Coming to terms with a personal money picture can help you overcome the problems. It's hiding away all the dirty laundry that can escalate the issue, as bills will continue to mount if you don't do anything about them. It may seem like an impossible task, paying down a mountain of debt, but there are ways to cut costs and live frugally that will help you make payments. As part of a healthy financial plan, saving money works for everyone, no matter their situation.
Use what you have. One of the biggest bills to cut is the grocery bill, according to Business Insider's Jill Krasny. Her award winning book, $21 Challenge, highlighted ways that people could reasonably live off just over $20 dollars per week without going hungry. Her biggest recommendation was to buy at bargain prices, and instead of looking for ingredients to satisfy a particular recipe, just make something with what you have. It will cut down on the number of trips to the store.
•Open an account. Money management is crucial in saving enough to pay down those bills, so knowing where your money is and what it's doing will allow you the best chance of effectively handling it. Karen Sommers of ESB Financial wrote for the Emporia Gazette that this step is particularly helpful for college students going away for the first time. They may not understand just how quickly they spend $20 dollars otherwise, but seeing money fly might help them hang on to it more tightly in the future.
•Buy cheap stuff. Instead of going to the mall or the department store, try big-box outlets and discount centers. Only buy things on sale and with coupons, Jill Cataldo told Lehigh Valley Live. She pointed out that buy-one-get-one sales are the best – a single coupon gets you two products for a quarter of the price you would regularly pay for both, but duplicate coupons cut that price in half again.
•Become a member. Whether it's a local bank or a chain grocer's, there are benefits of being a member with discount clubs and special offers. As long as the program doesn't carry an annual fee, it can save thousands of dollars a year on regular purchases, so signing up for a loyalty card and joining Groupon can add more money to your pockets.