough to recognize that you may not be where you want to be, but at least you are not where you used to be. Don’t give up. It will take some time for sure but you are becoming a better person as you move along.

To be continued...

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