What advice can you give to someone who wants to start taking control of her debt?

Stephany asked: For someone who is currently in debt now, what advice can you give to someone who wants to start taking control over her debt? I don’t have the finances to put a huge amount towards my bill every month but do want to take control in some way.

I recommend Dave Ramsey’s debt snow ball.  Keep up with your minimum payments, of course, but don’t try to pay down all the balances at once.  Concentrate on the one with the lowest balance and destroy it.  Throw all the money you can at it.  It’s up to you whether you want to make sacrifices, such as cutting expenses and spending money or working more, in order to get there faster.  Once you’re focused on a specific goal and determined to get out of debt whether it takes months or years, you might be surprised by all you’re willing and capable of doing.

You set your own pace.  Any progress you make, even if you can’t put much toward your debt each month, will be movement in the right direction.  But, I know for me it’s been worth it to change my lifestyle in order to get there faster.  I shouldn’t reasonably be able to put hundreds of dollars toward my debt each month, but I’ve given up my free time and many luxuries in order to do it.  It’s worth it to me.  As Dave Ramsey says, “If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.”

And, hey, since I’ve already mentioned him twice in this post, if you need some motivation, I suggest listening to Dave Ramsey’s podcast (the first hour of the show is free).  It’s a powerful combination of Dave telling people to suck it up and take responsibility and him congratulating people who’ve paid off their debt.  Sometimes his politics bother me, but I don’t think you’ll be bothered by that.  I don’t listen to it all the time, but when I need a little kick, it does that for me.  You can find it on iTunes.