Don’t consolidate your debt, eradicate it!

My opinion may be a bit bias and jaded when it comes to debt,  but my opinion and experience is why I can tell you that debt consolidation is a bad idea. It will not work! Not if your goal is to get and stay out of debt.

Early on, the debt consolidation that I attempted, made a promise to get me out of debt. On a positive note,  I will say  that it did get me out of debt, by helping manage my plethora of payments.  The accounts closed so I could not used them However, the program  did not keep me out of debt. Within shortly after of finishing the program,  I was back over my head in debt. this is because this program did not chance the way I saw debt.  It was merely a means to have available funds to spend on my remaining credit cards! There Lies the problem with debt consolidation!  It only addresses the symptoms and not the main issues surrounding accumulating debt.  Succeeding with money, is all about behavior.  Debt Consolidation programs do not address changing  your behavior with money.

The second time I attempted to get out of debt (Yes, I have become debt free twice!) I managed to make it stick! And I did it by changing the way I thought about money, and also by changing my behaviors in dealing with money.

Family’s have created some bad money behaviors such as using Adhering to the to buy now and pay later concept, borrowing money to supplement a standard of living and having little to no cash savings or emergency find in place.  In the beginning, Although it was difficult, here are a few things I had to learn:

• Start saving
• Stop borrowing money
• Build a cash buffer
• Live within your means
• Pay cash

Question:

Changing a behavior is one of the hardest things that many people ever do. What behavior have you tried to change and how did you do it?

I’d love to hear from you, Please leave a comment or answer the question on my Facebook or Twitter pages.   You can see my response there as well.  I look forward to reading your responses.