So here we go. You’ve got all your numbers calculated, all your debit planning done, and you’re in trouble. Don’t panic though, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last.

First, assume that you’re going to fund all your essential bills to make sure your dry, warm, and fed. That’s a given, so don’t sweat it. Second, look at your secondary bills and find out which ones you can cut out. Cable, satellite, high speed internet, and cell phones come to mind. Car payments are another biggie. If you’re making payments on a car, plan on selling it as soon as possible and buying a $500 beater to get you back and forth to work. If you can take a bus or ride with a friend, so much the better. The more money you have to put towards beating back your problems with a debit consolidation loan, the better.

Now look at your credit card payments and figure out which ones you won’t be able to pay by going down the list and adding up the minimum monthly payments. Remember, this is all without the extra money you should free up by getting rid of some of your secondary expenses and/or selling your car. When you reach the last account you can make payments on, set aside some time to call the remaining companies and tell them about your situation. The only thing they need to know is that you owe more money on multiple credit cards than you can afford to pay, and the company to give you the best deal will get what’s left. The others will likely not get anything for quite some time. They’ll work with you, trust me.

Finally, take any money that you can free up from your secondary expenses and apply it to the smallest credit card balance until it’s paid off. Then attack the next one, and the next. Before you know it, you’ll be applying a substantial amount of money to the bigger balances and be beating them. This strategy, combined with a debit consolidation loan, will get you on the right track.

The willingness to change your lifestyle and spending habits is vital before getting a debit consolidation loan, but it’s not something you should fear. You have to understand that you can’t continue to live as you are anyway, so it either has to come to a controlled ending or crash and burn a little farther down the line. I’m going to move forward with this series of articles assuming that you’ve made the right choice, and are dedicated to living within your means.

Now that the switch is flipped and you’re no longer buying everything you see, you need to take a deep breath, sit down, and take stock of everything that you owe, what your minimum monthly payments are, and what your monthly bills add up to. This is important, because it gives you the minimum amount of income that you need to meet your minimum monthly payments and your essential services like utilities, rent, gas, and so on. It will also eventually tell you the size of the debit consolidation loan that you need. Some things, though, are not all that easy to budget for. Your utility bill fan fluctuate drastically from season to season, with your electric bill going down and you gas bill going up in the winter.

All I can say is, you need to take your best guess at it. Obviously budgeting for gas isn’t an exact science, as gas prices fluctuate wildly as can the number of miles that you drive in a week. But, if you really hold your feet to the fire, look at your past payments, and figure out a good average, you’ll be in good shape. Obviously your gas budget will tell you whether or not you can take a road trip down the coast or not this weekend and big things like that, but there needs to be some flexibility to meet higher than expected demand in different areas.