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Wipe Out


Before I took control of my financial life, actually paying the bills, actually writing the checks (back in the days before everything could be paid online–I’m dating myself again) could be a little traumatic. When I changed, I realized I started to enjoy what used to be the dreaded monthly ritual. Why? Because it’s not so bad when you actually have money with which to pay them. The stressful part came when there wasn’t enough to go around. If you’ve been following along with my advice, you should have plenty.

The end of the month is here, in this case, February, and it’s time to pay the bills for March. You have money, go ahead and pay them. As you pay each one, remember to deduct that payment from each corresponding “account” in your notebook that you “filled up” last month. And that smallest debt (or maybe two) that has more in it that the payment requires? SEND IT ALL! EMPTY THAT ACCOUNT! Hopefully, it will be enough to totally clear that debt, but if it isn’t, you will have more next month–maybe even enough to totally pay it off.

Important note: As you pay off debts, you need to contact the creditor and CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT. Just so you know, this might hurt your credit a little bit right now, but it can’t get any worse than it was last year.

Am I right?

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