Eliminating debt is a huge commitment and a process that will take time. It is also an incredible accomplishment that you have decided to do something about the debt that has piled up. There are many steps you will need to take to get there, but you can eliminate debt.

First, prepare yourself. You need to figure out how much money you owe, when you want it gone, and how you're going to get there. This is important if you want to get there as quickly as possible. The faster you pay off the debt, the less you'll pay in interest.

Organizing your debt is important to minimize interest. If you just start paying different credit cards and loans without paying attention to interest rates, you could end up paying a lot more. Always pay the loans and cards with the highest rates first.

What you are going to do is always pay the minimum payments on absolutely every credit card and loan you owe money on.  This is absolutely necessary to make sure you aren't further damaging your credit and getting into any trouble.

If you are already paying just the minimums, that's good, but it's what you do on top of that that is what's going to be great.  It is that extra money you pay that is going to make you eliminate debt and really get there.

If you really, truly want to get rid of your debt fast, you can do so by going big. You could throw 20 dollars here and 50 dollars there above your minimum payments, but I guarantee you, that could cost you years of time in debt end thousands of dollars in interest. 

If you want to eliminate debt once and for all, put as much money towards your debt as possible.  For most people, that's going to mean a major downgrade in lifestlye.

Of course, first, you're going to need to stop using credit cards, especially if that's where most of debt is.  Tell yourself now that you can't spend a dime unless you are using real money meaning money that is cash or in your bank account.  No credit whatsoever.

If you were charging a lot of stuff on your cards that you couldn't otherwise afford, that's going to be a huge change for you.  It will probably mean not going to the movies, to concerts, or to restaurants whenever you want, or not buying clothes, electronics, and other toys whenever you want.

Now, if you want to pay off the debt, you're going to need to go further than that.  Try to start by saving an extra $100 for the first month towards your debt.  Than make it $200, then $300, and get it as high as you can.

If you have to cut out cable, internet, cell phones, fast food, your morning coffee and other snacks, clothes shopping, electronics, and many more unnecessities, that's what you have to do.

If this seems to hard for you, just remember it's only temporary.  If you could live on next to nothing for a year, wouldn't you rather that than it be 10 years and thousands and thousands of wasted dollars?

Once you have paid off your debt, you can't go back to how you were spending before, but you can bring some things back.  This is what you should do once you've paid off your debt:

Think about what financial goals you want to achieve next such as buying a house or new car, saving for retirement, saving an emergency fund, etc. and figure out how much you will need to save each month towards those goals.

Now that you don't have to send any more money to creditors, add your savings goals number to your bare minimum expenses that you were buying during the time it took you to pay off your debt.  Subtract that from your income.  Any money you have left you can begin to add back to the things you really like to spend.

For example, if you have $500 extra each month, you can bring back cable, cell phones, buy some clothes, and go out to eat now and then.  As you complete financial goals, such as save an emergency fund, buy a car, etc. you can have more money to play with or you can put that money towards new financial goals such as vacations.