First things are first: it is always wise to have everything easily accessible, and to know exactly what you are up against. Therefore, gather together all of your current credit card statements, then amass them in a neat pile which runs from the largest amount owed to the smallest amount owed.

At this stage in the game, there is no point in paying attention to the interest rate that is attached to the amount, so simply arrange the pile according to the currently balance owed. Having collated everything that you are outstanding, the next logical step is to sort this pile of paper into something a bit more manageable; go through the now sorted pile of bills, and make a list of the credit cards and the outstanding balance on each of them. Listing the cards and their amounts in the order that they are stacked will help to shrink the perceived size of the task ahead (it is always much more reassuring to have a dinky piece of paper with a few figures on it, than a stack of letters from various companies).

This task will also help you to keep focused on exactly what needs doing. The next stage if the one that most people find taxing and laborious, meaning that it is often the one that gets entirely overlooked; adding up the minimum amount that must be paid on each card a month gives you your monthly target; this, in turn, must be deducted from the normal household budget. When working out your household budget versus your debt, it is always worth remembering that even with this newly worked out figure, you are still only paying the absolute minimum towards clearing your debt; this means that you are not tackling the problem as much as you potentially could. To counter this, look very carefully at the household budget and see if there is anything that you could live without, or make some amendments to (weighing up the feeling of being debt-free against whatever you are considering cutting).

Next comes the part of the plan that involves action; paying of the minimum on each card is fine, however, in order to really make a dent in the surplus of debt it is worth doing something a bit different. A good plan is to take all of the extra money that you managed to find in your usual household budget (everybody has something that they can add to this particular pot), and using the money, pay off the credit card bill which has the lowest balance in it’s entirety. People who have sought debt-clearance advice before might find this advice to be contrary to advice that they have previously received: many finance experts instantly tell people to start paying off the balance that has the highest interest rate attached to it. However, there is a great deal to be said for attaining a sense of pride and achievement; the satisfaction that comes with paying off an entire card debt is the usually the incentive that many people need to help them carry on in their debt-clearing ways.

Having paid off an entire card’s worth of debt, it is now time to turn your attention to using the extra money that was obtained from the household budget towards paying off the debts with the highest interest rate attached (except now you have a previous triumph to reflect on, letting you know that the task ahead is not insurmountable!). The final bit of credit card advice is, for many, the most enjoyable; cutting up the credit cards you own (except perhaps one for emergency use) is rewarding, and let’s you put a final stamp on their use. If you do save one credit for emergency use – put in a draw, or behind a cupboard: out of sight is out of mind, and you won’t be tempted to use it.