It is difficult to find a person who owes money and don't want to know how to get rid of debt. Good news is that you can eliminate your debt if you are determined enough to do so. However, there are some tough decisions to make and rules to follow. Let's see what you need to do in order to become debt free.

Look at your finances. Evaluate your income and your expenses. Usually it is much easier to determine how much money is coming in than how much money is going out. For a month write down every penny you spend and then look at the numbers. Think where you can save money and be creative and flexible. Start with big things like your auto insurance. Maybe you can shop around or raise your deductible? Look at your cell phone bill. Can you cut on texting or Web usage? Decide if you really need that land line phone and cable TV. Evaluate your electric provider and switch for less expensive one. After you take care of big things look for the ways to eliminate small ones such as going out for lunches, buying coffee in coffee shops, using vending machines, going out every evening with friends and so on.

Now with all that money available to you look at your debt. There are two types of debt: secured and unsecured. Your mortgage is secured debt while balance on your credit cards is unsecured debt. First thing you need to get rid of is your unsecured debt. Start paying off credit card with the highest balance applying all of your available money towards paying that balance off. In the meantime pay minimum payments on all other cards. When first card is paid off do the same with the next one. Continue until all balances are paid in full. From now on be sure to pay balance on your credit card in full every month so you are not paying high interest anymore.

After you paid all your credit card balances off you should apply that extra money to build safety fund big enough to support you for at least 6 months. Open a saving account and designate part of your paycheck to be automatically deposited in your savings. After you accumulate enough money in your safety fund it is time to pay off your house. Apply additional funds towards your mortgage and you can save a lot of money in interest as well as pay mortgage off much faster. Be sure that your mortgage company allows you to pay off principal without penalties.

If you want to expedite that process further than along with cutting expenses you may consider getting a second job or create some other kind of income to help pay off your debt. With your new obtained knowledge of how to get rid of debt, some determination, creativity and a little belt tightening you will be able to become debt free in a reasonable amount of time.