Swimming in Debt

D.E.B.T:  Do Every Bit it Takes

You must develop a plan to remove yourself from monetary debt.   Debt can ruin your quality of life by bringing much unneeded stress and preoccupation with worrying.   Many people think that debt is about not having enough money to pay their bills.  Debt is a result from a state of mind that many people adopt in their lives.   There have been many people who have won the lotto and still end up in debt.  How could this be?  They have millions of dollars now, even if family members want some of the money there should still be some funds left over.  It’s not the money, it’s the mindset.  I now understand that the act of spending money came from our thoughts and thoughts control our realities.  Let me explain. Click Here!

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Your life is a result of how you think

Every action in life has been preceded by a thought.  Have you ever sat on the couch you thought to yourself I am thirsty?   Your brain and body filled in the rest to attain your desired result.   In reality, the message sent from your brain to your nerves is moving so fast that it seems effortless to get up from your seat and get something to drink.   This is how it works with everything in your life, even interactions and dealing with money.  You get money in your hand or bank account and the impulse thoughts are, “I can get things with this money” but where the thought process becomes dysfunctional is when you only purchase items or services that we want and not items and services that we need.   Some people cannot make the separation between what they need and what they want until it is too late and have racked up tons of debt.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy is used to help individual’s manager their dysfunctions through monitoring their thoughts first.  CBT is effective for the treatment of a variety of problems, including mood, anxiety, personality, eating, substance abuse, and psychotic disorders.  CBT focuses on changing are thoughts which change our feelings and hence alter our actions.  Here is a link to explain CBT in more detail  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Behavioral_Therapy)

When I worked in a day treatment center I focused many of the techniques of CBT to help my clients with breaking bad habits.  Many of the group discussions helped them understand that how to begin to think about their day and plan it out before they started their day.  Spending too much money is a bad habit and impulsive spending is an even more dangerous one.   When you have a limited monetary budget you also have to plan how to spend your money in structured and timely fashion.

The Triangle of Needs

A theory was proposed by a psychologist named Abraham Maslow.  He understood the human needs in specific way.  Most people focus upon the bare essentials to maintain your health and the health of your family.  Your basic needs in life are food and water, shelter, and clothing and your needs move up the ladder to self actualization.  Proper management of your money can help you move up this theoretical triangle with more efficiency.  If this was attributed to a monetary scale importance you can maybe form and idea of what your needs are as opposed to wants in your life.   A good diagram to help understand this concept is Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of needs below : 

 (Here is a link to also give a more detailed explanation of Maslow’s theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_need)

As you can see in the diagram the largest portions on the triangle are supposed to be attributed to employment, family, health, food, water, and property.   Your main source of income should go to these areas before you spend your money on anything type of comfort items.  Comfort items may be designer clothes, cable, television, computer, cars, and unnecessary electronic devices.  When you satisfy these basic safety and physiological areas of your life you are able to move on to a better quality of life.  If you are having difficulty managing these safety and physiological areas of life it is hard to focus upon your higher purposes and your own personal goals in life.   Individuals must understand that money has its purpose and we as humans cannot live in the American culture and many other cultures without it.

Done with Debt

Remember dysfunction isn’t always smoking, over eating, depression, or alcoholism.  Dysfunction can also be impulse spending and buying.  Debt can become a beast if it is not tamed.  Understanding how to handle debt is also best learned earlier in life because many of us may want to have a family with children or currently have a family with children.  The presence of children in a family greatly increases the need for structured spending.   When you learn how to manage your resources you can also teach your child these important and valuable concepts to put them on the path to a quality life.   Money cannot buy love or happiness, but if managed correctly, you can eliminate one stress from your life to focus upon the rest.

Provided here are a few links that may provide the steps to get you started in the right direction don't hesitat. Click Here!

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