It’s done! You have your debt under control. Now you can start building your savings. If you feel guilty about not being able to congratulate yourself, that’s likely because you know there is still much work to do.
What you do next will determine whether you move forward or fall back into the old pattern of just surviving until the next paycheck. These are the steps to prevent losing your gains and how you can strengthen your financial security no matter what happens next.
1. Cancel Your Car Insurance
The truth is that your car insurance company may be charging you too much. Don’t waste time looking for a better deal by hopping around to other insurance companies.
EverQuote is a website that allows you to view all of your options in one place.
EverQuote, the largest US online marketplace for insurance, will provide you with the best options from over 175 carriers.
Please take a few minutes to answer some questions about you and your driving history. EverQuote can provide you with the best recommendations for car insurance. You could save as much as $610 per year in just a few seconds
2. If you win solitaire games, this app will pay you up to $83
Many of us play Solitaire on our smartphones for entertainment or to pass the time. You might be able to win some money by playing it.
Solitaire Cash is a free iPhone application that allows you to play for real money. A win could earn you up to $83
You may be thinking, “There must be a catch.” This is certainly one of those spammy applications, right?
Wrong. There is no catch. There is no pressure to pay for higher-stakes tournaments. There aren’t any annoying ads.
You’ll be competing against at least five players in each game. Every player gets the same deck so winning is entirely a matter of skill. Real money can be won by the top three players who solve a deck in the fastest time — between $1 and $83.
It has more than a million downloads on the App Store and over 15,000 ratings. The average rating is 4.7 stars out of 5.
Download the app for free and get your first game started immediately.
3. Keep an eye on your credit
The hardest part about paying off your debts is knowing where to start.
Which credit cards have a balance on them? Are you attached to unpaid loans? Are you in default on utility or medical bills that you didn’t know were there?
Credit Sesame, a free website, can help. Sign up in just 90 seconds and you can access your credit score for free. Credit Sesame then will show you your debt, including who it is and what it owes. It also offers personalized recommendations. You can even see the minimum monthly payments and interest rates attached to your bills.
This information will help you to create a payoff plan that is more manageable. You may want to go with the debt avalanche approach, which will see you pay off your highest interest rate first. You might prefer the debt snowball approach, which allows you to start with the lowest balances.
Credit Sesame can be used to track your progress and keep you accountable. It might even be fun to see your credit score respond to all your hard work.
Credit Sesame takes only 90 seconds to start.
4. Check out if you’re overpaying
It is no secret that prices are rising. It would be great if you could get an alert whenever you shop online and you are about to pay too much.
This is exactly what the free service does.
Add it to your browser and it will check other websites such as Walmart and eBay to determine if the item is cheaper. You can also get coupon codes, price-drop alerts, and view the item’s history.
Let’s suppose you are shopping for a new television and assume that you have found the lowest price. This is when you will see a pop-up letting you know if the exact TV is still available for less. You’ll be able to apply any coupon codes that are available for your order.
This has resulted in $160 million in savings over the past year.
It takes just a few clicks for you to get started and see if your online shopping habits are leading to overpaying.
In conclusion
Your financial condition at 80-90% is at the mercy of your decisions, following this principle can guide you into a stable financial life. Good luck.
