Lou knows his family is in a vicious cycle with credit cards. He’s just not sure how to get out.
Bills and credit-card payments eat up most of the Mansfield, Ohio, family’s income, leaving them little left over to pay for groceries and other basics. So they wind up charging more.
“My family has about $12,000 in debt to credit-card companies,” Lou wrote in an e-mail. “We want to stop using these cards and get this fixed. But we are ‘bridging the gap’ with credit.”
Like many families, Lou’s clan already has trimmed some of the obvious expenses, such as eating in restaurants. But really getting your budget in line may require rethinking just about everything on which you spend money.
Look at the biggies first…
The biggest savings often lie in the areas where you spend the most money: housing, transportation, food, insurance, health care and clothing. Here are some ideas for places to look for savings. MORE