This civilized millennium has exposed us to the positive and the negative. Like my friend normally says, we have too many essentials and luxuries to purchase that no given amount of money can ever satisfy our needs. When it comes to budgeting, spending is given higher priority than income. With monthly salary earners, the month ends when their current bank accounts are in the red. Many earn salaries to sort out their standing debts. Huge debts that can even lead to imprisonmentincase they are not settled.“Often credit (loans) is regarded the only way to develop and flourish in business especially in the third world country where salaries are monthly,” an online journal affirms. This misconception has landed people in untold suffering and poverty for along the road, they fail to clear their debts and even the little they have is confiscated by the loan givers. The disadvantages of loans and debts are higher than we could ever imagine. Imagine having a sleepless night just because of some nagging debt that hasn’t really changed your life economically! Be it a small or big debt, the effectis heavy. Loans carrying large interests make people end up penniless because the cost of servicing them is almost higher than what they actually gain from the loans. Though it’s hard to go without debt for some people, we should consider putting such situations. Remember the more you get used to debts, the more debts we get and this might lead to a cycle of debt dependency and possible cycle of poverty and depression. Let’s briefly tackle some techniques of being debt free.Godwin Kwibuka a business man has used saving to stop borrowing.“If you get used to the saving culture, you will rather want to save to the last penny than borrow,”he says. Saving doesn’t mean having lots of money; it simply means having enough to get you out of a situation. They don’t only save in banks; people also save in piggy wooden boxes.Venuste Mutarambirwa, owes his wealth to spending less. “In order to avoid debt, people should cut their coat according to their cloths,” he says. This means budgeting accordingto the amount of money you expect.“When it comes to budgeting, people also purchase unnecessary items only to discover that money was spent on absolutely nothing,” says Mutarambirwa. However much you need a posh life, you’ll never have it even if you spent your whole fortune extravagantly buying unnecessary things. If you are a big spender, limit yourself. You can do this through deciding on the amount of money to spend in a week. This starts with knowing how much you spend so that you can know which costs weren’t necessary. “With this kind of planned expenditure, you’ll always have some balance left therefore borrowing won’t be an option,” says Peter Mulisa, a banker. The other magic way of avoiding debt is buying strictly what you need. Other necessities that can wait can be planned for later according to your standing budget. The issue of getting items on credit also makes debts accumulate. Instead of getting items on credit, pay in advance for delivery.For bills that you can pay in advance, please pay upfront, this will save you the debt and also boost your savings and plans. Bills that can be paid upfront include school fees, medical insurance,house rent and electricity bills.For those who have the nagging debts already, the remedy is deciding on a particular amount of money off your income to pay for it. However little the money might be, it will in the long run settle the debt. Afterall one is better than zero.As we wave good bye to debts, it’s important that we know that spending doesn’t equate to happiness.Have a debt free life. Ends
