People suffer in the modern world just because of their over-the-line posh lifestyles. Credit cards are one of those unspoken demons who take people into dark pits of debt even without their own knowledge. But there are ways for you to enjoy those credit card benefits as well as be free of unnecessary debt. Also similarly, there are ways to get rid of that credit card debt which you are already in. Here is how!

How to get rid of Credit Card Debt

01. Plan and set goals

First of all, you have to be realistic or else you will never get out of debt in time. Think of how you got into debt and then also think about how much you have now in hand. Then pre-meditate on how much you will have in your hand in the future. Think about all the other debts you have. Then sit down and plan on how you are going to pay off each one of them. Make a plan of paying off your credit card debt slowly and carefully. Set a monthly goal. But remember, it has to be realistic.

02. Ice Ice Baby

This is one of the most effective methods. It is based on the simple principle of “If you want to get rid of something, stop adding to it.” It means that you have to stop using your credit cards for a while. Do not worry. Once you have paid off all the debts and you are ready to stop bad habits of spending too much and spending on unwanted things. When you stop using credit cards for a while, there are 2 main benefits. One is that you will not have more debt adding to your account. Secondly, you will learn to live on limited finances and to thrift.

03. Cut and cut more

This is so simple. Stop spending too much. Just like you followed the first step, sit down. Make a list. Make a list of things you spend on based on their amount. When you have decided on what you have spent mostly on, think twice whether you need to actually spend on that. Likewise, continue downwards. Then you will realize how much extra spending you have been doing. When you keep on doing it you will cut down on many things than you have ever imagined. Another method is to think twice when you are going to buy something.

04. Stop impulsive buying

This is another modern-day problem faced by many people because of online shopping. When you go searching for something you want online, after you select the certain item to and select buy, you see certain items suggested to you saying that other people bought those items too. Those are programmed to enter your mind and compel you to buy other items that you actually did not want in the first place. And when you are tempted to buy them you spend additional money than you wanted to spend. They add up to your credit card debt. And you end up in a bottomless pit of debt. So, stopping impulsive buying thinking of the debt you are in and buying something online only if you really need it will help you big time.

Ways to Stop Overspending on Impulse Buys. Read now

05. Use the most famous method

Many people have a lot of ideas when it comes to getting rid of debt. If you see closely, you will understand that there are more people who were immensely in debt and got out of it than people who lost it all and could not get out of debt at all. So, use their ideas. But analyze them according to your ability to pay the debts off. If you choose a method just because you found that method appealing, it will not be so good for you. It does not guarantee that you will be able to get rid of the debt. So what you can do is combine a method used by many with your achievable goals. Then you will have the perfect plan to get rid of all your credit card debts. But you have to work according to your plan because nothing works out on their own.

Also, you can read our article on 05 Ways on How to Get Rid of Debt from here. Good luck getting out of your credit card debt! You can do it!

Here we are bringing you five useful tips on how to manage your money and how not to be stressed about being in debt. There’s nothing wrong about being in debt if you can pay them off duly without having to go through troubled days.

Luckily, there are many ways to get rid of debt, and not all of them will make you miserable. Some of these tips we highlight below can even be used in tandem in order to help you squash debt faster.

How to Get Rid of Debt

Ready to get rid of debt? Here are 05 ways to get going.

01. The Snowball Method

The first step of this method is to make a list of all the debts you owe (from smallest to largest). And collect all your excess funds and pay off the smallest debt. While doing this pay the minimum payment amount on your larger debts such as credit card debts. 

When the smallest debt is paid, you will get the chance to use those excess funds to pay the next smallest debt. By continuing this method while paying attention to due dates on the side, you will be able to manage the debts and get rid of them sooner than you think to give you sustainable mental satisfaction as well.

02. Paying more than the Minimum Amount

People have many types of debts; credit cards, personal loans, student loans, etc. And many people choose the method of just paying the minimum amount due. This is not the best practice. The most ideal method would be to pay them sooner when you have money. It won’t hurt to pay a bit more than the minimum due payment because it will help you get out of debt sooner than planned. 

For this, you have to be cautious about the payment plan beforehand. When you borrow money, make sure that you will not have to face any prepayment penalty charges. Some lenders have these kinds of rules and regulations in their agreements, so be sure not to obtain such a loan at all times possible.

03. Bid Goodbye to Expensive Habits

You may have heard many stories about how millionaires and billionaires lost everything because of their expensive habits. This culture has become almost unavoidable due to Social Media and popular culture. But this does not mean that you cannot avoid the wave. If you do the best to ditch all your expensive habits while on debt, you will be able to pay off them sooner and live a real stress-free life. 

Look carefully at how you spend your income on a daily basis. Maybe you eat out too often, maybe you try out expensive malls too often, maybe you go out with friends to expensive places too often, maybe you want to keep up with the trends so much that you buy expensive attire too often. All these unwanted habits can be dropped if you try. And once you are out of debt and pretty stable on your own, you will be able to do those again. But remember that it is never a good idea to get used to expensive habits.

10 Expensive Habits You Can, And Should, Break Today. Read now

04. Negotiation is the Key

Always try to bring the interest rates down by negotiating with the credit card providers. Many people get into the trap of debts because of credit card usage. But if one can use them wisely, credit cards can also be your savior. It is all about how you handle the payments and how you choose a credit card provider. 

Always go for a lesser interest rate. Always try to negotiate and bring down interest rates. There are so many customizable credit card plans available at the moment. 

Not only credit card bills, but there are also several other types of bills and debts which you can customize or negotiate to bring it down. And in addition, keep track of all your debts and bill payments in an orderly manner, so that you would not miss any payment and face unwanted penalty fees.

05. Summer Jobs and Part-time Jobs

Are you someone who gets a long summer holiday? Do you have any time after your daily usual work? Then it would be a great idea to do a summer job or a part-time job in the time left. This idea works out best for students but might fit regular work people as well. 

Seasonal jobs and part-time jobs have been around for a long time and practically pop-up everywhere when needed. Take a stroll around the alley and you will find a dozen job opportunities. Some might require physical activities while others don’t. Think of the requirements and the pay they are offering and choose a better seasonal or part-time job and save up some money to pay off the debts. Choose a reliable job carefully so that you would not be disappointed on the payment day.

There you go. Our 05 ways to get rid of debt and breathe fresh air into your debt-free journey. Try a few of these tips and see if they work for you. Cheers to a debt-free life.

How to get rid of Credit Card Debt? Read how

It is great if you know a couple of tie knots that can be used on different occasions rather than wearing the same thing every day. Here, we will be looking into some famous tie knots with a step-by-step guide and informative illustrations.

The most widely used tie knot is the simple knot or the oriental knot. Other than that, here are some other ways of tying your tie knot;

Types of Tie Knots

1. Four In Hand Knot
2. Half Windsor Knot
3. Full Windsor Knot
4. Nicky Knot
5. Bow Tie Knot
6. Kelvin Knot
7. Pratt Knot
8. St. Andrew Knot
9. Balthus Knot
10. Hanover Knot
11. Plattsburgh Knot
12. Grantchester Knot and etc.

Now, let’s look into five of those styles in detail. Of the types of tie knots first, the simplest of them all.

The Simple/Oriental Knot

Your tie should be draped around the collar, seam-inwards, thick end to the left and placed 2 / 3 inches lower than the finishing spot.

Then bring the thick end across the front of the narrow end and pass it back behind it, both horizontally.

Then pass it again across the front of the know from left to right and then behind the knot from right to left and then again in front of the knot. This time from left to right.

Put your finger under this loop.

Hold the tip of the think end, bring it up from behind the knot and put it under the third loop and pull it down. Now, you should be able to adjust it by holding the knot from one hand and pulling the narrow end gently.

Four In Hand Knot

The first step is to wrap the tie around the collar, thick end to the left of yours hanging 3 / 4 inches lower than the narrow end.  And cross the thick end in front of the narrow end.

Then put the thick end behind the narrow end and again put it behind horizontally from right to left and do it once more.

Put your finger behind the second horizontal band and turn the thick end upward and put it through the loop (which you’ve been holding with your finger). Pull the thick end enough to make a tight knot. You can do it by gently pulling on the narrow end.

Full Windsor Knot

This is a bit tricky.

Drape the tie around the collar and leave the thick end hanging on the right beneath 4 / 6 inches down the waistband.

Cross the thick end horizontally in an ‘X’ shape in front of the narrow end. 

Put the thick end up and take it out from the top and put it behind the narrow end again.

Put the thick end up in front of the knot and take it out from the left side and put it horizontally in front of the knot from left to right.

Place a finger on that loop and bring the thick end underneath that loop around the collar. The tip should face upwards. 

Hold the thick end and bring it downwards through the loop you’ve been holding and make a knot. Smoothen the knot evenly with your hands and adjust it.

Full Windsor Knot or the Double Windsor requires rather a long tie than other knots and looks pretty neat on a suit.

Bow Tie Knot

Wrap the bow tie around the collar with one end longer than the other. The right end should be placed over the left end in an ‘X’ shape.

Make a loop with the longer end behind the ‘X’. Keep the long end aside.

Place your index finger on the widest part of the curve on the short end and fold creating a bow shape. Keep it closer to the neck as possible.

Put the long end back from in front of the middle of the bow shape and bring it down to make a nice bow shape.

Then fold the long end to make a wing and tuck it through the loop you’ve made. Make the wings symmetrical. 

And when you are done with the final adjustments, you have a fine bow tie ready to come with you!

Pratt Knot

Wrap the tie around the collar, seam outwards, thick end to the left and 1-2 inches lower than the preferred finishing spot.

Cross the thick end under the narrow end to form an ‘X’ shape and pass it through the loop.

Put the thick end horizontally in front of the knot from right to left and put a finger to hold a loop.

Take the thick end from the back of the knot and put it through the loop creating the knot. You can adjust this by pulling on the narrow end as most of the other tie knots.

This is rather an easy knot.

Now you know 5 of the many ways to tie a tie knot. And something is better than nothing!

1. Flash Light Alerts

There are notification lights in Android and Blackberry, but some users were disappointed by their absence in iOS. Do not worry. They are not absent. You can make your phone send notification alerts using the flashlight. 

Simply follow the below steps to activate this feature.

Settings > General > Accessibility > LED Flash for Alerts and press the toggle button. If you enable Flash on Silent mode, you will receive a flash notification even when your phone is on silent mode.

2. How to access built-in emojis

You obviously know what emojis are. There are several apps available on the App Store to make your phone have emojis. But did you know that you don’t have to download them? Because you can access the built-in emojis on your phone. 

Open Settings > General > Keyboard > Add New Keyboard. Then swipe through the list until you find Emoji.

You’ll now see the language keyboard you chose at the initial setup of your iPhone, as well as the emoji keyboard. Which means you’ve enabled emoji keyboard and are ready to use.

3. Hidden Accents on your iPhone

People don’t only type on their iPhones purely in English. There are several other languages which they use including ones which require accents, such as French and Spanish.

There is a hidden feature on iOS to allow you type in words with accents so easily. Normally you can’t see them on your onscreen keyboard but it does not mean that they are not there. You have to enable the option and press and hold special keys to add the accents. To know which keys to press, follow the link below.

4. Call Blocking and Text Blocking

You might have a couple of people in your life whose voice you don’t want to hear again and whose words you don’t want to see again. You might want to keep them out of your life for good. May it be a personal affairs problem or a spamming businessman, you can block them from phone, messages and even FaceTime now. 

You can block them from the contacts app if you have saved the number. If not, just block them from the app which they contacted you. Simple as that.

1. Open the Phone app and tap Recent

1. Tap the I icon next to the number you wish to block to open its detailed information screen.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Block This Caller.
3. In the confirmation screen, either tap Block Contact to block the number or tap Cancel if you change your mind.

5. How to Change Siri’s Voice  

Apple has its own digital personal assistant. It has a nice female voice with the ability to showcase certain emotions with her voice. There is a trick where you can make Siri a man. This works if you are using iOS 7 upwards.

Follow the steps given below to make Siri a man!

Settings > Siri > Search Siri Voice > Male

Just after these few steps, Siri’s manly voice will start to download and then be ready to use.

6. Forward texts to share

You don’t have to copy and paste the message every time you want to share a message with a person or a group of people. Just press and hold the message you want to share and a pop-up will appear with the feature to forward. From there, you can choose whom you want to share the message with.

1. Tap Messages.
2. Select the conversation that includes the message you want to forward.
3. Tap and hold the message you want to forward. A menu appears at the bottom of the screen that offers several choices including Copy, Save, and More (in iOS 10, reaction options appear above the text message).
4. Tap More.
   
5. The message you selected has a blue checkmark next to it, indicating that it’s ready to be forwarded. Tap other empty circles to forward those messages at the same time.
6. Tap Share (the curved arrow). A new text message screen appears with the message or messages you’re forwarding copied in the text area.
7. In the To field, type the name or phone number of the person you want to forward the message to. Include more than one person to send a group message.
   
8. Tap Send

7. Max the number of photos you take with a single shot

iPhones are famous for their amazing camera quality. You can capture stunning portraits, food photos and many more with this superior quality camera and unique effects. But there have been several complaints about the quality of action photos taken with iPhone cameras. But now, from iPhone 5s upwards, there is a feature called Burst Shot which allows you to take a number of photos with a single tap. 10 photos per second, to be exact. Now you can be assured that in a couple of those many photos, there is the perfect moment captured.

8. Disabling AMBER Alerts

With iOS 6, Apple introduced an AMBER alert system, which notifies you with emergency alerts issued in your area. If you find these notifications disturbing and unwanted, you can always disable them. But it is highly recommended that you keep them enabled.

However, here are the steps to disable them.

Settings > Notifications > AMBER alerts and toggle the button off.

9. Prevent advertisers from tracking you

Advertisers who use ad networks to track your website visits, make you see the same advertisement banner everywhere. This is disturbing much. So, you can block them from tracking you. It will not stop, but it will effectively reduce. If you are using iOS 6 upwards go to Settings > Privacy > Advertising > Limit Ad Tracking.

10. Frequent Locations

iOS can track your frequent locations and build patterns of your daily routes. And they will start providing you with the weather condition, traffic alerts and other information on your route. This is called Significant Locations. It is turned on by default. You can turn this off or change data by going to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Significant/Frequent Locations.

Let us know what you think about this article in the comments section.