<prompt> Human: I am 13 hours into being free of consumer debt. I even overpaid one by a dollar, which I donated last night as well. It started in November with the revelation that I have nothing to show for my income. Ive been employed for over 15 years with a career in IT, now on the doorstep of six-figures. I added up the interest on those 20 APR cards and it infuriated me. If you carry a balance, theyre charging YOU for money that isnt even useful anymore. I had: Close to no savings No house, we rent 7K of Credit Cards 50K in student loans 600 IRS Bill Some retirement401Ks A meh lifestyle even though I spent close to every dollar I earned. I started reading PF books. I think in a week I read Total Money Makeover, Financial Peace, Millionaire Next Door, and started Think and Grow Rich. I read a few other books before Suze Orman but they just didnt have a lot of impact on my late-20s self. This time I got serious: I have a wife and two kids with another on the way. The Plan and things we did. Read books, blogs, rfrugal and rpersonalfinance Made an envelope budget, got back into Mint. Cut cable -140mo Started turning lights off when not in use. Did not renew Disney Parks Annual passes 1000 Negotiated down our cellphone bill -40mo Downgraded our gym memberships -100mo Started cooking about 90 of our meals, taking home leftovers from parties, ate a lot of pasta, chicken, cheap cuts of beef. Acquired a taste for 2.50bottle wine.Were positioned to split paying off student loans will be a post two years from now and building up a 6 month emergency fund. The most profound change over the past 5 months has been a lower key lifestyle that weve become accustomed to and kind of enjoy. We eat out and buy toys and clothes for ourselves and the kids, but not nearly as much and all on a budget. In 5 months weve also donated more money than we have in the past year - I dont know how that works, it doesnt Mathematically. Honestly, the adjustment that hurt the most was Cable TV - I did this toward the end of Football season.EDIT: I still have 50k of student loans. Though the credit was small in comparison I can focus fire on the student debt now. Step-by-step thats how to methodically get out of debt.EDIT: My income. Who cares? Paying off in 5 months while feeding a family stung a little at first. I threw a month of takehome pay that I will never see again at this debt. That hurts.EDIT: I read books. I didnt learn anything new, didnt discover anything, my story isnt a revelation - all I did was decide to start following age-old advice echoed on this sub, rfrugal, and every talking head in the Personal Finance industry. Im just another guy that lived most of his adult life owing people money - been there, done that I want to know what the other way feels like.  <response>: Thats great. I applaud you. There are few things in life that make you feel better about things. I paid mine off along with car and student loans within the last few years and it feltfeels great. Like a heavy weight being lifted off your chest. It is far too easy to fall into bad debt habits. I had to learn the hard way the Dos and Donts. My wife is doing a great job paying down her debts now too which are technically both of ours; ah marriage. We used to fight about this stuff, but after many open and honest conversations were at a much better place now.I had a hard time convincing my wife to throw any extra moneybonusesgift money towards paying down her debt. And I dont blame her for resisting initially because I was the same way too. No one taught me how to look at debtcredit. Would it be more fun to have a nice dinner or go to a concert with that extra cash? Of course it would, but left unchecked debt will catch up with you and wreck all hope of happiness, so short term fun isnt worth a lifetime of grief. I think things clicked for her when I put it to her like this: When you pay down debt what youre basically doing is giving your future self a nice raise. Without the monthly 200 CC payment, 400 car payment, 150 student loan payment youve given yourself a nice raise.Getting in debt can snowball quickly. More principal more of your money going to interest higher minimum payments andor even more money going towards interest next month. But organizing your payments and knowing the terms of each loan or credit card can also help snowball yourself out of debt too. So in general, always put extra money towards the debt with the highest interest rate first. Once you have that first debt cc, car, loan, etc paid off take that money youre no longer having to pay each month and increase your payment to the next highest interest rate debt and continue down the list until youre debt free. The money you dont have to pay Bank ABC anymore means you can pay off your debt to Bank XYZ even faster. Using this method youll be able to dig yourself out of the hole eventually.Pro Tip: Dont just make the minimum payment. People that pay the minimum are the wet dream of rich bankers. If you go on making minimum payments, youre likely never going to get out of debt. If all you can afford are minimum payments, youre basically screwed for awhile and need to re-examine your your life choices make a budget, get a better job, stop smokingdrinkingeating out all the time, etc. Making the minimum payment is okay when: A Your interest rate is and will always be 0 or B Youre making extra payments on other debt which has a higher interest rate.Pro Tip: Specifically with credit cards. Check the terms to see when your interest is calculated. Mine is monthly. I never put more money on my credit card than I can afford to pay off to a zero balance in the same month. This way I never pay interest. If you cant afford to pay it off before the next time interest is calculated you cant afford to put it on your credit card in the first place. Pro Tip: Cash back credit cards. When given the choice between paying by cash, check, debit or a cash back credit card... Pay with the cash back credit card for the love of god. I know so many people that have a cash back card and will not use it. Youre leaving money on the table dummy! Only exception I can think of would be if youre charged extra to process a payment with a credit card than another method. For example: You have a 1.5 cash back card, but you have to pay 3 more to pay with a credit card. The math is simple here.. pay with cash or check.Pro Tip: Mortgages. If the mortgage is due on March 1st, pay the March 1st payment on February 15th, or even better February 1st. Youre decreasing the amount of interest thats being accruedcompounded by paying early, especially if youre paying more than the minimum. The difference is minute in the short term, but over a 30 year mortgage, it adds up. I fully intend to pay my mortgage off well before 30 years. I guess another really easy mistake to avoid when buying a house is this: While you may be approved for 150K loan, that doesnt mean you need to go and buy a 150K house. If youre approved for 500K loan, you dont need to go and buy a 500K house. Buy the house you need, but be practical. Mortgage companies are in the business of making money, not making sure youre being practical. So you really dont need an infinity pool, you gluttonous narcissist. :If you need extra motivation to pay down your debt just picture yourself handing your hard earned money over to some rich banker so he can buy another new luxury vehicle for his snotty, ungrateful teenager whos just going to drive like a jerk and crash it anyways. A less cartoonish way to think about it is that debt is the tool the rich use to keep everyone else under their control.Once youre out of debt, resist the urge to spend all this extra money you find yourself with. Start saving. You need an emergency fund cash, a retirement plan IRA, Roth, 401k, and general savings account for something responsible think large down payment on a house or car.Looking back at everything Ive typed I realize Ive picked up many more nuggets of knowledge than I even knew! I hope they help others break the chains of debt. 