Tightening Your Belt to Get out of Credit Card Debt (cont.)
Contributed by Alix Mcmurray
What Is the Recipe for Credit Card Debt?
One of the many "tricks" to losing weight is to pay more attention to the food you eat. Chew carefully, taste carefully, be mindful of the process of eating, and don't eat on the run or while doing something else. Such mindfulness can serve you well in analyzing your credit card debt. It isn't just what you've bought. Sit down and examine your statements for the last several months -- or several years.
Chances are, in addition to a steadily increasing APR, you've been assessed a host of fees, including: annual, late, overlimit, returned check, cash advance, express payment, and others. It's true, that extra cookie, doughnut, soda or helping of pasta won't make you fat in isolation. It's the cumulative effect of all of them that makes the flab.
Balance Configurations -- the Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate Composition of Your Credit Card Debt
Just as the caloric properties of foods determine how easily they are stored as fat, so do the different balance configurations on your card determine how much of a finance charge you will be assessed. To gain insight into this and other related topics, a helpful reference is Alexander Daskaloff's "Credit Card Debt: Reduce Your Financial Burden in Three Easy Steps." Just as keeping a food log can help some people lose weight, so too does keeping a log of your accrued balances and new transactions in order to begin the battle of the credit card bulge.
