Is your check book balance so you think you have a budget plan? Do you even balance your check book? Maybe you can't even find your check book? Do you even have a budget plan? Do you know where your hard earned cash is leaking away? Does your debt keep increasing and you have a runaway debt train on your hands? Do you just pull out your credit card and never check the balance till the credit card is denied? Do you use the credit card for another swipe into debt? When did you last look at you credit card balance?

Most consumers have no idea how much debt they are in, until the credit card debt is too high to pay down. Then they transfer the credit card balance to a lower interest rate card. Problem is, many people will start using the card they just paid off, increasing their personal debt more. This action of not planning and keeping a budget plan causes another ugly mark on their credit score and increases personal debt to a level they eventually are unable to maintain. Then is not the time to start a budget plan, but that is when many people realize their debt load is crushing them and have to find a way to solve it. Some solve it by bankruptcy, some by debt consolidation and some by making a debt reduction plan and working their way to the surface again.

Most people continue their debt spending ways till the decision is so large and agonizing that they do not want to handle it and then destroy their credit for many many years. You don't have to go that far before it is too late to handle your debt, take the time now and look at your credit card statements. Avoid applying for new credit cards; watch out for the credit card enticement of moving your credit card balance from one credit card to another. If you do move your credit card balance to another credit card to reduce debt, make sure you never, ever charge on that old credit card again. Remember when you open up another credit card with the great interest rate in the hopes of removing debt, you just caused an adverse action on your credit score.

Your debt can be reduced by looking at all your bills and debts. The method usually taught by the "Money Experts" was to pay off the debts with the highest interest rates. That's old school because most people lose focus or get depressed because the highest rate could be a large debt you're trying to pay off.

I have found that the best method is to pay off the smallest debt first, this way you can see progress. Once you pay off that bill take all the money used to pay down that debt and apply it to the next bill plus what you had been paying on that debt. Before you know it, the debt will start disappearing and you'll feel more in control of your life because of the shrinking debt. Maybe then you can spend a night on the town without worrying about how to pay for it.