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You may not know it, but many Americans today desperately need debt management advice. Most people who need debt management advice already know it. Their credit cards are maxed out, they are incurring late fees on their debts, and they are getting calls from bill collectors because they have missed payments on their charge accounts.

But even if you feel like your finances are under control, you can still use debt management advice, so you don’t end up misusing your credit and find yourself under a lot of debt.

Find Out Where Your Money Goes

Before you can manage your debt, you need to learn to manage your income. This can be a painful process, but you must conquer income management before you can move on to debt management advice.

Most of us pay our bills once a month, so for one full month, you must keep a journal of every penny you spend. Whether you write a check, use a debit card, pay a bill online, or pay a bill by an automatic deduction, you must write it down.

At this point, don’t worry about categorizing the money you spend, and don’t try to reduce it. The purpose of this exercise is to get an accurate picture of exactly where your money goes, so spend money as you normally would.

Categorize Your Spending

Enter all your expenses into an electronic spreadsheet program. If you don’t have a Microsoft Office application like Excel, use Google Documents, a free online spreadsheet application.

Use spreadsheet software instead of writing onto a paper account ledger so you can sort the columns and find out how much money you are spending at one particular coffee shop, or sort your expenses from highest to lowest. Eliminating your biggest monthly payment, like a second or third car payment can have a big impact on eliminating your debt.

Set up one column for each of these factors: Date, payee, amount, purpose, method of payment. Now enter all your spending for the entire month.

Highlight each column with a different color based on whether the expense is required or discretionary. Money spent for a property tax payment, for example, is required. Money spent for restaurant meals is discretionary.

Cut, Cut, Cut

Starting with the discretionary items, identify items you can cut that amount to 10% of your spending. Most people can easily cut 15% or more from their spending the first time they do this exercise. Eliminate coffee drinks, restaurant lunches, ATM service fees, and other discretionary expenses.

Follow the experts’ debt management advice, and apply this 10% to 15% to your credit card debt.

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One of the reasons why being in debt is such a problem is that most people in debt don’t do anything about it until the situation is dire. This is because there is a certain stigma associated with being in debt. Centuries ago, there was such a thing as “debtor’s prison”, which was a horrible place. The dread of it seems to have sunk into the collective unconsciousness. But there is no shame in being a client of debt management reduction services.

You Are Not Alone

You are not the only person in the country who needs to be a client of debt management reduction services. The Federal Reserve Board estimates that 40% of all Americans are in debt. There are those who question these figures, thinking that the number is, in fact, a lot higher. It is because of the stigma of having to owe money that people would lie on surveys or questionnaires about their true financial situation.

You also aren’t alone in having to manage your monstrous monetary mess. That is why you have to be a client of debt management reduction services. You will not be alone in the office waiting room, waiting to see your counselor. It will probably be packed to the rafters with other people seeking to be clients of debt management reduction services. Many of these services are low cost to no cost.

You Are Not Morally Deficient

In our society, we tend to think that justice is fair and shows it by giving more money to good people and less money to bad. Think some very rich and very misbehaving celebrities like Donald Trump and Michael Jackson. Although they alone know their moral behavior, sometimes it sure doesn’t seem fair that they are rich and you are looking to be a client of debt management reduction services.

This is not how the world works. Money is a force like fire – it goes to those who know how to use fire and those who don’t. Money does not make any moral judgments on the people it goes to. You can probably think of very good very poor people in your life, such as Mahatmas Gandhi and Mother Teresa. They didn’t need money … which was fortunate in their cases because they didn’t have any money.

Instead of blaming yourself for being “stupid” for getting into debt, congratulate yourself that you are taking action against debt by becoming a client of debt management reduction services. And good luck to you.

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It’s called “debt” because all of the other four letter words were taken. Everyone at one time or another is going to be using this four letter word quite often in their vocabulary. Credit cards, no cash down financing and adjustable-rate mortgages makes getting what you want easier than ever. However, keeping what you want by being able to pay for it is what gets most of us into trouble. You are in good company looking for debt management help.

Write Down All Of Your Expenses

The first step in proactive debt management help is in knowing where the money all went. You need to keep track of your expenses. It might be daunting to keep track of one month’s expenses, so try for one week. Write down everything you spend money on – from food, public transportation, bills, lottery tickets, anything. In this way, you might be able to see what you can immediately stop wasting money on.

Have Only One Credit Card

You should have only one credit card per person in your household. If you have a home business, then you might allow yourself one credit card just for business expenses and one for personal expenses. In this way, you cut out the sky-high interest rates that will keep you in debt for several lifetimes. If you owe more than three figures to one credit card, then you need professional debt management help.

Spend Less Than You Earn

This piece of debt management help is, of course, easier said than done. But it is actually easier the more you practice good spending habits and not buying what you don’t need. In tracking your expenses, you can get a good picture of how to change the course of where your money is flowing. You will need a lot of willpower, but it gets easier the more you practice self-restraint.

Take a total inventory of what is in your house. Are there clothes in your closet you’ve never worn? Are there computer games you’ve never taken out of the wrapper yet? In these examples, consider yourself banned from buying more clothes or video games for one year. Consider going to the library instead of the bookstore.

Also, keep track of your bank’s little extra fees. Many banks will charge you up to $3.00 (US) just to use an ATM card. You need to plug up those money leaks. Check all of your utility bills for little charges like that. Perhaps you are paying for a service you hardly ever use – get rid of it. Every little bit of debt management helps.

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