How To Pay Off Debt Fast, Even With A Low Income

The journey of paying off debt could be seen as overwhelming for a lot of people. Unfortunately, debt is something that almost everyone experiences at some point in their lives.

Getting out of debt takes a lot of work and dedication, especially if you are trying to pay off debt with a low income. There are many emotional factors going on when you finally sit down and realized how much money you have in debt or the amount of time you need to pay off the debts.

However, this shouldn’t be a daunting task. Getting out of debt might be seen as a difficult journey or even impossible for you at the beginning. But it shouldn’t be like that. You just need to have the determination and the proper tools to help you on this journey on how to eliminate debt.

If you have already started the path to becoming financially free, then congratulations!! You know that every step and effort you took for eliminating debt in the end will be totally worth it!

For a lot of people, it becomes very easy to delay paying off debt because they have too much on their plate. The simple thought of calculating numbers or even knowing where to start first is complicated.

In any case, the simple fact that you are reading this post right now is that you realized that getting out of debt is important. I have developed a list of simple steps that you can do at this very moment and start taking the initial steps to pay off debt, even if you are living paycheck to paycheck.

Just remember, that every effort you make will be a step closer to your financial freedom.

Here are some simple things you can do right now to get out of debt.

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How to Pay Off Debt Fast, Even With A Low Income

1. Stop Spending Money You Don’t Have

If you really want to be debt-free then you need to stop getting into more debt. You should stop thinking about how you can finance that nice car or furniture.  Your focus at this point should be on how to eliminate debt fast and how to develop a plan that works for you.

2. Find Out your Current Debt Situation

Make a list of all your debts and put the following: who you owe, interest rate, monthly payment, and payment dates. There are different methods to start attacking debt such as the snowball or the avalanche method.

I suggest starting your debt-free journey with the snowball method because by paying the smallest debt first gives you the satisfaction that you have already started eliminating debt fast.

If you want to know more about the snowball method I highly recommend my preferred book from Dave’s Ramsey. It will not only show you how efficient the snowball method is but also the exact steps you will need to become financially free.

3. Cut your Spending

This step is crucial if you really want to pay off debt fast. Here, you will need to take a closer look at where your money is going every single month. I highly encourage you to set a budget if you don’t have one yet.

Setting ALL your expenses and income on a budget will help you to differentiate what are your needs and wants. With this, I am not saying that you need to cut all your monthly expenses. However, I believe that you can save a considerable amount of money from things such as daily trips to your favorite coffee shop or lunch spot.

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4. Built an Emergency Fund

You might think, why should I save money if I need to pay off my debt? …Things happen, and today you and your family can be perfectly fine but tomorrow you don’t know what’s going to happen. An emergency fund will help you avoid getting into more debt in case of an unforeseen event in your life.

Having this extra cushion will prevent the use of credit cards and getting into more debt. Therefore, building an emergency fund for those unexpected events should be set as a priority. You can start with $1000 emergency fund and in the future, you can increase this amount.

5. Utilize Every Saved Dollar Towards Debt

After setting up your budget and building an emergency fund put any extra money that you saved towards your debt. For instance, you decided that you will get rid of cable tv and use a digital antenna like this one instead.

Now you have $120 extra every month that you can use towards the payment of a credit card! Remember, every dollar helps and the more you pay the faster you will get out of debt.

Other ways you can save money and apply towards your debt:

Use Ibotta

Ibotta is a money saving app that you can use to start earning cash back every time you go grocery shopping.

Using Ibotta has really helped me to save money on groceries. It is FREE and very easy to use.

With Ibotta, you earn cash back from your regular purchases at the store such as fruits, veggies, dairy, bread, household items and so on!

You can even get cash back just for submitting your grocery receipt!

Bonus: If you are new to Ibotta, sign up here and get a FREE $10 welcome bonus form Ibotta.

Start Meal Planning

Meal planning your food for the week can definitely help you save a lot of money. I highly recommend using the $5 Meal Plan. $5 Meal Plan is a meal planning service that sends you a delicious meal plan and shopping list every week for just $5 a month. Every meal will cost you $2 or less to make,  You can try it for 14 days for free here!

Use Rakuten

Rakuten is an easy way to save and make extra money when shopping online.

They give you cash back from shopping through their links. You can also use discounts and coupons while shopping online.  Sign up for Rakuten here and receive a $10 welcome bonus

Switch to a Cheap Wireless Plan

Use Republic Wireless for cheap cell phone service. You can get a monthly cell phone plan as low as $15 per month.

Recommended article: 11 Ways to Save Money on Groceries Without Using Coupons

6. Make Extra Money

This is the key to successfully getting out of debt fast. You need to earn extra income and put that earned money towards your debt. There are so many ways to start earning extra money.

You could get a part-time job, volunteer for overtime or start a work-from-home job. The possibilities are endless and a little effort will pay off at the end.

However, sometimes for a lot of people getting a second job is not an option. But remember that it is just temporary until you accomplish your goal of eliminating debt.

Another alternative is to work from home. In fact, this is how I earn extra money from the comfort of my own home. Here are some of my favorite ways to earn a side income working from home:

Selling stuff:  Places such as eBay or Amazon are a great way to start selling and earning money. In fact, you can learn from The Selling Family, which makes a six hundred figure income selling on Amazon FBA.

Take Surveys:  Completing online surveys (a great way to earn a side income in your spare time). These are my favorite online sites:

Start a Blog: This is by far one of my favorite ways to earn extra income. You can start your own blog for cheap and start earning a passive income from this. How? I’ve developed an easy step-by-step tutorial on how you can start a profitable blog the right way!

You can start a blog for only $3.95 a month and get a FREE domain with this link.

As you can see there are different ways to make extra income and start putting it toward the payment of your debt.

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How to Make $200 in One Day

How to Make $300 Extra a Month of Extra Income

The Best Online Survey Sites to Make Extra Income

13 Real Work From Home Jobs Paying Up to $75,000 per Year

To conclude, the 6 steps described above will serve as helpful tools to attack debt and eliminate it once and for all. However, to do this, you’ll need to take some actionable steps towards your financial freedom.

It would probably take some time, compromise and sacrifices to get out of debt. However, in the end, you will feel the sensation that everything you’ve done to get out of debt was totally worth it!

Do you have debt? If so, what are you doing to get out of debt? I’d love to hear your comments!

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Learn these simple steps to pay off debt fast even with a low income. You could get out of debt quick with these tips on how to eliminate debt and reach financial freedom.

how to pay off debt fast on a low income

How to Pay Off Debt Fast On a Low Income

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5 thoughts on “How To Pay Off Debt Fast, Even With A Low Income”

  1. Hi we are dying to finally get out of this debt free journey but it’s going to take a hell of a lot of time and persistence and grit and determination and restraint. And wills of iron and commitment.as we’re all fired up.to do this and don’t really want to make any money mistakes.as we’ve had to many of them in the past and nows the right time to finally sort this thing and get back to where we were and get going with it as there isn’t any room for faltering.we just have to get this done. And finished with then we can just live the way god intended you to live instead of having all the worries that you have when you’re in a mess with things. But believe me this will be sorted out soon and will be getting back to normal again soon.you marks my words. Thats something you can depend on as we’ve got just sort this out.

    Reply
  2. I’m currently working on getting back out of debt again. I was debt free once already but helped my fiancee with he financial crisis which put me back in trouble. Now I’m trying to struggle to figure out what my next move is to get ahead. Any suggestions would be great.

    Reply
    • Hi Jenn! I’m sorry to hear about your current financial situation. However, I want to tell you that if you were able to get out of debt once then you can do it again! My best advice would be to assess your current financial situation and debt. Set a budget because it would help you a lot to keep control of your spending. After that, try to work on ways to generate extra income. Probably you can find a second job or see if you can do something from home and make extra income so you can put that extra money towards your debt. Here are some articles that I suggest reading: https://smartcentsforlife.com/real-work-from-home-jobs/ and here you can find more options https://smartcentsforlife.com/category/making-money/ Hope this helps!

      Reply
  3. An emergency fund is crucial, especially if you don’t have health insurance, or if you have pets. My emergency fund has helped me quite a bit and it also helps me feel comfortable and never stricken for money.

    Reply
    • Hi Alexis!, Yes, I agree with you! I can’t emphasize enough the importance of an emergency fund. I can imagine not having enough money to cover medical expenses when there is not a health insurance at all! I am glad that you were able to build a good emergency fund! 🙂

      Reply

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