One of the greatest challenges that many people confront when trying to repay credit debt is locating money to pay off debt. In order to repay your creditors, you must pay more than the minimum payment amount, yet this is often difficult to do when you find yourself having difficulty just making ends meet month after month.

So just how on earth do you find money to put towards your credit card bills every month? Allow me to share a few strategies:

Income tax return: Do you normally receive a big tax refund every year? If you do, then you should apply part of your income tax refund towards your credit card bills. Also, you ought to correct your withholding so that a lesser amount of income taxes are coming out from each check; it’ll give you a smaller tax refund, but you’ll have additional cash to apply towards your debt payments each month. The last thing you want to do is give Uncle Sam an interest free loan when you need money to pay off debt!

Borrow from friends and loved ones: Most people resist asking family and friends for money, but when you’re in too deep and you’ve got family members with the financial means to help you, this is definitely a solution you mustn’t ignore. If it helps assure your family that the debt will be paid back, you could draft a written contract to ensure that each person understands what to expect, and there’s no possibility for disagreements or difficult feelings later on.

Bonuses, raises and overtime: Whenever you receive a raise, bonus or get overtime, you should use at least part of those earnings to pay towards your credit card debt. Seeing as this is “extra” money that you did not have before, you shouldn’t miss the money that you put towards your credit card bills.

Sell things: An additional option would be to sell items to raise money. Hold a garage sale or possibly sell items you no longer need on Craigslist or eBay. Sell books that you no longer read on Amazon or Half.com. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much certain objects can sell for on an online auction!

Decrease spending: Despite the fact that this is listed last, this is probably the first step you should really take to find extra money to pay off debts. You should review your expenses to see if there are any areas that you could trim down to generate additional money to be paid towards your debt. Some typical areas that might be cut back on, at least in the short term, to help pay down debt include food (both groceries and dining out), entertainment (health and fitness memberships, newspaper subscriptions, cable, internet, trips to the book store) and personal care (haircuts, clothing, house cleaning, etc.).

These are only a couple of suggestions on how to get money to pay off debt. There are hundreds of different ways you can find money to use towards your debt if you are motivated to look for them.

If you’re in debt up to your ears, you may not understand the reason why. It’s common for people who are in debt to not fully comprehend exactly what got them into the situation that they are in. But, as someone who has been in debt and known many other people who have been in debt, I can almost guarantee you that I know the reason why you’re in debt.

You’re in debt because you don’t budget. You either don’t have one, or you don’t use it. It’s as simple as that.

I’ve been in debt. I’ve been out of debt, too, and it was only when I was using a budget that I was able to get out of debt and stay out of debt. Other people who have been in the same situation tell me the same thing: a personal budget is the best way to keep from going into debt, or to finally pay off your debts.

Why is a personal budget so powerful? And how can it help pay off debt?

First, budgeting forces you to examine how you spend your money. A good budgeting method or system will cause you to look at each of your purchases individually, put them in categories, and compare how much you spend to how much you earn. There are so many budgeting systems that I can’t name them all, and they each accomplish these things in different ways, but they all accomplish basically the same thing.

Second, a budget helps you keep track of how much of your spending is in each category. This is useful when it’s time to find places to cut your spending. The more you keep track of your spending, the easier it will be to spend less. Reducing how much you spend will give you more money to put towards paying off your debts.

Third, budgeting is a useful tool to get you and your spouse on the same page with regard to your finances. It’s crucial that you and your spouse agree on a “game plan” if you’re going to get out of debt. If you are both working at cross purposes, you’ll take a long time to get out of debt, or you’ll even go more deeply into debt. Budgeting can give you a way to work as a team, with the same goals. You’re much more powerful together than as individuals.

Fourth, budgeting helps you to internalize the debt repayment process. By putting a budget onto paper, or into a computer program, you can more easily visualize and understand where you are in your debt repayment process.

If you’re trying to track your spending habits and debt repayment progress in your head, you can’t possibly do as well as with a written budget. There’s something about putting numbers onto paper or computer screen that makes it seem more “real”.

Fifth, a budget will motivate you. Keeping track of how much progress you’ve made will get you through discouraging times, since you can look at where you’ve been and how much better off you are now. Motivation is a vital part of building momentum in the debt payoff process.