Beating the Financial Heat

Pride season is all but over and the next chromatic-themed circuit party isn't for months. However, roasted nuts are just on the other side of your bondage-themed All Hallows'Eve party. Just when you thought you could clench your spending long enough to count to ten slowly, there's another season for laying out your cash, spread wide open before you.

What's a gender-neutral, two-legged homo(sapien) to do?

HERE ARE FIVE SUGGESTIONS:

KEEP YOUR WAD
Truth be told, there's never a season that doesn't suck up all your cash. That's a double negative both grammatically and financially. If you've spent too much money, acquired too much debt, or not saved enough for retirement these last three months of summer, now's the time to say "No" and mean "No..." Not "Faster" or "More."

Something that can't go on forever won't. It's a law of the universe. While you may be out of this world, you're still of this universe. Cut up your credit cards, increase your 401(k) contribution rate, start buying (dare we say) store brands and multiply your income streams.

GROW IT

Credit scores are more important than ever. A low credit score can preclude you from a loan or even a job. If you can get a loan with a low credit score, it will cost you more money in the long run, because your interest rate will be higher than if you had a high credit score.

Get your credit reports from the three credit rating agencies (TransUnion, Experian and Equinox), contest all inaccuracies and get on your knees to ask forgiveness for accurate negatives. Claim grandma was sick or the dog ate your bill and that's why you missed a payment.

GO UNDER
Get all your credit card balances below 50 percent of their total available credit. This is a trick for a quick credit score fix. Credit card balances below 50 percent of their total available credit don't negatively impact your credit score.

Don't stop there. Go all the way down to zero on all your credit cards, so you stop financing debt. Then cancel all your credit cards except for the one with the most history. The three credit rating agencies love it long, when it comes to credit history, so don't cut yourself short.

GET HEAD
All too many of us spend and live to keep up with Mr. and Mr. Jones and aren't living authentically. Get in your head and figure out what it is you most want in life, not what others want or others think you should want. When my partner and I figured out what we most wanted in life, everything fell in line for us to pay off our $51,000 in credit card debt and build our own business, making us financially independent and geo-liberated.

MEASURE IT
Download the Digit app and connect it to your checking account. Digit tracks your income and spending habits to predict your cash flow and transfers small amounts of money you won't miss into an FDIC-insured account that is accessible at any time. This is a great way to start your emergency savings or a holiday spending account.

This fun, double entendre advice, can help you recover from a summer of spending. When we're each stronger financially, we're stronger as a queer community. As we've recently been reminded, our fight for equality is not over. The stronger we are financially, the better equipped we are to continue our fight for equality.

For a weekly dose of financial strength, subscribe to the Debt Free Guys' Queer Money podcast, the #1 personal finance podcast for the LGBTQ community.

For more information about the Debt Free Guys, go to debtfreeguys.com