Updated: March 13, 2025
Your holiday overspending can now be felt in your credit card bills. My friend claims she can see on her statement the deferred payment and installment purchases she made and is now worried about her budget.
If you’re also struggling to pay off your credit card debts, here are some quick tips that might help.
1. Know your numbers.
What are these numbers? First, how much debt do you have? Second, what is the minimum amount due for each credit card you have? Third, what is your actual take-home income? Lastly, what are your monthly necessary expenses?
Knowing these four numbers, you can now strategies on how to pay off your debts. One effective strategy is the Debt Snowball Method.
2. Stop incurring more debts.
Stop using your credit cards. Take them out of your wallet or purse and leave them at home. This way, you eliminate the temptation of unplanned, impulse purchases when you’re at the mall.
Moreover, doing a balance transfer of your debts to another credit card is usually NOT a good idea because you’ll end up paying more interest.
A good reason to do this is if it will lower your monthly dues and thus make it easier to pay. But more often than not, it doesn’t. And the only benefit you gain is the convenience of having just one monthly bill to take care of.
If you’re doing the Debt Snowball Method, then consolidating all your credit card balances to just one card actually becomes unnecessary.
3. Motivate yourself with a visual aid.
Write down how much you owe on a piece of paper and pin it beside your mirror or somewhere you can see it every day. At the end of each month, update the number on the paper.
When you see your debt amount slowly going down each month, the motivation to bring it down to zero becomes stronger with each passing month.
4. Minimize expenses AND earn more income.
Eliminate unnecessary expenses. This is, honestly, the easiest way to have extra money to pay off your debts. Be aware of every spending and save as much as you can.
After cutting costs, it’s time to make more money. The simplest way is to buy and sell stuff. You can also do freelance work, both online and offline.
5. Sell things you own.
It can be hard to sell some of the stuff we have, but it’s better to lose them than to be stressed with having a lot of debts. You can always buy them again once your finances are better.
Moreover, don’t pawn your jewelry, art collection, car, or real estate properties. Instead, you should sell them. Again, it’s better to lose material stuff than to lose your good health due to worry and stress.
6. Save money while you’re paying your debts.
Mathematically, it doesn’t make sense. Of course, every bit of cash you have should be used to pay your debts. However, it is more practical to allot a portion of it towards savings.
By building your savings while paying off debts, you’ll have an emergency fund when a sudden expense comes. Also, seeing both your savings and debts go up gives a better sense of fulfillment than just seeing your debts get paid.
7. A lot of the best things are free.
Personal relationships bring the most joy in our lives. When you’re struggling to pay your debts, talk to the people in your life—bond with your family and nurture your friendships. It will help a lot.
Remember that you’re not the first or the only person in this world who has struggled with credit card debts. There are many of us, I included. And many of us survived and became financially free. In time, you will, too.
What to do next: Click here to start your financial journey with IMG Wealth Academy
I think the best way to work off your debts is to just make more income. Too many people focus on saving money, but there’s only so much that you can save. On the other hand you can grow your income exponentially if you start a business or invest.
If high school admins wanted to teach a short class on good debt, bad debt and how to bail yourself out I am guessing that credit card issuers would be the very last to sponsor such events. We all know that the bank does NOT want your home back nor do they want your used toys. They want PAYMENTS. Unfortunately, credit appears all too easy to get for people that should NOT use credit.