If you are burdened with your debts and want to get out of this trouble, you can take help of debt settlement services. You also need to reduce your expenses by practicing frugal living. You will be able to save money and be gainer in the long run.

Debt settlement

If you enroll yourself in debt settlement services, the company representative will start negotiating with your creditors, on your behalf. Your current debt amount may be reduced by 40% to 60% and you have to make a fixed monthly payment in a trust account. When the money will accumulate into a lump sum, equaling your debt amount, your creditors will be paid with that money.

You have to pay taxes for the amount of debt forgiven by your creditors. You also need to have ready cash to pay the charges taken by the debt settlement company. So, to ensure that you have enough money to make the monthly repayments, you need to do frugal living.

Benefits of living frugally

Frugal living doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your joy and can’t buy anything anymore. It only means that you should resist the temptation to spend extravagantly on things you can live without. The benefits of frugal living are:

* Be debt-free: If you can live frugally and spend less on things which you actually don’t need, you can save more money. You can add this extra cash to your minimum repayment amount, so that your repayment amount quickly accumulates to pay off your debts totally and you can become debt-free in a shorter time.

* Retire early: You can save more money if you stop spending extravagantly. You can keep this extra money in a bank and when it accumulates into a fairly large amount, you can take an early retirement and enjoy your days in leisure.

* Take trips: If you like to travel to different places, you can take a vacation using the money you have saved by frugal living.

* Save more/invest more: If you can save more money by frugal living, you can invest more money on shares and earn more.

* Less work: If you practice frugal living you will be able to save so much money that at one time you won’t need to do any job and can enjoy your life in any way you like.

How to do frugal living

You can practice frugal living by following the things mentioned below:

* Use coupons: You should collect as many coupons as you can from various newspapers or magazines on the items you need to buy. You can put the extra cash you will save to your debt settlement account, so that you can pay off debt faster.

* Do extra jobs: You can do some extra chores in your home like mowing the lawn or cleaning the house, instead of hiring someone. Thus, you will be able to save money.

* Have a yard sale: If you have got extra junk in your house like your old toys, clothes, furniture, electronic gadgets, you can put up a yard sale. The cash you will earn from the sale can be added to your debt repayment amount.

* Cut down expenses: You need to cut down on some expenses like, smoking less cigarettes, consuming less coke or beer, walking more to save money on gas, eating out less, etc.

* Stop impulse shopping: You should resist your temptation to buy anything on impulse, which will not be used by you.

* Buy in bulk: You should buy in bulk amount to save money. A carton of milk will be more economical than 5 to 6 tins.

* Less usage of credit card: You should use credit card as less as you can. You can only use it to buy a specific large item.

If you can practice frugal living today, you will be able to get out of debts faster and lead a tension-free life in the future.

Jason Holmes is a regular writer with Debt Consolidation Care and is also a contributory writer with other financial sites. His expertise is woven around various aspects of the debt industry and with his e-books he tries to impart to people the different situations and simple solutions to get out of difficult situations. Some of his works include e-books like ‘Credit Score The Quintessential Therapy for a Happy Pocket’, Take Creditors and Collection Agencies to Small Claims Court’ and, My Story- From Depression To a Smile’

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March 15, 2010 – I think Lotich’s insights about salesmen should be extended further to reading catalogs and watching commercials on TV. Since the advent of DVRs and TIVOS I rarely sit and watch commercials and I don’t browse malls for entertainment. So why would I want to leaf through sales papers or catalogs unless I was expressly looking to buy an item and want to compare prices? Too often looking leads to buying something we really don’t need.

March 15, 2010 – Bob Lotich offers very sound advise… I have much personal experience with marrying without the benefit of financial counseling and learned the hard way that my husband(s) handled money much differently than I would.

February 28, 2010 – If you are one those fortunate enough to still be taking vacations, this is an excellent article on how keep one affordable.

February 28, 2010 – This unfortunately is true. Most of us don’t budget our spending, we just look it over after the fact. Retirement has made me start planning more and spending less on an impulse. ]]> http://cheaplivingtips.com/blog/2010/03/14/my-notes-march-15-2010/feed/ 0 http://cheaplivingtips.com/blog/2010/02/08/my-notes-february-8-2010/ http://cheaplivingtips.com/blog/2010/02/08/my-notes-february-8-2010/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:09:11 +0000 Susan http://www.cheaplivingtips.com/cheapliving/my-notes-february-8-2010

February 3, 2010 – This is good reading and excellent advise. I recently watched a video (sorry I forget where) in which an group of people shared how losing their job changed their lives for the better because they used that opportunity to start doing something they loved. Pagliarini points out that you don’t have to wait until you are unemployed to start exploring your talents and passions. I give it a 9!

February 3, 2010 – This is long overdue! Nothing irritated me more than to watch my friends’ kids spend money on foolish things and not have a clue where that money came from.

February 3, 2010 – I really blew this one…instead of paying everything off I went out and bought a new car the year before I retired so I’m stuck with payments for another three years. Told myself it would be like getting a raise at the end of the contract when I no longer had that payment. I also ‘borrowed’ to buy an additional year of service credit for my retirement fund. This however almost balances out as the increase in monthly income ALMOST covers the amount deducted to pay for added time. Again, in four years time I will give myself a ‘raise’ because this will be paid off and I will get the full benefit added into my monthly check.

I did do well with the credit card issue though. I only use credit cards for expenses I can pay in full at the end of the month or purchases that come with a no interest for 12 months option. I find that using a card gives me a more visual handled on what I am spending and helps me keep it in check.

February 3, 2010 – Must read for the frugal minded! I do take offense that Farrell says no one wants to be known as cheap! A rose by any other name….

I highly recommend putting CBS MoneyWatch RSS into your feed. ]]> http://cheaplivingtips.com/blog/2010/02/08/my-notes-february-8-2010/feed/ 0