From Debt to Freedom: The Benefits of Proactive Debt Repayment

Don't wait for the perfect time to pay down your debt. People don't get out of debt because they don't even try. This could be about you. You want to do it, but you never do. No matter why, you put it off.

You want to wait until everything in your life is just right before you try. You tell yourself, "I'll start paying off my debt when I get that new job, that next promotion, or that next raise."

Maybe you are waiting for a date that has been made up. You tell yourself that the first of the year or when you get back from vacation will be a good time to start. No matter what it is, it always happens in the future.

I call this "putting things off in the perfect way." This lets you wait until everything is just right before taking any action. It makes me think of a story I read recently about a mother signing up her daughter for kindergarten

The mom, who was a teacher, took her daughter to kindergarten registration. The kindergarten teacher met them at a table just outside the room. She had some paper and crayons on the table. The mother watched from a distance as the teacher did what the mother knew to be a simple test of her daughter's skills.

The teacher told the child to pick her favorite color crayon and write her name on one of the pieces of paper.

The mother was watching from the sidelines. She knew that her daughter could not only spell her name, but also the names of everyone in her family. She was happy that her daughter was doing so well.

But the child did nothing but stand there and look at the crayons. The teacher asked her again to write her name and pick her favorite color. The child didn't move. Her mother knew she could do it, but she stayed out of the way so the teacher could take care of it. The teacher then put her arm around the girl and told her it was okay; she would learn how to write her name during the school year.

On the way home, the little girl's mother asked her why she didn't write her name. "She told me to write my name in my favorite color, but there was no pink crayon," her daughter said.

Even though the little girl could have done what was asked of her, she didn't because the situation wasn't ideal.

We often do the same things. When you're ready to deal with your debt, do what you can and don't wait for the perfect time. Even though having a plan is important, it is more important to just get started. You can make changes to a plan as you go along, but if you keep moving the start date, you'll never put your plan into action. So, don't wait for your pink crayon. Start now.