Ways to Pay Off Credit Card Debt

We’ve all heard this personal finance advice: For the price of your daily latte, you could launch your dream business, pay off credit card debt, become a savvy investor or build your savings to astronomical levels.

Sure, we could all be billionaires if not for our caffeine habit. We’ll get right on that.

In the meantime, you sit with stacks of credit card debt, dwindling savings and paychecks that hardly pay the bills.

Lattes aren’t your problem.

How to Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt

You need to get creative with your budget, especially if you’re ever going to wring out enough to pay off debt and work toward your new life as a billionaire.

Here are some creative ways to pay off your credit card debt.

1. Figure Out Exactly What You Owe

Need a longer look at that debt? Credit Sesame can help you figure it out.

Credit Sesame’s “credit report card” acts like your favorite teacher from high school.

It gives you a free credit score, plus lays out your credit history, so you can see exactly how much money you owe and to whom. It even tells you your monthly payments and interest rate, as well as which debts are in collections.

The app lets you keep track of your credit score and recommends ways to improve it.

For example, it might recommend a mortgage lender, credit card or debt refinancing based on your needs and chances of being approved.

Small business owner Kenneth Bain raised his credit score 234 points using Credit Sesame. He said it became like a game, and he wanted to achieve the high score.

“I literally checked my credit every day, two to three times a day,” he told us. “I remember the day I logged on and saw 721 … And (I thought), ‘Yes, finally! My hard work paid off.’”

You can sign up for Credit Sesame and get your free credit report card here.

2. Negotiate Your Bills Down

We all know you can negotiate the price of a car, but did you know you can negotiate your utility bills?

Consider Trim, a bot that works through Facebook Messenger or your text messages.

Trim is basically a free financial assistant. (Yeah, this is the best friend you’ve been looking for.)

Once you’re connected, you’ll be able to access a dashboard within your Messenger or text conversation with Trim. For example, you’ll see options to:

• Negotiate your Comcast (or other provider) bill down to a lower price.

• View your spending habits.

• Sift through your subscription services to cancel the ones you forgot about or don’t need (about that gym membership…).

Trim also shows your account balance and recent transactions. Want to know how much you spent at Starbucks last month so you can budget better? Just ask the bot.

3. Consolidate Debt

A lot of us are being crushed by credit card interest rates north of 20%. If you’re in that boat, consolidation and refinancing might be worth a look.

A good resource is consumer financial technology platform Even Financial, which can help match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.

Even searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. Even’s platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

4. Share Your Purchase History

This is such an easy, passive way to rake in an extra $36 a year. ShopTracker, one of the leading public opinion research companies, wants you to share your Amazon purchase history with them. And they’ll pay you for every month you share!

When you sign up for ShopTracker, it keeps your private information, well, private. All it wants to see is your order information, including the order date, product title, category, ISBN number, release date, condition, seller, list price per unit, quantity and other details.

Before you jump in, you need to know:

• This will be a waste of time if you don’t shop on Amazon.
• You must be 18 and live in the U.S.

All good? To earn your first gift card today:

1. Sign up, and download the ShopTracker app on your Windows computer and Apple or Android phone. It takes about two minutes. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your Amazon use to qualify.
2. Open the app and log in to your Amazon account to automatically share your purchase history. You’ll receive your Visa e-gift card code for $3 via email within 48 hours.
3. Take a couple of minutes to share your purchase history to earn another $3 each month.

Your information is securely collected by The Harris Poll, a trusted market research company for more than 20 years. Additionally, ShopTracker removes your name, shipping address and any personal payment information before reporting your purchase history.

5. Earn Extra Income — Without Extra Time

One of the best ways to pay off credit card debt is to earn more money. Easier said than done, right?

Few people have the luxury of adding another job to their daily schedule, so where does the extra come from? We recommend looking for ways to boost your income passively that won’t add hours to your workday.

Here are a few of our favorite ways:

• Invest without doing anything. An app called Acorns will automatically round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and invest the digital change.

• Share your opinion via paid online surveys. Swagbucks is one of the largest legitimate paid survey sites out there. This can be a smart way to make your TV-watching time profitable. If you’d like more details, review our beginner’s guide here. 

• An app called Paribus helps gets you money back for your online purchases at stores like Target, Walmart, Old Navy and more — but you have to keep your email receipts. Just connect your bank account and Paribus does the rest for you.

• InboxDollars lets you actually get paid to watch videos online. The site hosts a ton of stuff to watch, including cooking, entertainment, news and health shows. The shows are sponsored by brands that need to get them in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Every time you watch one, InboxDollars will credit your account with a little bit of cash.

6. Sell Your Extra Stuff

If you haven’t moved or cleaned out your closets recently, you probably have some stuff sitting around you don’t need.

Selling it off could give you an influx of cash to make progress on your debt.

Here are some of our favorite websites to sell anything in your house:

• letgo: You can sell almost anything on this app.

• Bookscouter: Use this site to sell your old books.

• Decluttr: This site will pay you for your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, video games, gaming consoles and other electronics. (Plus, enter FREE5 at checkout to get an extra $5 for your trade-ins!)

7. Automate Your Savings

Once you pay off credit card debt, the last thing you want to do is rack it up again. An emergency savings fund can help protect you from that possibility.

“Build an emergency fund” is another of those common pieces of personal finance advice you’ve probably heard and hate. (Even we recommend it.)

Savings seems impossible when you think about it. So start saving without thinking about it.

One sneaky trick to get yourself to save is an app like Stash.

This app lets you start investing with as little as $5 and for just a $1 monthly fee for balances under $5,000. (The first month is free.)

Stash curates investments from professional fund managers and investors and lets you choose where to put your money.

But it leaves the complicated investment terms out of it. You just choose from a set of simple portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals.

Plus, you get a $5 bonus when you make your first investment!

8. Earn Cash Back on Your Everyday Expenses

Now that we know you’ve cut your spending down to the last latte, how can we possibly talk about spending even less?

There’s one more step you can take to cut your everyday expenses — earn cash back for them.

Follow our ultimate guide to deal stacking to get the best deal on everything you buy — so good, sometimes the store will pay you to buy it.

Feed all these savings toward paying off credit card debt to chip away at it faster.

9. Find Free Entertainment

Let’s face it: Having fun can cost a lot of money. You could easily drop thousands on entertainment each year if you had the cash to spare.

When you don’t have the cash, you can still have fun.

Even better, you might be able to get paid to enjoy movies, bowling, amusement parks, water parks, weekend getaways and more.

You can do it through mystery shopping. Here’s a list of our favorite companies to get you started.

10. Trick Yourself Into Using Your Credit Card Like a Debit Card

Next time you’re at the checkout counter to make a purchase, you could use either a credit card or a debit card. Either choice has pros and cons.

Many credit cards offer perks like cash back or travel rewards, but they also make it easy to rack up debt. If you don’t pay off your balance every month, you’ll wind up paying a lot of interest. And if you miss a payment, there are late fees.

Debit cards don’t usually offer cool rewards, but they won’t get you mired in debt either. It’s pay-as-you-go spending. The debit card is linked to your checking account, and you can’t spend money you don’t have.

Wouldn’t it be great to combine the best of both worlds? Now you can.

A new app called Debitize basically turns your credit card into a debit card, for free. With it, you can connect any credit card to a checking account.

Whenever you swipe your credit card, Debitize pulls the same amount of cash from your bank account. It stores the cash for you until it’s time to pay your credit card bill. Then it pays that bill for you a week before the due date.

Steps to Financial Freedom

How to Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt

You need to get creative with your budget, especially if you’re ever going to wring out enough to pay off debt and work toward your new life as a billionaire.

Here are some creative ways to pay off your credit card debt.

1. Figure Out Exactly What You Owe

Need a longer look at that debt? Credit Sesame can help you figure it out.

Credit Sesame’s “credit report card” acts like your favorite teacher from high school.

It gives you a free credit score, plus lays out your credit history, so you can see exactly how much money you owe and to whom. It even tells you your monthly payments and interest rate, as well as which debts are in collections.

The app lets you keep track of your credit score and recommends ways to improve it.

For example, it might recommend a mortgage lender, credit card or debt refinancing based on your needs and chances of being approved.

Small business owner Kenneth Bain raised his credit score 234 points using Credit Sesame. He said it became like a game, and he wanted to achieve the high score.

“I literally checked my credit every day, two to three times a day,” he told us. “I remember the day I logged on and saw 721 … And (I thought), ‘Yes, finally! My hard work paid off.’”

You can sign up for Credit Sesame and get your free credit report card here.

2. Negotiate Your Bills Down

We all know you can negotiate the price of a car, but did you know you can negotiate your utility bills?

Consider Trim, a bot that works through Facebook Messenger or your text messages.

Trim is basically a free financial assistant. (Yeah, this is the best friend you’ve been looking for.)

Once you’re connected, you’ll be able to access a dashboard within your Messenger or text conversation with Trim. For example, you’ll see options to:

• Negotiate your Comcast (or other provider) bill down to a lower price.

• View your spending habits.

• Sift through your subscription services to cancel the ones you forgot about or don’t need (about that gym membership…).

Trim also shows your account balance and recent transactions. Want to know how much you spent at Starbucks last month so you can budget better? Just ask the bot.

3. Consolidate Debt

A lot of us are being crushed by credit card interest rates north of 20%. If you’re in that boat, consolidation and refinancing might be worth a look.

A good resource is consumer financial technology platform Even Financial, which can help match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.

Even searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. Even’s platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

4. Share Your Purchase History

This is such an easy, passive way to rake in an extra $36 a year. ShopTracker, one of the leading public opinion research companies, wants you to share your Amazon purchase history with them. And they’ll pay you for every month you share!

When you sign up for ShopTracker, it keeps your private information, well, private. All it wants to see is your order information, including the order date, product title, category, ISBN number, release date, condition, seller, list price per unit, quantity and other details.

Before you jump in, you need to know:

• This will be a waste of time if you don’t shop on Amazon.
• You must be 18 and live in the U.S.

All good? To earn your first gift card today:

1. Sign up, and download the ShopTracker app on your Windows computer and Apple or Android phone. It takes about two minutes. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your Amazon use to qualify.
2. Open the app and log in to your Amazon account to automatically share your purchase history. You’ll receive your Visa e-gift card code for $3 via email within 48 hours.
3. Take a couple of minutes to share your purchase history to earn another $3 each month.

Your information is securely collected by The Harris Poll, a trusted market research company for more than 20 years. Additionally, ShopTracker removes your name, shipping address and any personal payment information before reporting your purchase history.

5. Earn Extra Income — Without Extra Time

One of the best ways to pay off credit card debt is to earn more money. Easier said than done, right?

Few people have the luxury of adding another job to their daily schedule, so where does the extra come from? We recommend looking for ways to boost your income passively that won’t add hours to your workday.

Here are a few of our favorite ways:

• Invest without doing anything. An app called Acorns will automatically round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and invest the digital change.

• Share your opinion via paid online surveys. Swagbucks is one of the largest legitimate paid survey sites out there. This can be a smart way to make your TV-watching time profitable. If you’d like more details, review our beginner’s guide here. 

• An app called Paribus helps gets you money back for your online purchases at stores like Target, Walmart, Old Navy and more — but you have to keep your email receipts. Just connect your bank account and Paribus does the rest for you.

• InboxDollars lets you actually get paid to watch videos online. The site hosts a ton of stuff to watch, including cooking, entertainment, news and health shows. The shows are sponsored by brands that need to get them in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Every time you watch one, InboxDollars will credit your account with a little bit of cash.

6. Sell Your Extra Stuff

If you haven’t moved or cleaned out your closets recently, you probably have some stuff sitting around you don’t need.

Selling it off could give you an influx of cash to make progress on your debt.

Here are some of our favorite websites to sell anything in your house:

• letgo: You can sell almost anything on this app.

• Bookscouter: Use this site to sell your old books.

• Decluttr: This site will pay you for your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, video games, gaming consoles and other electronics. (Plus, enter FREE5 at checkout to get an extra $5 for your trade-ins!)

7. Automate Your Savings

Once you pay off credit card debt, the last thing you want to do is rack it up again. An emergency savings fund can help protect you from that possibility.

“Build an emergency fund” is another of those common pieces of personal finance advice you’ve probably heard and hate. (Even we recommend it.)

Savings seems impossible when you think about it. So start saving without thinking about it.

One sneaky trick to get yourself to save is an app like Stash.

This app lets you start investing with as little as $5 and for just a $1 monthly fee for balances under $5,000. (The first month is free.)

Stash curates investments from professional fund managers and investors and lets you choose where to put your money.

But it leaves the complicated investment terms out of it. You just choose from a set of simple portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals.

Plus, you get a $5 bonus when you make your first investment!

8. Earn Cash Back on Your Everyday Expenses

Now that we know you’ve cut your spending down to the last latte, how can we possibly talk about spending even less?

There’s one more step you can take to cut your everyday expenses — earn cash back for them.

Follow our ultimate guide to deal stacking to get the best deal on everything you buy — so good, sometimes the store will pay you to buy it.

Feed all these savings toward paying off credit card debt to chip away at it faster.

9. Find Free Entertainment

Let’s face it: Having fun can cost a lot of money. You could easily drop thousands on entertainment each year if you had the cash to spare.

When you don’t have the cash, you can still have fun.

Even better, you might be able to get paid to enjoy movies, bowling, amusement parks, water par

How to Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt

You need to get creative with your budget, especially if you’re ever going to wring out enough to pay off debt and work toward your new life as a billionaire.

Here are some creative ways to pay off your credit card debt.

1. Figure Out Exactly What You Owe

Need a longer look at that debt? Credit Sesame can help you figure it out.

Credit Sesame’s “credit report card” acts like your favorite teacher from high school.

It gives you a free credit score, plus lays out your credit history, so you can see exactly how much money you owe and to whom. It even tells you your monthly payments and interest rate, as well as which debts are in collections.

The app lets you keep track of your credit score and recommends ways to improve it.

For example, it might recommend a mortgage lender, credit card or debt refinancing based on your needs and chances of being approved.

Small business owner Kenneth Bain raised his credit score 234 points using Credit Sesame. He said it became like a game, and he wanted to achieve the high score.

“I literally checked my credit every day, two to three times a day,” he told us. “I remember the day I logged on and saw 721 … And (I thought), ‘Yes, finally! My hard work paid off.’”

You can sign up for Credit Sesame and get your free credit report card here.

2. Negotiate Your Bills Down

We all know you can negotiate the price of a car, but did you know you can negotiate your utility bills?

Consider Trim, a bot that works through Facebook Messenger or your text messages.

Trim is basically a free financial assistant. (Yeah, this is the best friend you’ve been looking for.)

Once you’re connected, you’ll be able to access a dashboard within your Messenger or text conversation with Trim. For example, you’ll see options to:

• Negotiate your Comcast (or other provider) bill down to a lower price.

• View your spending habits.

• Sift through your subscription services to cancel the ones you forgot about or don’t need (about that gym membership…).

Trim also shows your account balance and recent transactions. Want to know how much you spent at Starbucks last month so you can budget better? Just ask the bot.

3. Consolidate Debt

A lot of us are being crushed by credit card interest rates north of 20%. If you’re in that boat, consolidation and refinancing might be worth a look.

A good resource is consumer financial technology platform Even Financial, which can help match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.

Even searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. Even’s platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

4. Share Your Purchase History

This is such an easy, passive way to rake in an extra $36 a year. ShopTracker, one of the leading public opinion research companies, wants you to share your Amazon purchase history with them. And they’ll pay you for every month you share!

When you sign up for ShopTracker, it keeps your private information, well, private. All it wants to see is your order information, including the order date, product title, category, ISBN number, release date, condition, seller, list price per unit, quantity and other details.

Before you jump in, you need to know:

• This will be a waste of time if you don’t shop on Amazon.
• You must be 18 and live in the U.S.

All good? To earn your first gift card today:

1. Sign up, and download the ShopTracker app on your Windows computer and Apple or Android phone. It takes about two minutes. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your Amazon use to qualify.
2. Open the app and log in to your Amazon account to automatically share your purchase history. You’ll receive your Visa e-gift card code for $3 via email within 48 hours.
3. Take a couple of minutes to share your purchase history to earn another $3 each month.

Your information is securely collected by The Harris Poll, a trusted market research company for more than 20 years. Additionally, ShopTracker removes your name, shipping address and any personal payment information before reporting your purchase history.

5. Earn Extra Income — Without Extra Time

One of the best ways to pay off credit card debt is to earn more money. Easier said than done, right?

Few people have the luxury of adding another job to their daily schedule, so where does the extra come from? We recommend looking for ways to boost your income passively that won’t add hours to your workday.

Here are a few of our favorite ways:

• Invest without doing anything. An app called Acorns will automatically round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and invest the digital change.

• Share your opinion via paid online surveys. Swagbucks is one of the largest legitimate paid survey sites out there. This can be a smart way to make your TV-watching time profitable. If you’d like more details, review our beginner’s guide here. 

• An app called Paribus helps gets you money back for your online purchases at stores like Target, Walmart, Old Navy and more — but you have to keep your email receipts. Just connect your bank account and Paribus does the rest for you.

• InboxDollars lets you actually get paid to watch videos online. The site hosts a ton of stuff to watch, including cooking, entertainment, news and health shows. The shows are sponsored by brands that need to get them in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Every time you watch one, InboxDollars will credit your account with a little bit of cash.

6. Sell Your Extra Stuff

If you haven’t moved or cleaned out your closets recently, you probably have some stuff sitting around you don’t need.

Selling it off could give you an influx of cash to make progress on your debt.

Here are some of our favorite websites to sell anything in your house:

• letgo: You can sell almost anything on this app.

• Bookscouter: Use this site to sell your old books.

• Decluttr: This site will pay you for your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, video games, gaming consoles and other electronics. (Plus, enter FREE5 at checkout to get an extra $5 for your trade-ins!)

7. Automate Your Savings

Once you pay off credit card debt, the last thing you want to do is rack it up again. An emergency savings fund can help protect you from that possibility.

“Build an emergency fund” is another of those common pieces of personal finance advice you’ve probably heard and hate. (Even we recommend it.)

Savings seems impossible when you think about it. So start saving without thinking about it.

One sneaky trick to get yourself to save is an app like Stash.

This app lets you start investing with as little as $5 and for just a $1 monthly fee for balances under $5,000. (The first month is free.)

Stash curates investments from professional fund managers and investors and lets you choose where to put your money.

But it leaves the complicated investment terms out of it. You just choose from a set of simple portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals.

Plus, you get a $5 bonus when you make your first investment!

8. Earn Cash Back on Your Everyday Expenses

Now that we know you’ve cut your spending down to the last latte, how can we possibly talk about spending even less?

There’s one more step you can take to cut your everyday expenses — earn cash back for them.

Follow our ultimate guide to deal stacking to get the best deal on everything you buy — so good, sometimes the store will pay you to buy it.

Feed all these savings toward paying off credit card debt to chip away at it faster.

9. Find Free Entertainment

Let’s face it: Having fun can cost a lot of money. You could easily drop thousands on entertainment each year if you had the cash to spare.

When you don’t have the cash, you can still have fun.

Even better, you might be able to get paid to enjoy movies, bowling, amusement parks, water parks, weekend getaways and more.

You can do it through mystery shopping. Here’s a list of our favorite companies to get you started.

10. Trick Yourself Into Using Your Credit Card Like a Debit Card

Next time you’re at the checkout counter to make a purchase, you could use either a credit card or a debit card. Either choice has pros and cons.

Many credit cards offer perks like cash back or travel rewards, but they also make it easy to rack up debt. If you don’t pay off your balance every month, you’ll wind up paying a lot of interest. And if you miss a payment, there are late fees.

Debit cards don’t usually offer cool rewards, but they won’t get you mired in debt either. It’s pay-as-you-go spending. The debit card is linked to your checking account, and you can’t spend money you don’t have.

Wouldn’t it be great to combine the best of both worlds? Now you can.

A new app called Debitize basically turns your credit card into a debit card, for free. With it, you can connect any credit card to a checking account.

Whenever you swipe your credit card, Debitize pulls the same amount of cash from your bank account. It stores the cash for you until it’s time to pay your credit card bill. Then it pays that bill for you a week before the due date.ks, weekend getaways and more.

You can do it through mystery shopping. Here’s a list of our favorite companies to get you started.

10. Trick Yourself Into Using Your Credit Card Like a Debit Card

Next time you’re at the checkout counter to make a purchase, you could use either a credit card or a debit card. Either choice has pros and cons.

Many credit cards offer perks like cash back or travel rewards, but they also make it easy to rack up debt. If you don’t pay off your balance every month, you’ll wind up paying a lot of interest. And if you miss a payment, there are late fees.

Debit cards don’t usually offer cool rewards, but they won’t get you mired in debt either. It’s pay-as-you-go spending. The debit card is linked to your checking account, and you can’t spend money you don’t have.

Wouldn’t it be great to combine the best of both worlds? Now you can.

A new app called Debitize basically turns your credit card into a debit card, for free. With it, you can connect any credit card to a checking account.

Whenever you swipe your credit card, Debitize pulls the same amount of cash from your bank account. It stores the cash for you until it’s time to pay your credit card bill. Then it pays that bill for you a week before the due date.

Create a Budget You Can Live With

It's important to plan for how you'll allocate your financial resources for each month of the year. This process, commonly known as a budget or spending plan, won't take long to develop but will pay great rewards throughout the year.

Here are the steps and a few recommendations for a livable family budget.

Determine Your Income

Start by determining your net spendable income (NSI). This is what you have to spend after giving and taxes.

1. Calculate all sources of known income for the year: salary, bonuses, investment income, Social Security, and so on to determine your total income for the year.

2. Determine the percentage of your gross income that you intend to give during the year. My recommendation is to use 10 percent or a tithe to honor God first. In 2012, the average charitable giving of all American households was 3.7 percent. I believe that Christians should have reason to be far more generous than the non-believer.

3. Calculate the amount you'll likely owe the federal government in taxes. You can determine this amount from prior year income tax returns.

4. Subtract these two numbers from your gross income, you'll have your NSI. This is the amount you should allocate to cover your monthly or annual expenses.

Tiered Allocations

The next step is to allocate money for the largest sources of expenses to the lowest, so let's begin with housing.

Housing
Your total housing expense should be no greater than 30 percent of your net spendable income. If your NSI is $45,500 that would equal $13,650 for rent or mort- gage, as well as insurance, maintenance and utilities.

According to the Consumer Expenditure Survey, 32.8 percent of post-tax income in 2012 went to housing. Clearly, our livable budget amount is much less. This is the number one area where most people make a mistake. They buy or rent more housing than they can comfortably afford. It's better to down- size than to be "house poor."

Autos and Transportation
Allocate how much you'll spend on your auto or transportation costs. We recommend no more than 11 percent of your NSI. In 2012, the average American spent 17.5 percent of their gross income on this category. Again, we recommend that you should be more conservative. Driving a car that's paid in full will greatly reduce your transportation expenses.

Food
Food is the next largest category that should be carefully accounted for in your budget. In 2012, Americans spent 12.8 percent of their total income on food, which includes groceries and dining out. We recommend a total of 11 percent of your NSI.

Healthcare
The next biggest category is likely to be healthcare. The average American spent 6.9 percent of their income in 2012 on health-related costs such as insurance and medical bills. By combining insurance and out-of-pocket costs for medical and dental visits, we recommend this category be allocated as 9 percent of your NSI.

Miscellaneous
This completes most of the big items in your budget. However, there are many other categories to include, such as expenses for mobile phones and Internet services as well as the costs associated with pet ownership, both of which happen to average about $1,000 each year for the American household.

Include categories for savings and investing. If you're carrying debt from student loans, car payments or credit cards, add a category in your budget for eliminating all consumer debt by paying these down each month.

Additional Help
Though a budget will help, many people often need help building a budget. Here are three recommendations:

1. Download free budget forms from Crown Financial Ministries. Many like to "do it yourself," so these forms will make building a budget much quicker.

2. Order "Creating a Spending Plan" from Crown's E-Learning site. This tool provides you step-by-step instruction on how to start and live on a spending plan. You can order the plan at crownportal.crown.org. 

Ways to Save for a Rainy Day

I recall the powerful thunderstorms that rolled through the plains of North Texas during my childhood. Not only would the thunder and lightning send us running for cover, but the heavy rainfall would also cancel all normally scheduled outdoor activities. We had no choice but to adapt to the unexpected change of plans.

The common proverb to "save for a rainy day" suggests that everyone needs to set aside something now for unexpected events in the future. The Bible speaks of the wisdom of savings in Proverbs 21:20: "Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person, but a foolish man consumes them."

The contrast couldn't be greater between the wise and foolish person. It's important that saving becomes a way of life. This will not only lend assistance in living below your expenses, which reduces stress, but it will also allow you to accumulate cash, thus breaking your reliance on credit cards in favor of paying cash to get the best deals.

Americans have one of the lowest personal savings rates in the world. On average, Americans save about 4.5 percent, a number which has steadily declined over the decades as we've become more reliant upon credit for our emergency needs. Unfortunately, our savings potential has come close to hitting zero. However, since the Great Recession, the annual savings average has improved.

At Crown Financial, we advise our clients to begin by saving $1,000. Continue saving until you have a minimum of three to six months' savings in an emergency savings account. This needs to be established before you begin investing in long-term investment programs, such as a 401K or IRA. Crown's founder, the late Larry Burkett, advised that saving a minimum of five percent of your net spendable income is essential for every person or household. Saving money is the area where many struggle, especially those who begin late.

1. Automate savings.

The government collects payroll taxes every pay period from those in the workforce. This method is far less painful than paying a lump sum monthly or annually. You can use a similar method for saving. Ask your employer or payroll service to set up an automatic withdrawal from each paycheck you receive. This removes the money before you receive it in your normal checking account. If your employer doesn't provide this option, use an automatic bank withdrawal from your checking account. The idea is to move the money into an account that you use for paying bills or routine spending.

2. Pay yourself.

Another method is to write your savings account a check as if it were a creditor. Imagine that you actually owe money to yourself and you must pay your account as if it were any other debt. If you no longer write checks, transfer money from your regular account to a savings account. It's best to have this in a Money Market account that earns interest, as it remains unused.

3. Savings snowball.

If you're working to pay off debts, when an existing account is paid off, reallocate the money that was going toward that debt to your savings account. This will allow you to snowball the amount allocated to savings as you steadily pay off debts.

For most of us, a rainy day would be a welcome unexpected event. But often, the circumstances we face are much more difficult and challenging. In today's world, it's best to save to prepare for a big storm, not just a rainy day.

Steps to Financial Freedom

Here's a practical Top List of things you can do right now to get started on the path to financial freedom. Just for fun, we'll count down instead of up.

Build a budget. A budget lets you figure out why there's always "month left over at the end of your money." Setting up a realistic budget should be the foundation for all of your financial decisions. Without a budget, your financial objectives are nothing more than wishful thinking

Give it away. Set your priorities straight by putting generosity at the top of your budget. God has given each of us a remarkable capacity to give. And we all give to something - whether we realize it or not. Even selfish people give away their time and money as they "worship" the things they value.

One of the most important, if not the most important thing we need to remember is that everything we have really belongs to God. When we give, especially to God's kingdom work, we show that we value the Lord above all else. So loosen up those purse strings; it will help loosen the grip money might have on your heart.

 Reduce your use. Don't use your credit cards so much. Contrary to what you may have heard, credit cards aren't evil, it's their misuse that's the problem. That's why it's important to develop self-discipline. If out-of-control spending is a problem, cut up your credit cards.

 Get a grip on your spending. Spending, especially for indulgences, doesn't lift depression. It's no secret that a key factor in achieving financial freedom is spending less money than you make. But even if you already do that, there's usually room for improvement. We tend to equate out-of-control spending with big purchases, but often it's the little things that'll put you in debt.

Save money. The flip side of spending less is saving more. There's no trick to saving money. It's really a simple matter of spending less than you make and setting money aside. Be sure to budget your savings, just like you would any other expense. Think of your savings as money you pay yourself. This money can then be used for large purchases or to cover an unexpected expense - those life emergencies that inevitably catch us off-guard.

 Cook a meal. One great way to spend less is to eat at home more often. Cooking your own meals gives you better control of what you spend on food and, as a bonus, better control of your portions and caloric intake. So, it's a healthy choice all around.

In addition to a slimmer waistline and smaller budget, you may find it's fun to cook. If you're married, share the meal prep duties, and if you have kids get them involved, too. Countless families have discovered the joy of cooking and sharing meals together at home when it's done as a team.

 Get in the car. Take a local vacation this year. When the economy took a turn a few years ago, "stay-cations" became the rage. Rather than traveling to some far-off, expensive get-away destination, families discovered interest- ing things to do close to them. Without the cost of airfare, hotel rooms, and rental cars, you'll have more money to spend on activities your whole family can enjoy. Wherever you are, other people are likely traveling long distances to see things near you.

 Don't keep up with the Joneses. They're in debt, too! So far, most of the items on this list have been suggestions for things you can do, or not do, to get a handle on your finances, but financial freedom is about more than just behavior modification. To make lasting change, it's important to address what's in our hearts.

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Keep the "ultimate driving machine," the one that's paid for. Some people buy new cars because they don't budget for repairs on the car they own. When it breaks down, they're stuck. Make car maintenance and repair part of your budget. When it comes to the cars we drive, it's especially true. Your goal should be to make a car last as long as possible (10 or 15 years would be great).