How to Clean Your Debt Like Your Parents Clean La Casa

It’s Saturday morning. 

First, you hear the cumbias. Then, the smell of Fabuloso travels through your air vent. You exit your room – playing a game of “hot lava” because you don’t know where to step since every non-carpeted spot in the entire casa is still wet from having just been mopped. 

Welcome to your parents’ weekend cleaning marathon, mij@.

Although these times can be annoying, there’s peace in knowing you’ve lived your entire life in a sanitary house. Your parents have done their best to provide a safe, clean environment for you to thrive in. 

So, why not do the same to your finances?

Without a doubt, we are going through some crazy economic times. Whether it’s high inflation, increased interest rate, outrageous gas prices, or the never-ending student loan payments – we could all use a good Latin@-fied financial cleaning right now. 

Here’s some tips to get you started. And to make it easy, we’ve included links to videos straight from the SUMA Academy (our easy-to-follow, financial-literacy course) to help you out.

Clean Up Those Credit Cards

Having a good credit score is mandatory if you want to qualify for loans to buy a car or house. How you do this is: 1) Don’t be late with your payments, 2) Don’t charge too much. Just how your parents clean one-room-at-a-time, the same goes for your credit cards. Pay them off whenever possible. Start with the one that has the highest interest first. Check out this video for simple steps on how to keep an eye on your credit score.

Toss Out That Debt

Paying off debt is a great feeling. Almost as great as being the first person in line at the carne asada. The best way to deal with debt – is not to have it. You can do this by asking yourself “do I really need this” whenever you make a purchase. You’d be surprised how many times the answer is “no”. Take a look at this video for ways to create your very own “debt pay-off plan”. 

Polish That Budget 

No doubt, your parents have a specific order when it comes to cleaning the casa. Maybe they start with easier things, like dusting. Then they get into the hardcore stuff, like scrubbing bathroom tile. The same goes for your budget. Start with the most important items: rent, gas, car payment, student loans, etc. Then, budget for the non-essential things: Taco Tuesday, Starbucks, Las Vegas trip, etc. Creating a budget helps ease the anxiety of running out of money at the end of the month. Just be sure to spend only what’s in your budget – and this video can help you out!

Your amig@s at SUMA want you to make the most of your money – so be sure to download the SUMA app and sign-up for the Wealth Building Membership. We provide easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions to not only help you maintain your money – but to also help you grow it. We got your back, mij@