Three Reasons You're Not Out of Debt Yet

You're trying to get out of debt, but for some reason, you have to buy gas with your credit card today and groceries with it tomorrow. How will you ever get out of debt like that? The answer is, you probably won't get out of debt like that. But groceries and gas aren't really the problem. Instead, it's the fact that you don't recognize three things that are keeping you in debt. Well, here they are.

A feeling of entitlement.

My mother always says this to me: "Baby, you work everyday." By saying that, she is trying to tell me that I deserved to have nice things and that if I don't have nice things, there really is no reason to go to work.

Often, many people think the same way. Even though they are up to the neck in credit card debt, they still manage to afford a new pair of shoes once every couple of weeks or even once a month. These people have what's called a feeling of entitlement. And without nice things, they feel poverty-stricken. It's as if they're just throwing their money in the trash as they send it away to the bill collector. Actually, they're only protecting their future. No one wants to go through bankruptcy. But a feeling of entitlement makes it so that you only see what you can and can't have now. It has nothing to do with future goals.

A disregard of the little expenses

Sure, you can have that $2.00 bagel and the $1.95 apple fritter, and the $2.95 medium fries. $3.00 for toll? No problem. Well, those things add up. But if you have your trusty debit card on you, and you swipe and go (like I often do), you don't even notice the little charges until it's too late. You don't notice that twenty dollars you spent on things here and there could have made a big dent in your credit card interest.

What you also don't notice is how hard it is for you to stop spending on the little things. Cut up your card if you need to because believe me, it's tempting.

A feeling that you'll always have debt anyway

One time someone said to me, you'll always have debt. You'll have car debt and you're definitely going to get a mortgage so you can buy a house. When I heard that. I felt some relief when it came to my credit card debt. No longer did I feel I had to rush out and get two jobs so I could do something about my debt problem. I even went out with my credit cards and got myself into a bit more debt.

Many college grads have a feeling that their debt is insurmountable. And while it's true, 30,000 in student loans can seem like a big sum of money; it's not impossible to pay that off. You don't want to be living like a starving college grad when you get to middle age. So don't think you're staring down an endless tunnel. Get to work, and soon you'll start to see some progress as you pay down your debt.