Paying down your debt is much less fun that any of these 16 distractions. But these excuses won't help your bottom line.
Debt sucks. Its no wonder so many people pretend it doesn't exist. Sometimes the pile seems insurmountable. There's a reason we coined the acronym DIRE (Debt Insurmountable Retirement Extinguished) to more accurately identify the 99% of people who can't realistically contemplate FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). With the economy giving signs of storm clouds ahead, now might be the perfect time to focus on debt elimination. Interest on your debt makes things worse, so every delay costs you money. If you find yourself making any of these excuses, you may be setting yourself up for a future facing an insurmountable mountain of debt.
16. Everyone's Doing It
Just because everywhere you look all you see are seas of debt does not mean you should jump in head first. Its like your mother used to say, if your friends jumped off a cliff would you do it too? Your friends in debt are not your friends because of their inability to manage money. Break apart from the pack and don't let peer pressure be an excuse to avoid paying down debt.
15. Games Like This Only Happen Once In A Lifetime
It has been said a fool and his money are easily parted. The same goes for sports fans and drivers who pay for premium gas (more on that later). For sports fans, the allure of attending a championship game is enough to dismiss all notion of financial prudence. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity they reason. Yeah, except its not. Every year, all pro sports award a championship. It may be more rare to a watch a regular season game in which a player records a hockey shutout, a baseball no hitter or a football punt return touchdown than it is to see a championship game.
14. I Need To Go Shopping
Need is a badly abused word in the English language. It has come to mean a lot of things, and few of them are actually what the word is intended to convey. The number of times you need to go shopping in your lifetime is approximately 0. Sure, you need food and you need clothing. But shopping is virtually never about acquiring those basic necessities. If you are avoiding your debt in order to facilitate a life of shopping, you're living in denial.
13. Home Prices Will Bail Me Out
Assuming that the value of your home will increase forever and that no matter how much debt you accrue you will always have the option to sell your home and pay it off is, well, foolish. Not only has history proven that housing does not consistently go up, when it crashes, as it did in 2008, the pain can be staggering. Your home could lose 40% of its value, and if you end up with negative equity on your home, you might end up spending the rest of your life trying to deal with it.
12. I Can't Pay Debt - I Need To Eat!
Food prices a often the scapegoat when it comes to repaying debt. Interestingly, whenever I hear this excuse, it is not by people who eat a diet rich in beans, potatoes, rice, broccoli and pork. Those food items are very inexpensive, and their preparation is often trivial and quick. Instead, people who complain about food prices eat at restaurants or allegedly have lives with so little free time they believe their only option is food that comes from a box out of the freezer. The first step is to separate food from crap. Crap comes from a box in the freezer or from a restaurant. Real food comes from one of the 4 food groups. You may think you don't have time to prepare real food, but that's because you haven't tried.
11. If I Pay Off My Debt, How Will I Deal With An Emergency?
At least this excuse is rooted in some degree of logic. After all, 31% of Americans could not cover a $400.00 emergency expense with savings. In fact, not only is $400.00 beyond the reach of many Americans, they even lack the available credit to pull together that amount. But emergency preparedness should not be a higher priority than debt repayment. Getting rid of debt is an emergency and once it is gone, your ability to save for another emergency will improve.
10. What Should I Do? Just Stare at a Blank TV?
We've already talked about how alternatives to paid TV services - such as condensed sports games on YouTube - can help you retire 5 years sooner. But if you are paying for cable while also in debt, you need to get out your scissors. Cable is a luxury and only people with no debt should have it. Cut the cord and use it as a motivator to help you get out of debt. Interestingly, once you're out of debt, you'll probably not bother to reconnect it - there are so many better, cheaper options.
9. What If I Need To Haul a Space Shuttle?
Most Americans purchase the car they want, not the car they need. Any car will do nothing for 96% of time you own it, given most Americans spend an hour of less per day driving their car. For the remaining 4%, most of that time will be spent driving you alone to your various destinations. The portion of time you will spend on hauling events is probably 1% of the 4% of time you drive your vehicle. If you purchased a cheaper car for the 99% of your need and rented to fill that other 1%, you could probably pay most of your debts off in no time.
And officially, the amount of time you will spend hauling a space shuttle is 0%.
8. I'm Chasing FIRE
If you follow the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) movement, you need to focus on debt more than anyone. FIRE is the opposite of debt. If you have a lot of debt in your effort to save for retirement, you might not catch FIRE and instead end up in circumstances that are DIRE - Debt Insurmountable Retirement Extinguished.
7. I Need To Be An Angel
Many people are driven to contribute donations to worthy causes. And while it is noble to try to improve the lives of others, your debts will put a cap on how generous you can be. Short term pain eliminating debt will lead to long term gain in your ability to help others fund their dreams.
6. I Need To Protect Myself
Granted, in this day of cyber attacks, everyone does need some level of diligence when it comes to protecting their identity. But if you are in debt, that fact alone actually protects you. Someone with your identity won't get far if they try to fraudulently take out a loan using your credentials. Ease up on the identity protection costs you are paying for services out there and instead direct that money to paying down your debts.
5. I'm Not Myself Until I Buy a Coffee
Many people need their morning cup of coffee. But purchasing coffee at a coffee shop is expensive. Taking the $2.00 you spend per cup of coffee and directing it to a home coffee maker and your debt will have you out of debt and full of coffee in no time. And if your coffee maker has a timer, you can have coffee ready before you are each morning.
4. You Can't Win If You Don't Play
Ah, the draw of the lottery. Lots of people dream of winning the lottery and using those funds to pay off their debts and then some. But you you actually go into debt to play the lottery...if you have a system - then you have a gambling problem. You should not be growing your debts to play the lottery. If you are, stop now and spend that money on getting rid of debt. Once it's gone, it will feel like you actually won the lottery after all!
3. I Work Like A Dog - I Deserve a Vacation
Vacations are America's second favorite money pit, after real estate. Considering the amount of money travelers spend on hotel rooms and restaurants, to try to pay for a vacation while you already have debt is next to impossible. Sure you may work hard, but you'll have to work even harder if you compound your debt problems with a vacation.
2. A Swimming Pool Would Be Fun!
When it comes to home renovations, many people finance them with a loan. If you already have debt, adding more debt in the form of a home renovation loan is not doing your wallet any favors. As much as it might seem irresistible to put in a pool or add a new addition to your home, you need to fight that urge and eliminate your existing debt first.
1. My Car Requires Premium Gas
Study after study has proven that premium gas does absolutely nothing of benefit to your car. Not better mileage. Not better cleaning (as if purchasing gasoline with additives is somehow better than pure gasoline). It doesn't even make you look cooler, because people are now aware that only fools purchase premium gas. If you are not paying down your debt so you can put premium gas in your car, then to call you a moron would be to insult morons.
Summary
Paying debt is probably nobody's idea of a good time. But every excuse you use to delay the inevitable only makes matters worse. The effect of interest increases your balance and any additional spending you add to the pile pushes you further from the finish line. With uncertain economic times down the road, its always a good idea to try to get rid of your debts. So put the excuses to rest, and start getting rid of that debt!
Are you someone who makes up excuses to avoid paying down debt? What are some of the excuses you use? Are there any things on this list that will help you change your spending habits to help get rid of debt?