By Michael, on June 18th, 2012 
Most people have some amount of debt, but if your debt is consuming a serious part of your monthly budget, you've probably tried to come up with a plan to pay down your outstanding balances. If you're ready to climb out of debt, here are three tips to help you get started.
1. Get professional help from a local accountant.
If you live in New York, look for a NY CPA (Certified Public Accountant) who can help you develop a budget and start paying down your most serious debts. An accountant will provide essential help if you have a relatively complex budget and can also help you prepare for taxes and reduce your outstanding balances as quickly as possible.
2. For credit card debt, try to cut your interest rates.
You can often do this by simply calling your credit card company and asking for a lower rate or by taking out a low-interest loan and paying off your debt with the loan. Many credit card companies also have special programs to help you start paying down debt, so check to see if any such programs are available from your credit card suppliers.
3. Pay your debts in order of interest rate.
It doesn't make any sense to save money in an account with low interest if you have high-interest debts, and likewise, you will save the most money overall by creating a list with all of your debts and taking them on one at a time. Pay only the minimum required amounts on all of your debts except on the debt with the highest interest and pour all of the money that you can into that debt.
Staying focused can be difficult when you are trying to pay down your debt, but use all of your available resources and get professional help if you can. You'll drastically reduce the amount of time that you spend in debt and end up saving thousands of dollars in the long term.
