Posted by Lending Club :: January 16, 2008 @ 6:47 am

As I removed my Christmas tree and started pulling down my other Christmas decorations, the simplicity of what remained in my home was striking. It inspired me to consider other ways to simplify my life.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Christmas and the decorations that come with it. It’s just that when those decorations are removed, the remaining starkness opens up a world of possibilities. As I said in my previous post, Simplify Your Life, you realize that you don’t need a lot of stuff to make your home beautiful or your life happy. Removing the clutter does all those things and more.

We can apply the lessons learned here to the clutter in our financial lives as well. For many of us, the decorations are the glamour of bad debt and the objects that debt allows us to acquire. Taking a step back, we would likely realize that we could easily live without many of the things we purchase. This knowledge can help us avoid the temptation to spend beyond our means, particularly if we’re spending money on things that we don’t really need.

As we become less dependent on credit cards, we can simplify collateral clutter as well. Specifically, we can reduce the many credit card bills that we pay each month down to one payment by consolidating our debt. A good way to accomplish this goal is by obtaining a person-to-person loan on Lending Club. Not only will you have fewer bills to pay, but the low interest rates you’ll likely receive from Lending Club will also save you money month after month. This in turn paves the way for increased saving and investment.

The glitz of the holiday season is exciting and can easily distract us from the things that truly matter to us. By paring things down to their bare essentials, we create a situation upon which a solid base (financial or otherwise) can be built.