That sinking feeling comes again... "I am in over my head with credit card debt"... and you feel like there is no way to get out of this deep hole. Maybe it keeps you up at night and occupies your mind for hours during the day. What can you do to get rid of this feeling? Well, the first thing you need to do is get rid of the cause - the debt.

It can seem overwhelming at first - trust me I know - but once you get rid of the credit card debt you can work on all your debt... and then start having your money "work for you" instead of the other way around. The problem with debt is that it takes so little energy to pile up and SO MUCH energy to get rid of. This is intentional - the longer you carry a balance on your card the more money the credit card companies (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Satan) and the banks make off of you. It can be eye popping to realize how much money you are throwing away to greedy companies and the evil banks.

There is no easy way out of this debt either. It takes a strong will, courage, and real discipline. The sooner you start on this debt free journey - the better. Start simple, start TONIGHT, and think about where you can cut your spending. You need to have your expenses be less (hopefully much less) than the amount of money you make. You know that $2 coffee you need to have before work everyday? It does not seem like a crazy expense but if you have one cup, five days a week - you have just blown about $480 over the course of the year. Maybe you think of that "cheap" coffee as a small reward for all the hard work you do - but wouldn't that money be better spent paying down your debt and feeling at ease? If you have a conservative $10,000 in credit card debt that $480 is about 5% - of the total you owe! That may not seem like a lot but if you use that coffee money to pay down your debt you'll feel better than any Caffeine high you will come close to getting.

I am not a money guru, I am just a regular guy who took control of my finances and decided that I had enough. I had enough of throwing my money away. I had enough of keeping up with the purchases and "high life" of my friends. I had enough of the late nights thinking about debt and the calls from the bank. I sucked it up and turned my debt into a plan and I am not debt free. It took 3 years of sacrifice, constant "cutting" (no longer purchasing things I did not absolutely need), and "rolling" my money. When I say "rolling" what I started with was paying the card with the highest interest off as soon as possible and then rolling the money from paying that card off each month to the next card.

As an example if card A has a balance of $3000 and has 19% interest, card B has a balance of $4000 and 12% interest, and card C has a balance of $6000 and interest of 8% - I would pay as much as I could on card A and the minimum due for the other cards until card A was paid off. Once card A was paid then I would roll the money I was paying on card A into card B and continue to pay the minimum on card C and so on and so forth. It makes it really simple and by the end of it you get a really great reward - all that money you have been paying to your cards can now go into a savings account. You will be earning money by saving and investing this money! In my case I was paying around $1000 a month on my cards and that $1000 has been staying in my own pocket since my cards have been paid off - not going to a faceless, evil bank. You can also take the extra money to pay down your other loans (car, home, student) and really start on a path to be completely free of your debt bondage!

So take the first step cut out the things you don't need from your life. Discipline yourself and make sure you understand that your debt cycle will not go away with any book you buy or "free" consultation. You need to take charge and get in control of yourself and your finances and after all the struggle and penny pinching you will finally be able to enjoy your own money - no strings attached.