Personal Finance Cheat Sheet posted a pretty interesting article: "6 Ways to Maintain a Debt-Free Lifestyle" Click here to read the article. Below is a review of their 6 Suggestions to maintain a debt free lifestyle.
1. Build a Large Savings. Makes sense to me. If you have a large enough savings, you won't have to pull out the pesky credit card or go to the bank to request a loan to purchase an expensive item. It also talks about saving money to pay for your children's education or new home.
2. Pay off Credit Card Transactions Immediately. If you have a credit card, pay it off right away when you use it. You can collect points to use in the future. Be aware though, if you don't pay off your credit card immediately, you'll get hit by those enormous interest rates and the debt will add up.
3. Buy a cheap used car. New cars depreciate in value the second you take it off the lot. If you purchase a new car with cash, it won't depreciate as much and you'll outright own the car and you can trade it in more easily in the future.
4. Go to Community College. Furthering your education will improve your hireability and desireability to an employer. You can go to community college for a lot less money and get some education that can really help you in the future.
5. Rent. I don't really agree with this one. Sure it'll keep you out of debt, but where is that money really going? It's going to pay off someone else's mortgage and you only get temporary housing that you cannot modify yourself to make it more personable. I say, if you have a steady job in a steady location, purchase a house you can afford.
6. Buy only what you need. I'll add 'and what you can afford'. My wife and I rarely follow this rule. We are very impulsive when it comes to shopping. I do believe we've gotten a lot better though, since we sat down and really talked through our finances. With large purchases, we generally wait a day and talk about it before acting on buying something large.
Source:
http://www.cheatsheet.com/personal-finance/6-ways-to-maintain-a-debt-free-lifestyle.html/?a=viewall, Chloe Della Costa, March 2015, Personal Finance: Cheat Sheet
It takes Three
Showing posts with label honey moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label honey moon. Show all posts
Friday, March 20, 2015
Thursday, March 19, 2015
What I did with my Tax Refunds
Since graduating college, I have filed my taxes three times. All three times I have made significant payments to debt.
2012 Tax Return:
Our 2012 Tax Return was the largest of them all. The reason....I got married in December 2012 and received credit for being married. A majority of our 2012 tax return went to pay-off our 2 small college loans, worth a total of $5,000. The rest of the money went towards paying off the credit card I was using to pay for our Honey Moon to St. Lucia. Paying off these two small loans reduced our monthly loan payments from $1,410 to $1,304. That would save us $104 a month to pay our monthly bills without dipping into our savings.
2013 Tax Return:
2013's Tax Return was quite a bit smaller. We received back approximately $4,000. Half of the money went to repay a small loan from my wife's parents (which I would never suggest doing again, they didn't bother us about it, but in the back of my head I hated every minute of it). The rest went to payoff a loan with a remaining balance of $1,800. Paying off this loan reduced our monthly loan payments from $1,304 to $1,268.
2014 Tax Return:
2014 was our smallest tax return yet. We received $3,002 dollars. We paid off our smallest loan, worth $2,324. The rest of the tax return went to purchasing new tires for our car, which were down below 2/32" tread. Paying off this loan saves us $50 per month. Our monthly payments are now $1,218.
2015 Tax Return:
2015 is going to be our smallest tax return yet. Since I will be deployed, I believe that our tax return will only be around $1,000 - $1,500. But I already know where that money is going to go.... Loans.
2012 Tax Return:
Our 2012 Tax Return was the largest of them all. The reason....I got married in December 2012 and received credit for being married. A majority of our 2012 tax return went to pay-off our 2 small college loans, worth a total of $5,000. The rest of the money went towards paying off the credit card I was using to pay for our Honey Moon to St. Lucia. Paying off these two small loans reduced our monthly loan payments from $1,410 to $1,304. That would save us $104 a month to pay our monthly bills without dipping into our savings.
2013 Tax Return:
2013's Tax Return was quite a bit smaller. We received back approximately $4,000. Half of the money went to repay a small loan from my wife's parents (which I would never suggest doing again, they didn't bother us about it, but in the back of my head I hated every minute of it). The rest went to payoff a loan with a remaining balance of $1,800. Paying off this loan reduced our monthly loan payments from $1,304 to $1,268.
2014 Tax Return:
2014 was our smallest tax return yet. We received $3,002 dollars. We paid off our smallest loan, worth $2,324. The rest of the tax return went to purchasing new tires for our car, which were down below 2/32" tread. Paying off this loan saves us $50 per month. Our monthly payments are now $1,218.
2015 Tax Return:
2015 is going to be our smallest tax return yet. Since I will be deployed, I believe that our tax return will only be around $1,000 - $1,500. But I already know where that money is going to go.... Loans.
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