Digging Yourself Out of Credit Card Debt

It seems so great: in one little rectangular piece of plastic, you have access to over $2,000 in funds. Run it up, and they'll increase that line of credit to over $10,000. It's like being rewarded to spend. Too good to be true, right? 

Well, yes. It is. 

In my early twenties and a year out of college, I am trying to conquer my credit demons, which keep me up at night, and constantly broke. I have accepted my situation that every paycheck is not really money in the bank: it is money immediately handed over to Visa, to keep me from having to fork them over even more money in the future in interest. I know that I am not alone in this battle to regain financial independence and debt freedom: statistics say that Americans have a national average of more than $9,000 in credit card debt. 

We all know how it happens, and we all regret it now, and wished we had listened to the old timers that warned us not to spend money we don't have. But they are such an easy thing to obtain these days, with five applications and pre approval letters coming every week in the mail (and much more, if you manage to get yourself indebted deep.) And the credit card companies work a little like big tabacco, hunting for the naive and the ignorant, who "just want to look cool." You see them on every college campus, trying to hand out their supposed financial gifts to poor college students who want cool jeans, and have no jobs. Then the selfsame college students use the card for open tabs at bars, more jeans, shoes, books, ect. And soon, you are a poor college student with thousands of dollars in debt. 

However you amassed your own debt is unimportant now: what is important is getting yourself out. it's going to take some time, sacrifices, and a lot of discipline.