When paying off debt may be finding money to pay towards your debts each month.

If you have a lot of credit card debt, you know that you absolutely must pay more than the minimum if you're ever going to get out of debt. But that's hard to do when you're living paycheck to paycheck.

So, how do you find extra money to pay off debt when you can barely pay the bills?

Here are some tips on coming up with extra money to help pay off credit card debt:

Do you typically get a large tax refund each year? The average tax refund last year was $2,700. If you typically get a large income tax refund, then you should apply part or all of that refund to your debts.

In addition, you should adjust your withholding so that less taxes are withheld from each check; you'll get a smaller income tax refund, but you'll have more money to apply towards your debt payments each month. The last thing you want to do is give Uncle Sam an interest free loan when you have high interest credit cards!

To adjust your withholding, simply complete a new Form W-4 and submit it to your company's payroll department. There are many tax calculators online (including the IRS website) to help you determine how much you should withhold.

Anytime you get a raise, bonus or work overtime, you should use at least a portion of that money to pay towards your debt. Since this is "extra" money that you didn't have before, you shouldn't miss the money that you put towards your debt.

Another way to find money to help pay down debts is to sell items that you no longer use or need to raise money. Have a garage sale or sell items on eBay. Sell books that you no longer read on Amazon.com or Half.com. You'll be surprised at how much some items will sell for on an online auction!

Although listed last, this is the most important and probably the first strategy you should implement when you have high interest credit card debts. You should review your spending to see if there are any areas that you can cut back on to generate additional cash to be applied towards your debt.

Some typical areas that can be cut back on (at least temporarily) include food (both groceries and eating out), entertainment (gym memberships, magazine subscriptions, cable, internet, trips to the book store) and personal care (haircuts, clothing, housekeeping, etc.).

Nobody wants to cash out their savings account to pay off credit card debt, but if you have credit cards that are costing you 18% or more in interest and your savings are earning 4% (or less), it may make sense to use some of your savings to get rid of that nasty credit card debt.

Everyone hates to ask family and friends for money, but if you're in over your head and you don't have any savings to cash in (or have any other way to earn additional income), this is an option you shouldn't ignore. If it helps, you can draw up a written agreement so that each party knows what to expect, and there's no chance for disagreements or hard feelings down the road.