I have mentioned that we have no credit card debt, however, that certainly doesn't mean we didn't have it at one time. In my college years, I was sucked into the same traps as other college kids. Available credit with a small income. I charged whatever I wanted and could justify it in a ton of ways. I was generous with my credit cards and loved giving my friends gifts or taking them out to eat, etc. I kept the mentality that I would graduate and make the big bucks and could just pay it off then. The concept of compounding interest really didn't hold my attention....who had time to learn about that? I had some parties to throw and road trips to take.

My husband had some credit card debt when we got together as well. Only his was formed in a different nature. He cosigned credit cards with his brother, mother, and a family friend. So it was family affair to put debt in his name. His debt came more from needed things but only he was left paying the tab. So put that together with me and we had a good chunk to pay off.

Before we got married in 2003, we started seriously attacking our debt. We had discretionary income that we could throw at it. I did a lot of research on the best way to rid yourself of the credit noose. My initial thought was to pay off the card with the lowest amount first and so on. I wanted that instant gratification of seeing a card paid off...However, that was the same instant gratification that got me into debt to begin with. So after researching, I found credit card laddering or laddering your debt for people with several cards (which was my situation).

1. To ladder your debt, you pay off the card carrying the highest interest rate first. So you pay as much money as you can towards the high interest rate card first and less towards the others.
2. Once that card is paid off, you work on the next highest interest rate card and so on.
3. Another trick is to pay towards your credit cards every 14 days instead of once a month. If you don't have extra money to do this, just split your payment in half and pay the first half then 14 days later pay the second half.

It took us 2 1/2 years to pay off all of our credit card debt. The more we paid off, the more aggressive we became. We closed several accounts that carried high interest or the ones we didn't need. We each decided to keep one of our original cards since we had established a good relationship with them. We also have a Blue Cash American Express. Those are the only cards we carry.

The Blue Cash American Express has been great for us. We earn cash back for anything we charge. We make a point of always charging any electronics we buy on this card. American Express will extend your manufacturers warranty by one year if you purchase the item on your card. We bought our large TV and both of our computers on the card so we stay protected for an extra year.

As it was announced yesterday, we are officially in a recession - yea, as though we didn't all know that already. The best Christmas gift you could give yourself would be to get out of debt and free yourself from payments.

Once you get yourself in the black, you won't want to go back!