Reduce Debt: A How-To Manual

• Negotiate: A professional or nonprofit organization can do this for you, or you could do it yourself.  Call your creditors and tell them you would like to pay them but cannot afford the full amount.  Ask to speak with the department that deals in settlement arrangements.  
• Transfer Balances: If the credit cards or loans you have balances on have high interest rates, you may decide to transfer the balances to a card, or even a loan, by paying it off with that new card or loan.  This is only helpful if the interest rates are lower.  If you only need a short fix, you can usually find credit cards with a 0% introductory rate.  Be careful with this, because the rates can climb after the introductory period.  Check on this before transferring a balance.  
• Consolidate: This is a form of transferring balances, and it needs to be done carefully.  If you can get one loan or credit card to pay off all the others, then you might find this approach helpful.  But the interest rate needs to be lower than the interest rates you are currently paying, or there is no point.  Pay attention and be sure the lower rate is not just an introductory rate.  In trying to consolidate, you can make your problem much worse if you are not careful  
• Budget: To really reduce your debt, you need to work the amount you need to pay each month into your monthly budget (or weekly, depending on how you organize your budget).  Budget based on when you get paid.  Just because you have to pay a bill once a month does not mean you need to wait until that time to set the money aside for it.  Furthermore, have an emergency fund.  The reason most budgets fail is because there is no wiggle room.  If an emergency comes up that requires a monetary fix that you do not have the means to apply, it can push you further in debt.