• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief - A+ BBB Accredited Business - Get Relief From Credit Card Debt, Medical Bills And Unsecured Loans

Talk to a debt counselor toll free:

800-300-9550

Get Relief From Credit Card Debt

Medical Bills and Unsecured Loans

  • Apply Now
    • Qualifications
    • Is This Right For Me?
  • Proven Results
    • Debt Relief Benefits
    • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Relief
  • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Consolidation
  • Login
HomeBlog Personal Finance6 Tips For Simplifying Your Financial Life
Video Transcript

Free Debt Consolidation Quote

By clicking "Get Free Quote", you agree that the phone number you are providing may be used to contact you by National Debt Relief (including autodialed and prerecorded calls, as well as text/SMS messages). Msg. and data rates apply, and your consent to such contact is not required for purchase.
  • National Debt Relief, LLC BBB Business Review
  • McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams

6 Tips For Simplifying Your Financial Life

December 24, 2013 by National Debt Relief

Smiling woman with pen, paper, calculatorThe year 2014 is just about here – making this an excellent time to think about your finances and what you might do next year to simplify them. If you don’t already have a household budget you might want to make a New Year’s resolution to create one. Having a budget is really the only way to stay financially sane and keep your spending under control. Beyond this, there are some simple things you could for simplifying your financial life and reducing the amount of time you need to think about your finances.

1. Setup automatic bill paying

You probably have better things to do with your time than paying bills on paper. Set up automatic bill paying instead. You can pay almost all major credit card bills automatically online as well as your utilities. For that matter, you should be able to set up automatic payments for any of your bills that are the same every month including your automobile insurance, mortgage or an auto loan. Doing this will save you both time and energy. However, there is one major exception to paying online and that’s landlords. If you rent, you probably mail a check to your landlord or just give it to him or her in person. You might ask if your landlord uses an online payment service, which would allow you to pay your rent automatically every month. If it doesn’t, it might be worth asking if it would make the switch, as this would save both of you time.

2. Save automatically

If you’re not doing this now you really need to put away money for things you want to do in the future before you use it to pay bills or for your discretionary spending. It’s easy to set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account if they’re both at the same bank. If you have a brokerage account, you should even be able to set up an automatic transfer to it. The best thing about saving this way is that when the money is subtracted from your paycheck before you see it, you might not even miss it. You’ll have a bit less money to spend but you should be able to adjust to that and you will be making progress on your savings goals. If you earn a bonus or commission or get a nice Christmas check from Aunt Grace, be sure to stick this money into your savings or retirement account, too.

3. Use cash or debit cards instead of credit cardsAndrew Jackson on $20

The big problem with credit cards is that they make it easy to overspend and they make you pay high-interest rates. So instead of using them, try taking out a certain amount of cash at the beginning of each week for your discretionary spending such as shopping, eating out and going to the movies. Then, when you run out of cash for the week, that’s all the spending you can do. You say you hate to carry a lot of cash around? Then try transferring your weekly spending money to a bank account where you could have a debit card and then use it to make all your purchases. This will not only help you manage your money but also provides an easy way to track your spending – online and in the form of the paper statement you get at the end of every month.

4. Shop around

Have you been paying the same amount for your Internet, cable or phone service for more than a year? If so, you’re probably paying too much. You should go online and look for packages of services in your area you would like and that would be cheaper than what you’re now paying. If you do find one that appeals to you, call your current service provider and ask if it would be willing to match the promotional price you could get if you were to switch services. To save more on your Internet costs, go online and buy the router you’re currently renting from your provider.

Most cable companies charge for each device they give you. When you know which provider you will be using, go online and buy a compatible cable box. Satellite and cable services usually charge $5 to $10 per box. If you can buy the whole device for around $50 you’ll save money by eliminating that recurring monthly fee.

5. Cut out unnecessary expenditures

Sit down, take a few minutes and review the services you pay for every month. Ask yourself if they’re all really worth what you’re paying for them. Think about that cable bill, cell phone bill, music subscription service, etc., and whether or not you’re really getting your money’s worth out of it. If you find there are services you don’t really need, just cancel them. There are others where you might be able to downgrade. For example, if your cable package includes 500 channels, ask yourself if you wouldn’t be just as happy with fewer of them. If so, you might switch to a package with 100 channels.

Do you pay for super-fast Internet? Do you really need it. Unless you and several family members are doing a lot of video streaming or use other streaming-heavy services such as online games, you might be able to drop down to a slower Internet speed. This would save you money and you might not even notice a difference in your Internet’s performance.

If you like your current phone consider switching to one of those pre-paid plans where you get to keep your current phone but you’re not subsidizing an upgrade to a new phone that you don’t need right now. If you need a subsidized phone sometime in the future, you can always return to that original phone plan.

6. Use credit cards to make budgeting easier

Some of the financial gurus like Dave Ramsey suggest that you use a cash envelope system in your budgeting. This is where you have an envelope for each of your categories such as food, housing, entertainment, gas, etc. You put cash into each envelope every payday based on whatever you budgeted for that specific category. When an envelope’s empty, that’s it. You can’t spend any more money in that category. Some people call this the “tough love” of budgeting.

The advantages of using credit cards for your budgeting

Despite what we said in tip #3 there are some advantages to using credit cards in your budgeting – assuming you have enough self control to use them sensibly. For one thing, when you use a credit card, this gives you a sort of real-time accounting of your spending. You can see exactly what you’re spending and where you’re spending it. Many credit cards will even categorize your purchases for you on your monthly statements.

Lack of documentation

On the other hand, cash can be a nightmare to track. It’s just way too easy to lose track of cash. You know the old saying about cash burning a hole in your product? That’s because it’s just so easy to fritter it away. Plus, when you use cash there is no documentation of how much you spent and where you spent it. But if you use a credit card, you will have a paper trail of your spending altogether in one place – either in your monthly statement or online.

Use a rewards card

In addition to this, if you have a rewards credit card and use it in your budgeting, you can accumulate points for everyday purchases that you wouldn’t earn otherwise. Pay your utilities, rent, cell phone, cable and other monthly bills with a rewards card and you will earn an enormous amount of points every month – while still budgeting.

Choose a charge card instead

If you get nervous at the idea of using a credit card in your budgeting, think about using a charge card instead. The difference between the two is that with a credit card, you can roll over your purchases from month-to-month and only make a minimum payment. In comparison, a charge card requires you to pay off your total balance every month. If you use a charge card such as American Express, you can build credit, budget and earn rewards points while not having to worry about going into debt.

Here’s a video with more benefits for using credit cards in your budgeting, along with information about the simplest way to keep your spending under control that we’ve ever seen.

Do you qualify for debt consolidation?

National Debt Relief
National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief is one of the largest and best-rated debt settlement companies in the country. In addition to providing excellent, 5-star services to our clients, we also focus on educating consumers across America on how to best manage their money. Our posts cover topics around personal finance, saving tips, and much more. We’ve served thousands of clients, settled over $1 billion in consumer debt, and our services have been featured on sites like NerdWallet, Mashable, HuffPost, and Glamour.

Follow National Debt Relief: Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin

Primary Sidebar

Consolidate Your Debt!
Find out how NDR could help.
  • Get one low monthly payment
  • Avoid bankruptcy
  • Get out of debt in 24-48 months
Get Your Free evaluation
Free Debt Consolidation Quote
By clicking "Get Free Quote", you agree that the phone number you are providing may be used to contact you by National Debt Relief (including autodialed and prerecorded calls, as well as text/SMS messages). Msg. and data rates apply, and your consent to such contact is not required for purchase.
 Trusted By Our Clients

"The reps were helpful. They explained the program to us so th..."

Easy National Debt Relief Caller: April Transcribed WE 1/24/2021 April: Well calls may be recorded. And so with the National Debt Relief, give me a summary about your overall experience then with National Debt Relief. KELI: Honestly, it's been simple and easy. And there hasn't been a negative about it. April: Well, so how was the interaction with, I guess, the consultants who helped guide you through your program? KELI: They were helpful. They explained it to us so that we understood it. Any questions we had, they answered it. April: What point are you in the program at this point or have you completed it? KELI: We are, I think, a quarter all the way through it. April: So on a scale of one to five, where would you rate National Debt Relief, if five star says you'd recommend this to your friends, down to one star meaning you're very dissatisfied? KELI: I would recommend, definitely. April: Okay. So that’s officially a 5 star for you? KELI: Yes. I'm sorry. April: How would you summarize your overall experience at National Debt Relief? KELI: Just the fact that it was easy and everybody was helpful. April: I would like to also utilize your commentary then to help make a review for National Debt Relief. It will be on our public web page to help other consumers, would that be okay, with your permission? KELI: You're going to put it on there? Is that what you're saying? April: Yes. So what we do is we do reviews. And we only use a first name or we can make it anonymous. One of two options. And then out of courtesy, we also send a link to your email so you get to see or make adjustments as you need. So with that being said, is that something that you're okay with, we can make that review and we'll send you a link to it? KELI: That's fine. Can you make it anonymous though? I prefer not to have my name anywhere. April: Yes, ma'am. So the way I'll make it anonymous for you is just we’ll put a K, that’s the first letter of your first name. But with that email, I do have it as seaturtledreams@yahoo.com. KELI: Yes, ma'am.

Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating

Keli Dickerson
ConsumerAffairs Reviews

Latest Personal Finance Posts

  • How To Set Realistic New Year Money Goals
  • What Types of Accounts Do Banks Offer?
  • 5 Easy Tips On How To Build Wealth With Low Income
  • What Are The Benefits Of A Virtual Bank Savings Account?
  • Can I Combine All Bills Into One Payment?
National Debt Relief, LLC BBB Business Review AFCC Top Ten Reviews Gold Top Consumer Reviews Consumers Advocate Trust Pilot
Company
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Careers
  • Corporate
  • Privacy Policies
  • Terms Of Site
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
Products
  • Debt Relief
  • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Consolidation
  • Debt Settlement
  • Calculators
  • FAQs
Debt Resources
  • Credit Card Debt
  • Medical Debt
  • Personal Loan Debt
  • Unemployment
  • Divorce Debt
  • Retiree Debt
  • Veteran Debt
  • Business Debt
  • Personal Finance
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

© 2021, National Debt Relief, All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer
Disclaimer
Disclaimer