Dealing with Debt - Exercise #1?

What do you have to show for it?

Draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper from top to bottom. On the left hand side write down the sum total of all your consumer debt. Make the number as large as you feel it is based on how heavily it weighs on you. (If it keeps you up at night it may deserve to be drawn in big evil-looking block letters that take up the entire half of the page.) On the other side of the page make a list of the things you currently have to show for that large number that looms ominously from the other side of the page.

Ask yourself in what ways would your life be better if instead of all these things you bought you had zero debt? The truth is until you decide that you want to be debt free more than you desire the things you've purchased on debt you can never break free of this cycle.

Many years ago my wife and I found ourselves in a lot of debt. When we sat down to figure out where it all came from and what we had to show for it we were appalled to find out that we'd been using the credit cards primarily to eat out - a lot. So most of what was purchased with debt was getting flushed down the drain, quite literally, while the credit card balances kept accumulating. The only thing we had to show for the mountain of debt we'd accrued was our expanding waistlines and closets full of clothes that no longer fit. We hadn't made very wise choices concerning our use of consumer debt.

Take the time to ask yourself some hard questions about the wisdom of your choices and be ruthlessly honest with yourself in answering them. In the end you'll be glad you did.