Productivity

Pay Off Your $1000 Credit Card in 30 Days

“Think what you do when you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Got a $1000 credit card bill and want it gone by this time next month? No problem. There are two sides of the debt reduction equation — reduce spending and increase savings. Do a little of both and you’re there.

Easy Ways to Spend Less

Look for repeat offenders: Axe that Starbucks habit for some home brew to save $25/week or $100 a month. If coffee isn’t your craving, look for other things you can cut such as: manicures (paint your own nails), lawn maintenance (fire up your mower), or laundry services (dig out that ironing board). Pick a couple of things that will net you a total of $100 a month in savings.

Be a frugal foodie: This isn’t as bad as it sounds, and there’s a good chance you might get a little healthier as a result. Prepare your own lunches and save $5 a day or $150 a month. Recycle leftovers from the night before for a few of those meals and save even more. If you have a buddy with some culinary chops, split up the week and double down on your recipes. Instead of cooking for three every day, cook for six every other day, and you’ll both save time (this will come in handy in a little bit…) and money. Let’s call it $20 a week or $80 per month in savings.

Save Saturday to Sunday: Weekend entertainment can be a real budget buster, whether it’s movie tickets and concessions (easily $40 for two), concerts, pro sporting events, barhopping, or recreational shopping. It adds up fast.

Try a “freekend” instead. Bank some Benjamins with free activities like: a byob game night with neighbors, family film fest, picnic at the lake, trip to the dog park with Fido, swap meet or crafting party, card game, cupboard potluck, or pickup basketball game. Savings could range a lot here, but let’s estimate $200 a month — which shouldn’t be that hard to achieve. Remember, it’s just for a month and you can re-introduce paid recreational activities once you mail that check off to Visa.

Pad Your Paycheck

Congratulations! You’re already more than half way there with over $500 to put toward paying off your bill. Now let’s look at the other side of the equation — increasing savings — by generating some additional income (remember I said that extra time would come in handy…)

Participate in the gig economy: It’s easier than ever to take on a side job to boost your earning potential. Here are a few options:

Profit sharing: People are borrowing instead of buying. And you can leverage that trend by subletting your stuff to pay off your debt. You can rent out:

Shoot for generating $100/week. Ok, we’re just shy of the $1000 mark. It’s time to…

Hock your hoard: If you’re filled to the rafters, now is a great time to have that yard sale you’ve been thinking about. Display your wares well, advertise, and collect cash while you cut the clutter. If it’s not sale season where you live, there’s always online options like craigslist, eBay, NextDoor, and OfferUp. Or you can go to resellers like Half Price Books or local consignment stores that specialize in specific goods to get you to your $1000 goal.

Ok, I Lied

Remember when I said there were only two ways to work the debt reduction equation. Well… that’s not entirely true. There’s another option, but it won’t work for everyone. You could consider trying to negotiate a settlement directly with your creditor. If you’re at risk for defaulting on your payments due to a job loss, medical crisis or other hardship, your credit card issuer might take something over nothing and avoid incurring the expense of sending your debt to collection.

There can be significant downsides (e.g. credit damage and tax consequences) and other important considerations with this approach, so do your homework first. Here’s an article from the FTC that addresses some before pursuing a settlement. But if you do and you’re successful, that $1000 debt could be significantly reduced. And even if it isn’t, you may get a forbearance, interest rate reduction, or other benefit.

$1000 credit card payoff in 30 days? Yeah, you got this.