No, I haven't joined the Army, or enrolled in some sort of strenuous physical boot camp, but I have discovered another "boot-camp" that's pretty darn cool. Have you heard about Learnvest.com yet? It's an awesome site that has all sorts of informative articles about anything you can think of, these guys range from date ideas to how to refinance your home. The reoccurring theme I see at Learn Vest is how to get more out of life for less. There slogan is "Where life gets richer." I check out their site almost daily for fun articles. A few weeks ago i signed up for their free get out of debt 15 day boot-camp. Compared to the average American family, our debt is tiny, but I would still love to accomplish a "debt free" status. I have to say that I really liked the set up of the program and I feel like It covered a lot of points in a short period of time without becoming overwhelming.
The inspiration that I took with me from the program is:
"No one will ever care about my money as much as I do. I am in control of my financial future."
So what did I learn?
-To be honest with myself about where my debt is coming from.
* Used neato Learnvest calculators to see exactly how much my debt is costing me with fees. (a $2000 charge card paid at $70 a month for 4 years (with no farther use) could actually cost $3345.81!
-Learned the difference in good and bad debt and why it's important to quit contributing to bad debt.
-Organized my current debt between monthly bills, actual debt, and current spending using the Learnvest budget calculator.
-Learned some skills for gaining control of interest rates. Including visiting billshrink, learning how to negotiate with companies for lower rates, and some tips for what to do when companies don't cooperate with your negotiation.
-Discovered the pros and cons of balance transfers, when it's a good idea, and when it will actually hurt your credit. When and how to manage a transfer and what to do afterwards. *Never do more than one balance transfer per year and be careful with hard inquires that can harm your credit.
-Shared ways to free up more money to help pay off debt.
-Calculated my yearly interest rates, transfered all bills from credit to debit, organized spending habits with a spending journal, created a budget, attempted to negotiate card rates, set up auto pay on credit card to avoic late fees, and recognized my bad spending habits and triggers.
-Learned what debt to tackle first and how to set reasonable goals
-Was introduced to several free credit counciling services, learned what average and good credit rating are, and how to obtain a free credit report and start seeing improvements in as little as 90 days.
In short:
Set goals, know your habits, cut cost, live within your budget, pay down debt, raise your credit score, and reach your goals. ( =
One thing I learned, sad, though somewhat comforting fact I learned though this whole process is that my credit score is about average for someone my age, and that our family's debt isn't even enough to consider a councilor. I hope that also means that I'll be able to buckle down, and pay off what debt that we have, so that we we start house hunting, we'll get the best rates available. ( =
I hope that you'll take the time to stop by and check out LearnVest. They offer other great boot camps too.
