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Surviving the economic crunch: What can you do?

Its that time again, the end of the month. Bills are piled up, and you have to pick which one to pay, and which one to ignore. It doesn't have to be this way. There are better options available, and this article will help you ease the pain of the economic crunch.

One of the most significant things that I did for people when I was a Personal Banker was to consolidate their debt. It is a pretty simple concept; combine the debt into one loan with a lower interest rate so that you can pay less and get out of debt faster. This works for most people, but sometimes the situation is not that simple. If you have a mortgage and a pile of debt, you can lump the debt in with the mortgage as well. This may cost you more in the long run, but if your debt load is very high, this will reduce your monthly payments significantly, and will make it easier for you to live.

Another option is to look at a lower rate credit card. Many companies offer discount rate credit cards, even if it is for a small price, if you hold a balance, chances are that you will be able to save enough money to make it worth the change. There are also other companies that will fight for your business, if you find a company with a discounted credit card rate, you may be able to save some good money.

Another really important thing to keep in mind is that reoccurring payments are much more significant than one time payments. If you can save $10 a month on bank fees, $10 a month from you cell phone bill, and $10 a month from you cable bill, that will work out to $360 in a year. It will also work out to over $3600 in 10 years, now imagine what would happen if you applied this principle to all areas of your finances.

It is important to remember that no matter which one of these options you choose, you have to change your attitude as well. It is not always easy, but you have to make better choices with your money. One thing that helped me was to change my point of view to think that if I do not buy something right now, I can always come back another day if I decide that I need it. If I still have the money, I always have the option of buying something, but also the option of buying something else if it comes along as well.

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