One very important way to reduce your debt is to pay off your credit cards as quickly as possible. Most people just make the minimum payment on their Credit Cards, but that means it will take years to pay off those debts. The minimum payments typically go mostly toward interest. Because your money is going toward paying the interest, very little actually goes toward paying off the debt.

The way to pay off your cards is to put a little extra toward the principle each month. You should pay as much extra each month as you can afford, because the more you pay, the faster the debts will be eliminated. As long as you pay a bit above the minimum each money, you’ll be working toward eliminating the actual debt rather than just paying the interest each month.

It’s best to pay off high-interest cards first. You should put as much money as you can possibly manage each month into paying off your highest-interest cards. Pay slightly above the minimum payments on the lower-interest cards, and put the majority into the high-interest cards. Work on a single card at a time, putting that big chunk into the highest-rate card each month until it’s paid off. Then move on to the card with the next highest interest rate.

Some people prefer to knock out their lower balances first. While it makes better sense financially to pay off the higher-interest cards, some people find that very discouraging, especially if those high-interest cards have very high balances. If you start to knock down the lower balances first, you’ll seem to see results faster, because you’ll have some cards paid off completely a lot faster.

Whatever plan you make, just be sure to stick to it. Once you’ve decided which card to pay off first, just keep paying as much as you can on it each month until it’s paid off. Make a plan you know you can stick to, and then stick to it! That’s the key to paying debt down quickly.