It may sound obvious that you need to stop borrowing money to get out of debt, but it isn’t always easy. If it was easy, why would people be in debt in the first place? If you want to get out of debt, your journey must start somewhere, and that starting place is where you stop accumulating any more debt as soon as possible.

The most common debt problem is credit cards. If you are serious about getting out of debt you need to stop using credit cards and that probably means you need to cut them up too. If cutting the credit cards isn’t enough to stop you from using them, then close the accounts. This decision comes down to personal responsibility and how well you can resist the temptation to use your credit cards- you need to be honest here or you will only hurt yourself more and make your road to debt freedom even longer than it is now. *Important- don’t destroy or close all of your credit cards until you have an emergency fund! Lets be real here, most Americans have no savings- what would you do if your car broke down tomorrow or you lost your job? Cash is the ideal way to handle these emergencies, but most of us can’t just snap our fingers and have an extra $1,000 in the bank.

If you have accounts that are behind, make getting current your top priority. Late fees or over the limit fees are only going to bury you further. Call the banks and try to negotiate. It costs you nothing but a few minutes of time and aggravation to ask for help. They are likely to at least cut some of the fees and give you a chance to get current. You will have more luck here if you can also promise to send an immediate payment when making the phone call (just don’t give them direct access to your checking account).

Once you have stopped using the credit cards and everything is current, you will have gone a long way toward slowing the growth of your debt balance. However, you are likely still being charged monthly interest on your credit cards. Make a list of your cards and order them by interest rate. Start calling the high rate cards to ask for a lower rate or look at transferring balances from high rate cards to low rate cards that you already have (consider the balance transfer fee first) . You can even go out and apply for new credit cards if you can get a better rate- a 0% introductory rate would be wonderful if the terms are decent. Just be aware of fees for balance transfers and how long these lower rates will last. Do a little math to see if you will really be saving money when all is said and done.

Putting an end to your borrowing is the most important step toward getting out of debt. Look at every dollar you are paying in interest as your enemy. Compound interest is a wonderful thing when it is working for you, but against you it is devastating. If you haven’t already, take the time to total up all of the money you spent in interest over the past month. On a personal note, I was really sickened when I did this. I had no idea how much interest was really costing me. Think about the number of hours you have to work in a month just to pay interest if you need some extra motivation to stop borrowing.

This step is where you ’stop the bleeding’ and figure out how badly interest is hurting you. Without doing this, all other efforts would just be covering up the real problem, possibly making the symptoms look less menacing yet not treating the source of the pain. The next step, making a budget, is where you can start to take control of your money and treat the debt problem at its source.

9 Steps to Get Out of Debt

• # 1 Stop Borrowing Money
• # 2 (a) Why You Should Make a Budget
• # 2 (b) How to Make a Budget
• # 3 Turn Your Junk Into Cash
• # 4 Create an Emergency Fund
• # 5 Live Below Your Means
• # 6 Track Your Spending and Update Your Budget
• # 7 Visual Reminders to Track Your Debt
• # 8 Make Yourself Accountable
• # 9 Be Patient and Don’t Give Up

My Money Blog highlighted this article, 10 Great Reasons to Carry a Big, Long Mortgage, published by Ric Edelman under a section of the website titled Education. I don’t believe that My Money Blog was endorsing this author or article, but simply sharing the information. I’ve included both references only to show how I discovered it.

Before I go any farther, just think about the phrase “10 great reasons to carry a big, long mortgage”. How do you react to that title? Does it sound wise? Does it sound logical? I know what I think, but lets look at some of the information from the article to see if it sheds any more light on the subject.

Never own your home outright. Instead, get a big 30-year mortgage, and never pay it off - regardless of your age and income.

In today’s economic environment, a big, 30-year mortgage is the best thing you can have.

So: Never pay off the mortgage. Reject 15-year loans, never make extra payments, and forget about those biweekly mortgage payment plans.

First, understand that everything you know about mortgages — and particularly what you fear about them — is wrong. The myths you believe were told to you, bless their hearts, by your well-meaning parents and grandparents. They told you that mortgages are dangerous, that having one means you can lose your home. They told you this because they remember the Depression era, a time when millions of Americans lost their homes.

How do those excerpts sound to you? Wise? Logical? Here is what seems to be the main argument presented- things are different this time. Where have we heard that before? Right around the top of every stock market bubble is one time you will regularly hear that phrase. Basically, everyone before was wrong, but now we have it all figured out because we are so much more advanced than those silly little people before us (you know, like the generation of Americans who actually had a positive savings rate).

Still, mortgages are expensive, and you’d rather avoid paying all that interest. That’s why you like the idea of sending in extra cash with your monthly payments. You know that paying off the mortgage early will save you huge amounts in interest charges. Although that’s true, you need to turn that coin over, because there’s another side you have overlooked.

Here it seems the author admits that having a mortgage isn’t a good thing, but wait…now he will tell us why it is. Confused  yet?

That’s why owning your home outright is like having money buried under a mattress. Since the house will grow with or without a mortgage, any equity you currently have in the house is, essentially, earning no interest. You wouldn’t stuff ten grand under your mattress, so why stash two hundred thousand into the walls of the house? Having a long-term mortgage lets your equity grow while your home’s value grows.

I don’t think you can compare cash to a home, but lets play along- IF you had ten grand under your mattress, would you go to the bank and take out a loan against it so you could invest it? Now this argument is a bit tricky because stuffing cash under your mattress isn’t really wise either, but you don’t need a mortgage to let your equity grow! That makes no sense at all.

There’s no way you can avoid debt in today’s society. Cars and college – let alone big screen TV’s — virtually require you to have loans. And you’ll find that mortgages offer you perhaps the cheapest way to borrow.

This one  really takes the cake This quote is so funny it got me wondering if this article was in fact an anti-debt satire piece of some sort. Did I read this right- “There’s no way you can avoid debt in today’s society“? I think Visa and Mastercard would love that quote. If you really think this is true, please stop offering ‘financial advice’ to anyone in any way, shape, or form.

Not only are mortgage loans low in cost, the interest you pay is tax-deductible. You can save as much as 35 cents in taxes for every dollar you pay in interest.

Yep! What a deal! If you think that is a good idea then please start sending your checks to me and I will pay you 35 cents for every dollar you send me!!!!

Honestly, that’s about all I can take of the article. Please visit the link and read the whole thing and please tell me where I am wrong because I just don’t see any sound arguments to support the title. Just think about the advice and see if it really makes sense to you. Don’t let someone tell you you aren’t sophisticated enough to understand it- apply simple logic and reason and draw your own conclusions.

Can you see it? I mean really see it. Can you visualize the day you update your spreadsheet and the total debt balance says $0.00? Does that seem real to you? Do you think you can actually get there?

I read a post over at Get Rich Slowly today- Reader Advice: How to Live Debt Free that really got me thinking about it. I’ve read many stories about people becoming debt free. I’ve heard lots of people call the Dave Ramsey show and scream it. I’m not sure what the difference was, but as I read this post I really thought about it and thought about that being me one day.

I can only imagine what it will feel like to be finally free from debt, and I’m certain it will feel 100 times better than I think it will now, and I already get excited just thinking about it. I really know that I’ll get there. It’s just a matter of time. It won’t be easy, but I have a plan. I never had a plan before. I was just coasting along, spending like a fool, only worried about how to make the minimum payments each month. I was going nowhere. Now I’m going somewhere. There is a reason for everything I do with my money now. I do my best to plan where every dollar will go and I fight to keep every dollar from being wasted on things that aren’t in line with my plan.

You can’t get there if you don’t really know where you’re going. I don’t think I ever understood before what it would really mean to be debt free. It didn’t seem real before. I didn’t know people actually lived that way. If you’re not there yet, you must surround yourself with people who are making that journey or have already completed it. I haven’t yet been fortunate enough to meet anyone in my life who is like that (that I know of), but that is why I take the time to read books and blogs, listen to stories, and write my own blog. I want to get there and I want to help other people get there. If I learn anything along the way I want to share it here.

Right now, I’m facing a mountain of debt- $263,697.62 to be exact. That’s a really big number. It can feel overwhelming to look at. However, I can look at it now without fear. I truly have hope. I can see the day that number changes to $0.00. I have an idea of what it will feel like. I have an idea of what I will do on that day and how my life will change. The few successes I have already had in changing my financial life give me hope that not only is the journey worth it for the end result, but as I make my way down the path my life will continue to improve in many ways. It’s a great feeling to take back control of something that controlled you for so long. I’ve gone too far to quit now.

I felt compelled to write this now so I can remember these feelings when times get rough. I hope that something I’ve written here can inspire others to make the sacrifices and do the work that is required to reach success with money. Let me know if you can relate and please share your stories of what drives you to become debt free.

About this- My humble submission to the Get Rich Slowly writing project. Winning the contest would be cool, but I’m happy to participate just because I’m a big fan of J.D. and the Get Rich Slowly website.

I wish I could share a story about how I am debt free and on my way to a comfortable retirement. Sadly, I’m not even close. I have a large, mountain of debt to bury before I can write that story. So how can I share a personal finance success story? I believe that even through the early stages of my plan to get out of debt I have achieved some notable successes.

My total debt is going down now instead of up- this is a huge change! For years my debt number has only gone higher and higher. I kept spending more than I earned and hoping that some day I’d make enough money to pay for it all. Pretty much the typical American way, but thanks to Dave Ramsey and the personal finance blog world I realized that I didn’t have to be typical. I could get out of debt! I started that process by making a budget and spending less than I earned. That simple step was enough to reverse the never ending debt trend that I was on for so many years. Now there is hope.

I went from $0.00 in a savings account to $1,000- that is a huge change! I’ve never had savings before. I spent every dollar I could! It’s a really good feeling too. It feels good to know that I can save money and that I have money available when an emergency strikes. Now there is no need to have a credit card. I just can’t justify it at all- and that is a good thing.

Instead of spending money until my checking account is empty, I plan where every dollar will go at the start of the month- making a detailed budget was really life changing for me. I used to just spend money without any direction or plan, then wonder why I didn’t have money when I needed it or why I kept getting hit with overdraft fees. Now, I have dollars allocated for every monthly need. I know that the bills will get paid and I know how much money I can spend at the grocery store or anywhere else I go. If you haven’t tried a budget yet, I strongly encourage you to do it. It’s an incredibly empowering tool. I can’t imagine living life without one now.

I make some smart decisions with my money now- of course I’m not perfect yet, but I’ve come a long way. I don’t see something I want and rush out and buy it. If I want something, I take some time to think about why I really want it and look for ways that I could get the best possible deal. This usually leads me to not make a purchase at all. I think about how I can simplify my life and be frugal. I have embraced frugality! I thought that was something only ‘cheap’ people did before. Now I get it! Now I see the benefits for my life in general and specifically with my money.

I am losing weight- okay, that isn’t a personal finance success story, but it is because of my focus on getting my finances in order that I feel motivated to lose weight again. Weight is something I have struggled with from time to time, but I strongly believe that the behaviors that put me deeply in debt are at fault for the weight gain as well. It wouldn’t make sense to change my life and win with money and continue to gain weight at the same time.

Like I said at the start, I have a long way to go, but I already have a solid foundation of successes to build my future on. I didn’t get into debt overnight and I won’t get out of debt overnight, but I have hope for the future and I know that some day I’ll be writing another personal finance success story.

I posted previously about how much junk I have and how I’ve wasted money on ’stuff’. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve started work on getting rid of this stuff and turning it into some cash for extra debt payments. So far this month I’ve brought in an extra $267 by selling stuff that was collecting dust on a shelf or hidden away in a closet somewhere (you know, in case I needed it some day). I can’t say that I miss any of it. Well, I do miss my Seinfeld DVDs a little, but I already watched them once and it was unlikely I would watch them often enough to justify the cost (could always get them on Netflix later). This money will be going straight to debt and that actually has me excited to find more junk to turn into cash.

I took some books and DVDs to a local used book store to save some time over listing all of them on Ebay. They don’t pay a lot, but for not-so-popular items, this is really a time saver. I also listed some items on Half.com. Only one has sold so far, but the price is decent and the fees you pay to Half.com are much lower than on Amazon.com. I listed the higher value and more popular items on Ebay. I tried a few new things on these listings, with mixed results. I started the prices really low and I don’t think that worked out so well for me. I’ve never done this before and I felt like most of my auctions didn’t finish as high as they could have. I also listed on a Saturday and I’m not sure that was a great move either- I’ve always listed on Sundays before. I can’t tell which change resulted in the weaker results, but I’ve always felt better about my Ebay sales in the past so I will be going back to my old ways next time.

I still have a fair amount of stuff to sell, but I’ll be very busy wrapping up a project this month so it may be a little while until I can get the rest of it sold. However, this will give me some time to take a few more looks at the shelves and closets and see what else I can do without- do I really need those Simpsons DVDs? I’m afraid I don’t.