Everyone has heard the old saying ‘you have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run.’  It’s no different with your finances.  If you look at it any other way, you will continue to feel frustrated and it will be easier to give up than to keep going.

Make an Easy Plan.  The first small step you need to take is to get a small amount of cash on hand to handle some of those frustrating emergencies that pop up from time to time.  Shoot for between $1,000 and $1,500 in cash for emergency purposes. 

The best thing to do here is to sell some items in your home.  Look around for things you no longer need.  Gather them together and have a garage or yard sale.  You will be surprised at how quickly you can put together several hundred dollars.  But do not stop there. 

Once you have that little fund going, add to it by working a few odd jobs in your community like mowing some yards, cleaning a house or two, etc.  Create an Ad on a piece of paper (even if it is handwritten) and stick it up on the bulletin board in your favorite supermarket.  Write your phone number at the bottom in small strips vertically and cut them so that the reader can easily tear one off and take it home to call you.

Save Automatically.  Most employers will allow you to automatically deposit your paycheck into a bank account of your choice.  In fact, most will allow you to deposit specific amounts from your paycheck into different accounts.  Set up an account solely for the purpose of saving and then have a small amount automatically deposited into it from each paycheck.  Even $10.00 is a good start.

Prioritize Your Debts.  Now sit down and look at all of your debts.  Write down on a piece of paper the name of the creditor, and the amount owed.  Then sort that list (number each item) by the lowest to highest amount.

Pay off your smallest debt first while maintaining a minimum payment on the rest.  Then, once it is paid off, take that money you used to pay it off and tackle the next, higher amount and work on it until it is gone.  Before you know it, you will have paid off more than you could have imagined.  In this manner, you can avoid having to file for bankruptcy which will put a long-term spot on your credit history.

If you begin to take these steps and move towards a goal, you’ll eventually get there.  Doing nothing and take aim at nothing will get you nothing.  Start today and you will be on your way to financial stability sooner than you think.