Debt Management: How Deeply In Debt Are You?
When you feel like you're drowning in a never-ending sea of debts, it can be very difficult to take a really close, hard look at the actual dollar amounts. As strange as it might seem though... not knowing the exact dollar amount of every debt you owe can make the problem seem much bigger than it might actually be.
And the first step to solving any problem, is knowing exactly what the problem is... and how bad it is too.
So if you're ready to start reducing and eliminating some of your worst debts, the first thing you'll have to do is take stock of every debt you owe. Pull out every single bill - whether it's a back due bill, a collection notice from past debts you haven't been able to pay yet, loans you currently have open, and so on - pull them all out and get ready to take full stock of your debt problem.
Now doing this step is critical. As I said before, you can't fix a problem if you don't know the full scope of that problem. So when you start looking over every single debt you owe, don't forget the mundane every day things. Mortgage payments, car loans, credit card balances, store lines of credit, and even ongoing contracts you may have such as your cell phone obligations.
For the purpose of debt reduction and elimination, you shouldn't include regular monthly bills as part of your debt obligations. Why? Because those are never paid off. As long as you need and use those services, you'll continue to be charged for them. These types of bills include electricity, water, and home telephone services.
Are you ready? Pull out every single debt you have, and start listing them all on a single piece of paper. List who the debt is owed to, or simply name the debt something you can easily remember. Then list the total dollar amount for that debt right next to it. Be sure to list the exact dollar amount too - including change if it's applicable - because the goal here is to know exactly how deeply in debt you are.
If any of your debts have interest rates attached to them - such as credit card debts and car loans - list the interest rate that debt is being charged. This tells you how expensive the particular debt is, and this will be important in future debt reduction steps you choose to take.
Once you have every single debt listed on that single sheet of paper, pull out the calculator and add them all up. Ignore the interest rates for this step, just add all of the current debt amounts together for now. This will give you the exact total of all debts you owe. You'll see precisely how deeply in debt you are.
It may look better than you'd thought or it may look worse, but doing this one little step will make a huge difference in helping you to start a feasible, workable plan for reducing your debts... and possibly even getting completely debt free in the future.
For additional steps to reducing your debt, please read the free online guide: "How to Manage, Reduce, and Eliminate Your Worst Debts" at http://Find-Debt-Help.com ? 2006, Kathy Burns-Millyard.
Related Articles:
TopNotchWebsites New Example Site Showcases Content Management System Features to Business Owners
TopNotchWebsites creates an example site to showcase the features and benefits of open source content management system (CMS) websites. Features include the ability to create a community of users, forums, podcasting, chat rooms and newsletters.
NASA Presents ScottMadden, Management Consulting Firm, With Award for Shared Services Expertise
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded ScottMadden, Inc., a management consulting firm, the NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award for its shared services expertise.
Ontario-Based Management Consulting Firm Uses Team Approach for Small Business Solutions
Multi-Link Business Management Solutions (http://www.multilinkconsulting.com) helps its clients maximize their full potential and solve their business problems by 'linking" their customers with specialized industry professionals.
BTF Management Helps Evaluate Your Business' Potential for Consulting Services
For 15 years, BTF Management Consultants Inc. has specialized in solving business problems for turnarounds, rollups, and acquisitions for small- to medium-sized businesses. BTF believes that each client should first determine their willingness to accept help and fix problems before engaging a consulting firm.
Reciprocal Consulting Launches New Online Reputation Management Services
For half a decade, Reciprocal Consulting has been on the cutting edge of internet marketing solutions, offering their clients a maximum return on investment on a pay for performance basis. Now they merge quality services like SEO, competitive intelligence, and the latest monitoring tools to offer online reputation management.
Datascope Consulting Release Version 2 of Their WMS (Warehouse Management System) for SYSPRO
Datascope today announced the release of version 2 of its WMS (Warehouse Management System). This warehousing solution has been specifically built for operation with SYSPRO ERP and therefore is highly integrated into SYSPRO via the standard e.net object layer. WMS fully integrates Barcoding into SYSPRO, allowing users to more efficiently process any tasks.
The Consulting Pulse Launches Niche Job Board for Management Consultants
In an effort to provide management consultants with more targeted job hunting tools, and employers with access to top level talent, Consulting Pulse has launched a niche job board for the Management Consulting Industry.
Change Management Consulting Appoints Brad Thorne as Global Lean Six Sigma Practice Head
Change Management Consulting, Inc. (CMC), a privately-owned management consulting and training firm announced today the appointment of Brad Thorne as Vice President and Global Lean Six Sigma Practice Head.
Healthcare Management, Consulting Leader QHR Names Rick Drake Senior Vice President of Business Development
QHR, the nation's largest healthcare management company and one of the leading healthcare management consulting firms in the United States, has added a dynamic new sales leader to its Business Development team. Rick Drake, with more than 30 years' experience and expertise in this area, joined the company as senior vice president of Business Development in July.
Management consulting and effective project management can provide better business solutions
At present management consulting firms maintain relation with several organizations. For training, change management, operational and strategically development and technology implementation management consulting is indispensable. It is common that for effective project management the managers are more and more emphasizing on management consulting. The highly skilled management consultants use the proprietary methodologies clubbed with their own experience to initiate the problem identification process better. Beside execution of management consulting, nowadays for enhanced project management it is also in use at non-business related areas.