First Three Steps

I agree with the rest.  YOu must sit down and write down all your monthly and yearly expenses.  use your credit card statements, bank statments and categorize as much as you can to determine what you have spent.  The key to getting out of debt and staying out (of bad debt like cc's) is to budget for everything including those unknown things like car repairs, house maintenance etc plus all the other stuff previous poster mentioned.  Don't forget vacation money. .even if you do weekend get aways, you must have it in your budget.

Then what I do to keep me on track - I transfer money to what I call FREEDOM FUNDS take from Mary Hunt's book DEBT PROOF LIVING.  She has a website - look it up.  When pay day comes I transfer all those budget amounts I have into a savings account immediately (on pay day) that I don't spend monthly.  For me this includes gifts (birthdays and xmas), car maintenace, home maintenance, medical costs, kids activites (I do have monthly fees that come out of our checking but SEpt is the time of year for all those sign up fees, one time admin fees etc before regular monthly payments), clothing and  miscellaneous (for me is for things like buying a new coffee pot when ours breaks or much needed sheets for the bed etc).  I transfer most of this into one account and keep a spread sheet as to how much I have for each category.  The categories are whatever you want them to be.  Keep in mind that your budget is a working document which means it is forever changing, and you may have take from the clothing budget to help pay for a car repair etc. 

For me this is an important step to do even if it means paying a bit less on your debt. YOu will feel better knowing that you have the money for car repair or that all those extra school and registration fees in SEpt are covered (if you have kids - I can't recall right now but you get my meaning).  I personally don't think $1000 in an "emergency" account (what I call Freedom Funds)  is enough but it is a start.  YOu have to do what feels right to you and what helps you sleep.  I also have an "emergency" account seperate from my Freedom funds that I would only ever use in case of loss of income - nothing else.  I treat it like the money is not there. 

Then you tackle the debt.  Cut back where you can to save money.  Pay minimum payments on everything else and put extra money on the first credit card you want to tackle.  When you pay that off, take all that money you were putting to that card and put it to the second debt you want to pay and keep moving down the line.  The point is keep making the same payments even though you  have paid off debt.  This will get you out faster. 

I also started paying with cash for some of my expenses like groceries.  NO matter what I did I couldn't seem to lower my grocery budget until I paid with cash.  EAch pay I take out all my grocery budget in cash, keep it in a jar at home and only take what I think I will spend with I go shopping.  It has kept me on track and I lowered my grocery bill by about $400 a month!  And you wouldn't know it if you saw my fridge and pantry.  My hubby and kids have not noticed any changes in what they are eating!  Some people will pay cash for things like gas (for vehicles), entertainment etc.  Perhaps this is an idea that might work for you.  There are many ways to do this.  It is about tweaking these ideas, reading some books or websites and finding what works for you.  Another financial gal I like is Gail Vaz -Oxlade - google to find her site.  She has great ideas on budgeting and I use some of her tips and advice as well.

Good Luck

Sandra