by Barry Marcus

Created on: May 17, 2009   Last Updated: July 30, 2009

Becoming debt free will change your life! The long term pay-off provides a huge incentive to commit to the short-term sacrifice that is required to get out of debt.

Debt can be a major source of stress. As debt builds, it becomes more and more difficult to manage. An increased income seems to have no effect and each month becomes another struggle to make end meet. Without drastic action, the cycle will continue for many years resulting in blacklisting by credit bureaus and worse.

Debt consolidation is often marketed and presented as a solution. Debt consolidation will not get you out of debt. It may ease the budget, but it simply transforms short term debt into long term debt.

In extreme cases, sequestration or bankruptcy may be the only answer, providing the opportunity to start over. But you start over with nothing and have to live through a period of rehabilitation.

For most, a debt elimination plan provides the answer. If you follow the steps carefully you should be able to get out of debt relatively quickly.

Begin by LISTING EACH DEBT:

- how much you owe,

- the rate of interest and

- the remaining term of the debt.

The list must include everything you owe including loans and arrears on current accounts.

Follow this with a full and honest REVIEW of your SPENDING PATTERN. If you are not certain where the money goes, carry a notebook at all times and record what is spent and on what. COMPARE what you SPEND against your INCOME.

Involve the entire household to carefully SCRUTINISE what you spend.

IDENTIFY what can be CUT from your monthly spending. Which items can be eliminated from the spending plan without having a major impact on your lifestyle?

Suspend any monthly investment plans for now, but do not stop your life insurance or retirement funding unless this can be achieved without penalties.

Speak to your creditors. Perhaps the bank will agree to interest only mortgage payments or to reduce the interest charged on your credit card.

DRAW UP A NEW SPENDING PLAN. The new spending plan is based on the old one without the eliminated items. You should be left with a small surplus. This SURPLUS is the vehicle for your plan to GET OUT OF DEBT.

If you haven't managed to find a surplus, then repeat these steps. It may be necessary to compromise on brands or to make some lifestyle adjustments until the get out of debt plan starts to produce results.

The main idea of the get out of debt plan is to TARGET your debts ONE AT A TIME. Each debt that is

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