*Updated 12/31/2008*

At the beginning of this year I opened a high-yield savings account, something that has been a goal of mine for a long time. After much research on the best high-yield savings programs, I chose to open my account with ING Direct. One of the reasons I chose ING was because of their excellent customer service reviews and their great referral program.

I got $25 free when I opened my ING account with at least $250.

Once you open your ING account, you can then get $10 for each person you refer that starts their account with at least $250.  This referral program works for either the ING Orange savings account, or the ING Electric Orange checking account.

The current APY’s are as follows:

• ING Orange Savings -2.50%% APY
• ING Electric Orange Checking -up to 2.80% APY

If you’d like to get a referral for the free $25, just leave a comment with your preferred email.

(Please note:  don’t type your exact email, otherwise bots will pick it up and you’ll start getting spammed!  It should look something like johndoe @ youremailserv dot whatever)

Need more information?  Check out this post at Get Rich Slowly, or go straight to the ING Direct website.

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Last month I felt paralyzed by my debt. I felt like I was getting nowhere.  I was worried and stressed out all the time.  I had over $20,000 of student loans entering repayment, and a monthly budget that was already stretched to the max.  After recalculating my budget and making a few cuts here and there I would be able to make all of my minimum payments, with a measly $50 extra to put towards my credit card debt.  Things were not looking good.

This happens to everyone at some point. The situation:  You’ve been paying off as much as you can towards your debt every month, and you feel like you should be making progress. Instead, you feel like you’re getting nowhere. Like me, you feel completely defeated by your debt.

This is probably the hardest part of getting out of debt. At some point, you’re just going to want to throw in the towel. That won’t make your debt go away, and it certainly won’t help. 

Here are some ideas:

Have a goal – Want to buy a home someday? Take a trip around the world? Whatever your goal is, keep it in mind.  I like to keep pictures of my goals near my desks at work and at home.  They are a good reminder that what you’re doing today is helping you reach your goal even faster!

Visualize – Think ahead- imagine yourself as being completely debt free! Calculate how much you’re paying towards your debt every month, and imagine being able to put all of that towards your goals each month!

Reward yourself – Now, when I say this I don’t mean to go and spend $200 on a trip to the spa. Treat yourself to something small, but something that you can take time to enjoy. Important Note: this tip only works for some people. I don’t do it because I don’t have the greatest self control when shopping. 

Switch to the Debt Snowball Method – If you’re not using this method already, it will work great for boosting your confidence! How does it work?

1. Order your debts from the lowest balance to the highest balance.

2. Pay the minimum on everything except for your debt with the lowest balance.

3. Pay as much as you can afford to pay towards that lowest balance debt, and before you know it you’re wiping out one debt after another!

How does this method work? While it won’t necessarily save you the most money on interest, it will definitely give you the boost of confidence that you need! Seeing results faster really gets you pumped about paying off your debts, and keeps you going strong on your road to financial freedom!

Here is some more info about Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball Method.

Do Something Extreme to Boost Your Payments- This one is tough to implement, but will definitely have some big results.  That nice new car you got last year: do you really need it?  How about satellite TV?  Your gym membership?  I’m not telling you to get rid of everything, but some things just aren’t necessary.  You have to step back from your situation and ask yourself if you’re truly living within your means.

I realized that my plan was just not working for me. While I was spending less than I make, it was way too close for comfort.   So of course, being the silly person that I am, I chose to do something extreme.

Here’s what I’ve done in the last month to get ahead:

1.  The BF and I postponed our trip to Cali  (I was bummed, but I knew that we would end up spending more than we had saved up.)

2.  I found someone to move into my bedroom, and I will move into BF’s bedroom  (I’m fairly sure we won’t end up killing each other, and it will save each of us $115 per month)

3.  I had a rummage sale  (This was definitely a great choice.  We got rid of a lot of our junk we didn’t want anymore, and made a few hundred bucks!)

4. I canceled my membership to the YMCA (I got a good deal through work, but when I can run outside for free it just didn’t make sense to keep paying for the membership.)

And finally,

5.  I SOLD MY CAR  (My precious Honda Civic is gone.  Yes, I cried a little after I sold it, but there will be others.  The worst part was that the guy who bought it was planning on driving it to California.  Dammit!  I was supposed to be the one driving my car to California!  Boo.)

So now I regularly ride the bus for $28 per month, and use my BF’s old junker car to get around when I need to.  I didn’t get to take my nice 2 week vacation to sunny California, but I will survive.

Doing that stuff was difficult, but now I can say that it was totally worth it.  I can easily make all of my monthly payments, and now I have a lot more extra money to put towards my debt!  I paid off my auto loan, and two of my highest interest credit cards since these changes.  I’m on a roll

 I’d like to hear your stories.  What have you done to boost your debt payments?  Was it something extreme?  Let’s hear it!

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