Ok - Now get to work

 

At this point, you're going to have to start to decide what to attack first.  In most cases, it's best to start with your credit card debt first, as that's most often the area where people make little or no progress.  If you're making minimum payments, you may not live long enough to pay the balances off.  Start with the card that charges you the highest interest rate, and start paying whatever extra you can come up with towards that card each month.  Don't use the card anymore, just attack the balance with everything you can spare.   Depending on how much extra money you have to apply to the balance, you'll begin to shrink the balance on the card.  Keep at it until this one is paid off.  Now, once this card is paid off, you'll need to be really committed to the plan, because you may be compelled to slack off a bit.  Don't do it.  Take the next card in the list, and begin applying the entire amount that you've were paying to the first card to this second balance.  Let's be clear here, you need to take the minimum payment you've been paying to this card each month, add that to the minimum balance you were paying to the card you just paid off, and then add to that the extra money you came up with to pay additionally on that first card.  Pay that entire combined amount to the second card.  Most likely, now you'll begin to make some serious progress on this second card.  When it's paid off, keep going!  Take the entire amount you were paying towards this card, add that to the minimum amount you were paying on the third card (or car payment, or whatever) and keep paying it each month.  I promise you, this process of aggressively paying extra amounts on your debts, working on the highest interest rates first, is the single most powerful debt reduction plan there is out there, and you will be amazed at how quickly you will begin to shrink your debt.

 

 

It will require some discipline, and it may take a while before you get things paid down enough to begin feeling good about things, but you will make amazing progress if you can keep it up.  And at some point, if you continue this on, you can even pay off your mortgage early and be 100% debt free!  At that point, if you took the total monthly outlay you'd been spending on this aggressive debt reduction plan, and turned it towards sound investments, you'd just as quickly begin to build up some large investments.  Trust me, you'll be much happier putting that money into your own growth each month than you are right now putting it towards unpaid debt.  All it takes is discipline and a plan.  You can do it, and you will absolutely turn your financial life around and wind up in a much better financial position over the long haul.  Let's face it, 5 years from now will be here before you know it; you can choose to be in debt when it gets here, or in a much more stable financial position.  But either way, 5 years from now will be here, whether you are ready or not.

 

Now, besides your financial fitness, you should also be paying plenty of attention to your physical fitness as you move on with your life.  After all, we just figured out how you're going to be in better shape financially in 5 years, now let's make sure you're physically able to enjoy it.

 

Additional Recommended Reading

 

 

Congratulations On Your Divorce

 

Life After Divorce: Create a New Beginning

 

New Life after Divorce: The Promise of Hope beyond the Pain