Debt Fleeing: Want To Get Out Of Debt? Ask Someone Who Is

Getting out of debt is what most people strive to achieve since more than half of the population carries at least $20,000 in owed money.

Did you ever wonder how the other half, the 50 percent of people who aren’t in debt, manage to do it? Have you thought about why you aren’t on that list or, more importantly, how you can get on that list?

It’s simple: ask someone who doesn’t have money issues or isn’t in debt just how they can perform one of the more difficult balancing acts when it comes to money.

The truth is there is no real mystery to being good with money as far as not having debt (or at least only having a little). And when you talk about debt, you focus on the kind that is unsecured, such as credit card debt or loans that aren’t tied back to something, like a car, house or schooling.

So how does the proverbial other half truly live, when it comes to money?

They tend to have a certain set of money criteria they follow and rarely if ever, deviate from it.

For starters, they don’t use credit. If they don’t have the money or the cash in hand to make a purchase, they simply don’t buy the item in question, whether you’re talking about something like a couch or taking an ill-advised and ill-timed vacation, when you simply don’t have the money to be able to do it.

They don’t head for the beach or the sofa if the money isn’t there, and in the case of the former, you simply don’t overspend what you don’t have, so a $200 couch slightly or gently used will suffice over a $1,200 sectional.

There also isn’t that tendency to keep up with the latest trends or get caught up in the fancy marketing or slick advertising that tends to do in the majority of people when it comes to buying something they don’t need. If the latest and greatest smartphone comes out, smart shoppers will ignore the new and stick with what they have, knowing full well that their “lesser” version is perfectly fine, and there’s no need to spend money on something they technically already have.

Being smart with money isn’t a slight of the hand or some magic act. It takes determination and patience, and being aware that your money is the only money you should be spending and that budgeting is the root of all success and without having one (knowing what you make versus what you spend) is one of many sure-fire ways to stay exactly where you are now: in debt.