Getting out of debt is more painful than getting into debt.  Everyone knows this.  With the economy as bad as it is, it’s hard to not rely on your credit for basic necessities like groceries and gas.  Learning to creatively trim your budget to snowball your debt payments is key to the elimination of your credit card debt.

How to get out of debt is not that complicated.  You must first take several steps.  The most important one is to know how much you owe for each card and their APR.  Once you know this, you can list them on a piece of paper or a spreadsheet.  Listing them in order of their APR is often suggested.  I listed them in order of amount owed because I would payoff the smaller ones as soon as possible.  This way, I could use the snowball method to accelerate payments on the next card I was paying off.  For example, I paid off a card and the payment was $50.00 a month.  The next month, I would pay the $50.00 I paid towards that card to the next credit card I wanted to eliminate.  That would accelerate the amount of time it would take me to pay it off.  Once that card was paid, I would add that payment amount plus the $50.00 to the next credit card I wanted to payoff.  Your payments snowball, thus the name Snowball Payments!

While you are working on your credit card debt elimination, you should also trim your budget.  Finding ways to reduce your daily expenses is not as hard as you think.  It may require some sacrifice, but it will be worth it.  What kind of sacrifice? One that pays in the long run.  Every extra dollar you trim from your budget, you can add to snowball your payments.  That will help you get out of debt more quickly.

A few things you can do to “find” money in your budget:

1. Eliminate your morning coffee, brew your own at home or work.
2. Don’t buy the paper, read it online. 
3. Brown bag your lunch. 
4. Carpool to work or school. 
5. Don’t go to the movies, rent a movie or read a book.
6. Cook more meals. 
7. Drink more water.  It will save you money and it’s good for you.

Getting rid of your credit card debt takes a conscious effort.  You may fail at times, but you just have to get up and start again.  Keep going until you reach your goal.  Most importantly,  remember the pain it caused you. That will help you to not fall into debt again.

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