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As a former debt collector I have seen many people in way over their heads when it comes to managing their finances. Most people in this situation are so lost when it comes to managing their money they have no idea what they can do to help themselves. The good news is I have firsthand experience watching many people clean up some nasty situations in just a year or two.

The first thing most people who get out of debt do is realize the person who is causing the problems is staring at them in the mirror every morning. Yeah, I know it isn't easy to admit but you need to do it if you want to get on with your life. All those morning coffee runs or DVD binges or that super deluxe 250 channel cable system cost you a ton of money every year. How much?

A $3 coffee run every morning before work costs you $780 a year.

Want to buy that new release DVD every week? That ends up costing you about $1,040 before tax.

Worst of all is the super deluxe cable. Digital Cable with all the bells and whistles costs about $250 a month (with all the PayPerView channels). Over the course of a year that is $3,000 as opposed to regular old 65 channel cable which would run you $650 or so.

Every single person I watched successfully get out of debt gave up something like the above examples and parlayed that savings into their debt. Most people made significant advances in three to six months. Even the most hopeless cases were starting to see the light after a year of controlling their spending.

After deciding what to cut out of their lifestyle in order to attack their debts head on most people then go over all the debt they have and list it out. Your bank might even have financial management software built into their online banking suite which can help you track all your debt. This can be a huge help to some people because they have instant access into all their accounts and can see quickly if there are any errors on their account which are costing them money.

Once all the debt is listed in one place it is time to start contacting the creditors and negotiating for better terms. This is uncomfortable and time consuming but it will save you money every year and ultimately means you pay off your debt faster. The idea here is to pay as little as possible to your creditors while maintaining your credit score.

Most people go after credit cards first because they are easy to negotiate. We all get about a dozen offers for new cards with introductory rates every month and this is our bargaining chip against

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