Photo Credit: paalia

Have you made the smart resolution to work on becoming debt free in 2011? If so, congratulations!

As many of you know, making the resolution is just the beginning. Resolutions are easy to make, but unfortunately they’re even easier to break. I’ve broken resolutions myself as I’m sure you have too. In the beginning, you’re pumped up about your decision to do whatever it is that you’ve decided to do, but once life, time constraints, and a lack of discipline get in the way, that motivation wanes and we find ourselves giving up on our desire to complete our once STILL important goals.

Your goals do not become less important, which is why your situation will generally get worse if you give up. That’s why I will continue to do what I can to keep you motivated. Not to mention the fact that I need to stay motivated myself in order to reach my own weight loss goals — a struggle I have given up on many times before. 🙁

One of the things you have to remind yourself of is the initial reason you decided to make the resolution. There must have been a reason and that reason came from you realizing that “something” needed to be fixed or changed in order to make “something” better in your life.

Your Resolution to Become Debt Free is Very Possible!

So stick with it. YOU CAN DO IT! In 2008, we stuck to our desire to become debt free and it paid off more than we could have ever imagined. It will for you too.

If you have a mini emergency fund in place, have organized and figured out your financial position, the next step is to start attacking your debt with a vengeance. For some of us, in order to do that, we must find creative ways in which to make extra money, which is the topic of today’s post.

One of the things that seemed to keep us fired up in the beginning was our decision to let go of our stuff. Not an easy decision to say the least, but once we made it, our journey became so much easier.

We were able to knock out our debts much, much faster!

It inspired us to look for other ways to increase our snowball.

It taught us that our “stuff” was most of the reason we were in debt in the first place.

It introduced us to contentment, which was intoxicating, not to mention liberating.

Like many people out there (maybe even you), we suffered from Stuff Attachment Disorder, and it was SAD!. We attached an irrational amount of worth to our stuff which made it very difficult to part with it.

Do you have a lot of stuff? WAIT! Before you answer that, let’s start by defining A LOT OF STUFF as more than you actually need to live comfortably.

To illustrate my point, I want to give you an example. Have you ever watched the television show Clean House? What about Hoarders? Both shows deal on a psychological level with people who have problems letting go, and in doing so cause even bigger problems for their families. Your debt is doing the same thing to you and your family, even if you haven’t yet realized it.

They are faced with choices that mean they have to decide what’s more important — their stuff or their family. Still, they stubbornly give in, but by the end of the show, they end up experiencing that feeling of liberation and realize that they made the right decision. The decision to let go of their stuff is worth the end result and they seem to feel better about their decision to finally LET GO.

Of the people I have tried to help locally, the biggest struggle seems to be with letting go of their crap, even if that crap is costing them dearly.

So now I have to ask you.

What’s more important to YOU — getting out of debt and improving your financial situation or keeping the stuff that is giving you a false sense of security, stuff you can definitely do without?

Getting out of debt you say? AWESOME! That’s what I thought you would say. 😀

Now it’s time to go through your house with an extreme sense of urgency and decide what you’re willing to part with. DO IT! It feels wonderful, trust me! Let it go!

Now you’re ready to:

Sell some stuff on EBAY or CRAIGSLIST.

Have the mother of all yardsales.

Pay off as much debt as possible with the proceeds! WOOHOO!

It will give you your first taste of freedom — a taste that gets increasingly better with every debt you pay off. The taste is SWEET! If you are looking to gain momentum, this is one way to get the traction you need.

Do this and I guarantee you (if you really want to get out of debt), this will fire you up and give you a new level of intensity. For us, it ended up being a pivotal point AND the motivating force behind the toughest part of our debt free journey.

Make the choice. Choose your family and get out of debt in 2011! Sell your crap!



Need inspiration? Perhaps, Martin Luther King Jr (determination and resolve) and Oseola McCarty (frugality and contentment) can provide the inspiration you need to continue this hard, but worthy journey.

Good Luck! 😀