I might not be your friend in this letter and I’m OK with that! I’ll be the bad guy if that is what you need. If you want your debt to be suffocating you and putting a load of stress on your life, health and relationships… Don’t even bother reading this message! If you want to be free from debt and all its friends, then make that decision NOW (and read on).

In 2013, you will probably fall into one of these three categories. Which one fits you?

1. You will stay exactly where you are, which if you are like majority of people that is living paycheck to paycheck, and being stressed under the weight of debt.
2. You will get worse. Maybe something will happen this year and you’ll lose some income, or you will just continue to go further and further into debt.
3. You will start (or will head towards) becoming financially independent. You will say enough is enough. You will STOP going into debt, and take a step in the opposite direction!

Most will strive or make resolutions to fall into the third category. So what is your plan to achieve that this year? If you believe that increasing your income or winning the lottery will make you financially independent, man you are living in a dream world! That is a poverty mentality.

The first decade I was in business and making millions, I blew it all! I made money and lost it so many times before I figured it out. And I’m not the only example! Look at the 60% of NBA players who are declaring bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the statistical truth is the more money you make, the more money you spend! And usually, the farther in debt you are!

I want to talk to you about one quick thing that can help place you into category 3 this year. A lot of times people are just paying the minimum payment on debts, which as we know hardly covers the interest on most of them. And maybe you want to pay more but you just feel like if you were working a better job or if you had a higher income you could really cut into those past due bills or lofty credit card statements.

But what if you had that extra income the whole time, and you just never knew? What if I said I could help you find a couple hundred dollars a month (if not more!) that have been in hiding? If you want to stop the financial bleeding and the poverty mentality, you need to look at where your money is actually going.

Step 1: Print out your bank statement from the last 30 days. If you used cash, try to remember where all that cash went and write it down.

Step 2: Use different color highlighters to highlight how much you are spending on gas, food, fun money, or whatever. You clump things together however you like– just make them MAKE sense to you. When you are done, add up the totals.

Step 3: Assess. You spent how much money eating out this month? How much total money went to Starbucks runs or 711 trips? I have one person in particular who did this and discovered she was losing 1000 a month in bank fees. Uh, HELLO!  Aside from just being aware how much you spend where, you need to make sure there isn’t extra fees or charge mistakes that you are just letting slide by! That is your money!

Step 4: Decide what charges were really “fat.” You didn’t need to spend the money, but you did anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in having a fun budget. But is 200 bucks a week eating out and fattening your waist line worth it?

Step 5: USE THE FAT towards your debt. Over the years doing this with people the average is a couple hundred bucks, but the amount doesn’t matter. If it is even just 60 dollars a month you found in fat – start applying that money to your debt. In a year that is still over 700 extra dollars you just applied to paying off debt.

I know many of you have already done this in your personal finances but it also might be a great time to do it again! With new financial goals on the horizon, make sure you are going back over that statement and you KNOW where every dime went.

The one that always gets people is the grocery store. Oh, man. If you weren’t part of the Debt Elimination and Financial Independence seminar last year, we spent hours going over how to trim your grocery bill! If you find you’re dumping hundreds of dollars a week into the grocery store, yet still tossing out leftovers and old food – you should probably check it out.

I hope this gave you something to think about today. Dallas has put a fire under mine and I hope under some of your behinds to squash your debts and say goodbye to it for good!

And until next time, God bless!

In great faith,