CloseFace it. Your debt has gotten so large, you can’t see any way to get out from under it. Debt collectors are calling you daily – or more often – and the problem is just about tearing your family apart. You’ve calculated your debt to income ratio and it’s so bad you can’t stand to think about the number anymore.
Trade time for debt relief
No matter how much money you owe, I’m willing to bet you could be completely debt free in as few as two to three years if you’d be willing to trade your time for debt relief. What I mean by this is that you could use the extra hours in your week to earn money you could then use to payoff your debts.
If you work a 40-hour week
Suppose you work a 40-hour week. Whether you’ve thought about this or not, this leaves at least 36 other hours a week where you could be doing something to earn extra money. If you were able to get a job in the food service or hospitality industry earning just $10 an hour, that would be $360 a week (less taxes) or about $1440 month you could use to eliminate those debts.
If your owed $20,000
For example, if you owed $20,000 in credit card debts and paid $1000 a month on them, you would be debt-free in just a bit over two years. I’m guessing this would sound pretty good to you – to completely eliminate your debts in about 24 months.
Could you be a handyman?
If the idea of taking a second job either doesn’t appeal to you or just isn’t possible, there are other ways you could trade your time for debt relief. If you have the requisite skills, you could put an ad on your local Craigslist offering to do handyman work evenings or weekends. I see a big demand for people who can do sheet rocking, plumbing, electrical work, flooring, carpentry or cabinet making. If you can do any of these tasks, you could probably charge at least $25 an hour, which would help you get out of debt even faster than a job in the food service industry.
Tutor students
If you’re strong in physics, chemistry, math, biology or the language arts, you could become a tutor. There’s practically no investment involved – all you have to do is put up notices in your neighborhood or on Craigslist and you might be overwhelmed with the response. Math tutors in my area earn $40-$45 an hour, and I’m sure tutors in other areas do just as well. You would probably earn about $20 an hour if you could tutor students in entrance and placement tests such as the ACTs, SATs, GMAT, and the GED.
Buy on Craigslist, sell on eBay
A fourth way to trade time for debt relief is to find items on Craigslist that are underpriced and then sell them on eBay. Many people who sell items on Craigslist don’t understand their true value or just want to get rid of them. If you spend the time required to learn how much specific types of items sell for on eBay, you could likely find them on Craigslist for 50% less or even better.
Pay off that debt in two to four years
You could also trade time for debt relief through debt settlement. This is where we negotiate with your creditors to get your debts reduced, usually by thousands of dollars. Once we settle your debts, we provide you with a payoff plan that will probably take you two to four years to complete, depending on how much you owe. Your payment will be much less than the sum of the payments you are currently making on your unsecured debts so that you would see almost immediate debt relief.
