So as I mentioned in my loooonnnnggg “What To Worry About Now” series, we had lots of people in a panic about many different things. That’s why I wrote those, and a few people really liked them and took some of the specific actions I suggested.
But a bunch of the people I see offline told me that I went off on too many tangents, and I generally just went off too much… We’ve been told that we are at our best when talking about how to get out of debt faster and related subjects, so I’ll stick closer to those. Sorry!
So let’s get right back into it.
Do you think - even in the back of your mind - that somehow, some way, something will happen to get you out of debt?
Well, I could never put my finger on it (mostly because I avoided thinking much about my own debt elimination at all), but I kind of always felt that way.
As soon as I got the next big bonus at work. As soon as I got my tax refund. As soon as I built up a little more in my savings account after my car broke down or my cavity got filled or whatever.
In short, I was always looking for a bailout of some kind.
Although I was working hard, and getting better about controlling my spending, I never sat down and put pencil to paper and just started chipping away at it a few dollars at a time.
A bailout of some kind has to be what so many millions of people like us are thinking out there. Obviously, they aren’t expecting President-Elect Obama to show up with an official government check, but the millions of people in trillions of dollars of consumer debt have to be thinking something is going to save them, right?
You know what? How can we blame people for feeling like that when we are watching our country these days?
I’m not a Wall Street veteran with a degree in Economics, but I’m not completely naïve either. Yeah, I know that if Fannie and Freddie and IndyMac and AIG and GM, etc., etc., all ceased to exist, there would have been tragic, wide-ranging consequences.
I’m going to avoid that tangent, but despite all the money getting doled out around the country, that just isn’t going to happen for people like you and me. We’ve got to all stop living our lives like we are going to get bailed out of debt - it just ain’t going to happen!
We’ve just got to get to getting out of debt, starting TODAY.
- Not “the next time I’ve got over $1,000 in my bank account as a cushion”
- Not “as soon as I get back from Vegas”
- Not “when I’ve got an extra $100 to send to credit card company xyz”
Believe me, I used all the excuses, so I know them all!
But once I finally “got it”, and realized I was on my own, I started accelerating my debt payoff that very day, with whatever extra money I had, no matter how insignificant it seemed.
So, don’t base your reality on what you are watching out there in the news right now. You’ve got to take control and get it done. Only you can make yourself get out of debt, otherwise – and I’m sorry to be so direct - you’re lying to yourself. Again, I’ve been there and done that – I’m not just preaching from my ivory tower, so I’m allowed to say this stuff!
Tell me what’s on your mind, and how you are dealing with your debt…
Talk to you soon,
Scott
