Categorize your spending . Categorize your monthly expenses into logical groups of "Must have," "Should have," and "Like to have." "Must haves" are things that will cause harm if you don't buy them, such as food, rent, medicine, pet food, etc. "Should haves" are things that you need, but can do without for a little while, e.g., new clothes for work, gym membership, etc. "Like to haves" are things that you don't need, but enhance your life, e.g., magazine subscriptions, newspaper, cable tv, weekly coffee with friends, IM on your phone, etc. By doing this, you'll have a good idea of what you spend your money on, and you'll be able to figure out where you might need to cut back on spending. You don't want to eliminate all of the "should haves" and the "like to haves," but take a look at those first. One of your expenses will be paying off your debt. You will want to always pay more than the minimum required, otherwise it will take an extremely long time to eliminate your debt. For example, a single credit card with just a $1,000 balance and 19% interest will take about five years to pay off by making only the minimum payment of $26. Paying the minimum, you will spend $1556.40, with the Total Interest Paid: $556.40. Paying only the minimum payment will equate to giving them 55% more than you actually borrowed. 4 Make a budget based on your spending record . Write down the