Are you in debt? Would you like to get out of debt? If you are like many people, you have one or two mortgages, one or two car loans and several high-interest credit cards. At the end of the month, when you've paid all your bills, you have very little or no money left over. In addition, you probably aren't saving much if any for retirement and you probably don't have any idea how much you'll have when you do retire. Perhaps you are still paying off college loans as well. It is also likely that every year you are getting more in debt. Things may look grim. But there is good news: you don't have to be in debt forever. There are many things you can do right now to get a handle on your money. All it takes is a little self-discipline.

First things first: you cannot manage that which you cannot count. Have you ever stopped to consider how infrequently you count money that you spend? For some reason many of us can comfortably ignore counting what goes out of our wallet as we acquire things we believe we have to have. This weakness is a major contributor to people getting into debt. So the first thing you have to do to get out of debt is learn to count every penny you spend. You should also make a note of what you spend that money to buy. You may be surprised how much money you're spending on things you don't really need or even want.

One good way to track your spending is by using a piece of software (like Quicken or Microsoft Money (which comes free on many computers)), or creating a spreadsheet that contains an itemized list of all the things you pay for in a given month: gas, food, groceries, phone bill, credit card bills, mortgage, car payment. It's very important that you don't miss any expenditures. You might consider keeping all your receipts or a small notepad to keep track of what you're spending. The total of all expenditures we'll call your 'outgo'.

Next you list all of your sources of income for a given month. This might just be one line-item; your paycheck. But if you have more than one job, or have different sources of income like child support, alimony, dividends, etc. you'll have more. List them all. The total of all of these we'll call your 'income'.

Now, subtract 'outgo' from 'income'. We'll call this amount 'leftover'. If 'leftover' is negative number that means you're spending more than you earn and you're going more into debt every month. If 'leftover' is zero, then you're spending exactly what you earn which is better. If 'leftover' is a positive number that means you are spending less than you earn with is excellent! If you find that you don't have the self-discipline to do this simple exercise, chances are good you aren't very motivated to get out of debt.

Also keep in mind that some months are worse than others because you get an unexpected expense that creates a big hole. For example, you may have to pay a car insurance bill, or get new tires. So even if this month looks good, next month might not.

You are now well on your way to getting out of debt. If you've been able to follow the process up to this point you have demonstrated that you can analyze and track your spending. Now it's time to begin the process of reducing your debt and putting you on the path to being debt-free. So what's the secret of getting out of debt? Let's find out.

You primary goal is to maximize the 'leftover' amount. The amount you have left over after paying all your bills. One good way to maximize this amount is to look at your expenditures and determine the things you can do without. Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you really need to go to the coffee shop and pay $5 or more for a cup of coffee you can make yourself for a few cents?
• Do you really need to eat out so much?
• Do you really need to go to the movies so often?
• Do you really need go shopping so much?
• Do you really need all those name-brand items or would generic work?
• Could you use coupons or look for specials when you do have to buy things?

See the Help me save money article for more ideas.

The other way to maximize the 'leftover' amount is to bring in more money as income. Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have things you could sell? Online auction buyers pay top-dollar for used stuff these days.
• Next, are there ways you can earn more money?
• Would your current job give you a raise if you simply asked for it?
• Would your current job pay more if you took on more tasks?
• Can you work over time?
• Could you get a second part-time job?
• Could you get a higher paying job in your same field in a different company?

Be creative. If you stop and think about it, there are many ways you could bring in more money. The goal is to keep expenditures constant or lower, i.e. don't start thinking you can spend more just because you earn more because you're still in debt.
Now that you've maximized your 'leftover' amount, what to do next is extremely simple and is the secret to getting out of debt:

1. Find out the interest rates on all your loans and credit cards.
2. After paying your normal monthly bills, take your entire 'leftover' amount and send it to the highest interest rate loan or card.
3. Make the minimum payment on all others.
4. Do this until that loan or credit card is paid off.
5. Once the loan or card is paid off, close the account and repeat this process.

Believe it or not, it's really just that simple. What happens when you do this is you are lowering your debt every single month and when you pay off just one of your loans or credit cards that amount is now free to pay down towards the rest, accelerating the process greatly. You just have to have enough patience and self-discipline to start the process and stick with it.

Once you have achieved this, you have proven to yourself that you have what it takes to Help me save money. You now have the skills needed to Help me become wealthy.