HOW TO GET RID OF BAD DEBT

 By Matata Mercy

Are you very deep in debt and almost drowning and you do not know what to do? 

If you are, you are not alone. 

I have been there. In 2017, I was broke and in debt with no savings to my name. 

Can you imagine drinking water in the sacket for 100 shillings was hard for me. I couldn't afford it.

 I was thirsty and no one could give me water for free. 

I pleaded with the shop keeper to just help me and give me the water and I would pay later but he refused. 

Can you imagine I had to walk about 21km back home before I could quench my thirst. 

From that day, I vowed never to be broke again. 

Today I will share with you some tips on how to get rid of debt and also become financially independent.

1.Accept your situation

When you are deep in debt and broke, with zero savings and no job. 

The first thing you can do to help yourself is to accept the position that you are in. 

In simple terms, accept reality. Hiding from the fact will not save you or make any change to your situation. 

Trying to drive that fuel guzzler to keep up with your friends when you can barely afford to buy that fuel will not clear your debt. 

Accept that you are broke and in debt. 

If you want to go somewhere where you can go on foot, just walk. Do not mind about what others will say.

 If they care about you, they will give you a lift when they find you on the way. 

When you accept your situation as it is right now, you are preparing your mind to get out of this bad debt situation.

2.No one is coming to save you.

One thing that you should know is that you are on your own.

No one is coming to save you. It happened to me. When i was still at university, i got so many job offers.  

These job offers came from some close relatives of mine namely my uncles aunties and also some family friends. 

On learning  that I was at University studying telecommunications engineering, many of these people told me that after completing my course, all I have to do is handover my CV to them and everything will be okay. 

I believed them. But the day after I graduated, it was a different story. 

All the people who promised me jobs did not act on their promises. 

All those promises remained what they were, only promises.

 The joy of graduating had turned into sorrow. I was at my parent's home, unemployed. 

That is when i realised that i was on my own and no messiah was coming to save me.

 I had to start thinking of what to do now. Something that could put money in my pocket to help pay the bills. 

At that  moment,the diploma and the degree that i had all looked useless and didn't matter. 

What mattered now was to find something that I could do. 

That's how i ended up however working at a construction site as a helper. 

Carrying bricks, cement and serving mortar. It was not easy to humble myself to that level. 

Seeing your friends whom you graduated with doing well and you way lower than them can be painful. 

But you need to accept those humble beginnings. You can lift yourself up from there.

3.Having a budget is important.

When I was still young, I used to think that budgeting was only for the people who are rich. I was wrong.

 I have now learnt that even when you have very little money, you can still have a budget. 

Another mindset shift is that most people think that budgeting is all about outlining the bills that have to be paid on a piece of paper. 

But truth be told, that is not a budget. 

A real budget should include your wants, savings and investment,emergency fund and your needs. Your wants should be the last on the list. 

If you truly want to get rid of bad debt, you will need to make a budget for any amount of money that you get in your hands.  

Practicing this skill will help you all your life.Or else, you will forever remain in poverty.

4.Learn how wealthy people think.

Yes, the reason why rich people are rich is because they have a different mindset. 

The rich spend a lot of their time reading and gathering knowledge. 

All you can do is get yourself some books on finances that you can read. 

You can also learn new skills that can help you earn money.

 Thanks to the internet, there are tools that you can use to learn new skills like upwork and skill share. 

You can also get some free tutoring on Youtube.

 The wealthy save money for investments. Wealthy people do not save just for the sake of saving.

 They are strategic. I hope these tips will help you get rid of bad  debt if you are currently deep in debt. Good luck.