For many people all across the country — may they be old, young, employed, or unemployed — credit card debt will be the one cost that brings down their financial house. To keep things in order, there are a number of effective steps that you can take to prevent credit card debt from overwhelming you, or to cut it down if it has reached a critical point.
One step is to perform a balance transfer to a credit card with a 0 percent APR period, thus allowing you to move your debt to a card that won’t rack up interest. This is only a first step though. Don’t rely on constant balance transfers. Eventually you will need to pay off the debt.
Then you should look at your spending habits and costs. Look to trim out unnecessary costs or payments that you make. Do you need the coffee every morning from the local cafe? Do you have to buy that jumbo pack of beef at the supermarket? Is that streaming service really worth it when you don’t watch any of the shows on there anymore? Critically look over your costs and then eliminate the ones that don’t positively impact you any longer.
Last but not least, automate your payments so that you can “set it and forget it.” Otherwise you may risk a late credit card payment. Also, you can establish a more frequent payment time, such as every week instead of every month. This will allow you to keep your debt under control and allow you to clearly see the effect of your weekly costs.