I have a friend whose name is Kimberly. Somehow she got herself buried so deep in debts that nobody believed she could recover or rebuild her life to start over. A lot of people even predicted that she would go bankrupt in a matter of months. Some of her relatives suggested that she engage the help of professionals like Freedom Debt Relief (FDR) to help solve her debt issues. The programs offered by organizations like FDR aim towards helping people like Kimberly to settle their debts and possibly counsel them towards living a life free of debt. So Kimberly decided to follow their advice and got some help with her debts. However, she also knew that enrolling in debt relief programs may help solve only her current situation. In the long run, she would have to take some drastic measures of her own in order to be rid of debts all her life.

Kimberly told me that it took all the willpower and strength of mind she had to see herself through all that she had to do to stay off debts. The first thing she knew she had to do was to stop acquiring more debts. So she started freezing her credit cards in big blocks of ice and stuffed them in her freezer. I suppose the chicken and fish would have to be stored elsewhere. She did not close the accounts of her credit cards yet because she still had to pay off her credit card debts. She started living on cash and cash only. Anything she did not have the money for she would cross it out as being “unaffordable”.

The next thing she did was to prioritize. With the help of professionals, she determined which debt was of the utmost importance in terms of repayment. She went through all her debts and reorganized everything until she managed to put them in order of repayment urgency. She started paying off all the debts especially those of credit cards with the highest interest rates. Of course, she had to endure many annoying phone calls from her other creditors demanding that she should make the payments in full but she persevered and stuck to her guns. Every month she would make it a point to pay her debts according to her own repayment plan. Although there were days where she had to eat only one meal a day she knew she had to go through it all with gritted teeth because she understood that it was all simply a temporary setback.

Kimberly has what many people would describe as a power of persuasion. When many people would rather be eaten alive by a bear than sitting down face to face with the same creditors who had been harassing them day and night to discuss repayment options, she went ahead to make the first call to make the necessary appointments to hold discussion with her creditors under the observation of professional financial advisors. What amazes me even more is that she managed to negotiate her way to a debt reduction as well as a new repayment plan that suited her financial capabilities at the time.

She also completely changed her lifestyle. If previously she was so into luxurious items and high-end goods she learned to adapt to her financial situation and settled with regular goods. She learned to cook and although she was not a very good one she managed to eat all her meals at home and only indulged in eating out once a month. She said that it was the lifestyle change that contributed most to her being able to rebuild her life once again.

People like Kimberly never cease to amaze me. Just when everybody else thinks there is simply no hope for her she went ahead to prove every single one of them wrong. Of course not a lot of people even noticed the changes and tribulations that she had to go through but for the people who did, like me, we learn to appreciate her more and make it a point never to underestimate her willingness to change for the better.

Author Bio: freedom debt relief

Category: Finances
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