Being in debt is such a stress for so many people because it’s all about control. If your debts stress you out, it’s because you’re not in control of your finances. Instead, you’ve let the companies that you owe money to take that control away. It doesn’t matter how much debt you’re in, if you feel in control of those debts then the stress quickly goes away.

Regain control of your debts, but how?
The first step is to understand exactly how much debt you’re in. Get together all of those bills and letters from your creditors. When you have your list, have a think about which debts are more important than others. For example, your mortgage payments are probably more important than your store cards, so make the list again in order of priority, this will help you get some kind of perspective, and may help later on if you need to talk to debt management companies.

Know how much you owe. How will you Gain Control from this?
By knowing how much you owe is crucial but the importance of knowing how much you earn and how much you left over after important expenses.

Have a list of all expenses, i.e. tax, fuel, housekeeping, and rent and calculate the monthly total. In order for you to determine how much money have left over to start paying back debts, subtract you total expenses from your income. I recommend getting a debt management company to help.

Don’t let your creditors take control of your life.
They lent you the money in the first place so it’s their responsibility to ensure you can afford to make the repayments. Learning more about your debt, income and expenses will help you make the right decisions.