I’m not even surprised when we get hit by load shedding, water outages and petrol price increases anymore.
As South Africans, it’s like we have just come to accept being hit by the cost of living and factors which affect our quality of life.
And that is actually very sad.
The latest petrol price increase, set to come into effect on Wednesday, will see prices rising as follows:
– Petrol 93 – increase of 51 cents per litre
– Petrol 95 – increase of 51 cents per litre
– Diesel 0.05 – increase of 143 cents per litre
– Diesel 0.005% increase of 144 cents per litre
– Illuminating paraffin – increase of 77 cents per litre
– LPGAS – decrease of 98 cents per kilogram
Once again, our disposable income will be affected as we will have to fork out more money just getting to and from work, and getting the children to and from school.
Get rid of your debt: If there is one thing you should commit to doing in 2023, it’s getting rid of your debt.
If you are not able to do so completely, at least just keep working at it.
If you feel yourself on shaky financial ground, here are some things to consider:
Get out of denial: Acknowledge to yourself that you are struggling with your finances. Don’t ignore phone calls and letters from your creditors. Don’t be too hard on yourself and feel guilty or ashamed about a bad financial situation. Things are tough all round, for everyone.
Become proactive about your debt: Don’t wait until you have missed payments and creditors have started contacting you. Contact your creditors directly about the possibility of restructuring (making arrangements) on your debt repayments.
Pay off the debts with the higher interest rates first: If you can, increase the amount you pay back each month and start with your debt that has the highest interest rate. As you pay off one debt, take that money you used to pay the now paid-up debt, onto another account.
Putting extra money into your accounts means you’ll be significantly reducing your term and interest charged, thereby paying less on your debt and getting it done quicker.
Contact a debt counsellor if you don’t feel up to dealing directly with your creditors: There is a NCR regulated fee attached to this. From personal experience, I know that when you are drowning in debt and you are being harassed by debt collectors all day, it impacts your work and home life. You might not even know what you owe to who, and what your options are, especially in terms of having your monthly debt instalments lowered.
Registered debt counsellors take the strain of negotiating with creditors off your plate. There are definitely pros and cons to this debt relief option. Debt review isn’t for everyone, but it has helped thousands of mense to become debt free. I don’t think there is any harm in looking it at, to see if it can help ease your debt burden.
Be careful of using your home loan to consolidate your debt: You don’t want to put your home at risk by consolidating your debt and then falling behind on your repayments. Also remember that, while the interest rate may be lower on a home loan, the repayment term is much longer.
Stop spending money on unnecessary things: Everyone is tightening their belts. There really is no shame in simply saying: “I can’t afford this anymore.” Cut down on using your credit cards to eat out, buying more clothes or anything that gets you further into debt. Train yourself to recognise what is a want and what is a need, make a list when you go grocery shopping (and stick to it) and avoid impulse buys.
Don’t take on new debt: Just don’t. No matter how great the agent on the other side of the line makes it sound. Now is not the time to get another credit card or another retail account.
Try and save some money: I hate to even write this, because there truly are people who don’t even have R100 to save. In all honesty, I think telling someone who has no bread or electricity to save money is downright condescending and smacks of privilege. So this is intended for those who do have some extra cash – get an emergency fund going. It doesn’t matter how small the amount, put away some money. Should you not have a little stashed away, chances are you will need to take out a high-interest loan if an emergency hits.
Work on getting a good credit score: Many people don’t realise the value of a good credit score. The better your credit score, the less expensive the credit you are granted will be, and the lower your monthly instalments.
Zubeida Nusterdien, a registered debt counsellor at ezDebt Solutions, encourages people to gain control of their finances, sooner rather than later.
“When people are in financial distress, many tend to dwell in denial or feel sorry for themselves for so long; that it just makes things so much worse!
“Pretending that your debt does not exist will not magically make it disappear.
“Rather acknowledge the problem and actively look for debt solutions which can ease your financial burden,” says Nusterdien.