Monthly bills seem to multiply as time goes by.  Some bills cannot be avoided and must be dealt with while others are a product of spending habits that may need rectifying.  A good example of ones that we should learn to live without is credit cards.  So if you have accumulated some of these bills then here are the best ways to pay off credit card debt to get you on the road to financial freedom.

How Much Do You Owe?
First and foremost is to sit down and write everything out.  List the cards, the balances, minimum payments and the interest rates.  This will be a huge wake-up call for you.  Most people with credit card debt have no idea of the total amount that they owe.  It is a repetitious game of receiving the bill and making a payment without taking into account the long range effect.

Make a Budget
You will need to sit and think about how you got into so much debt.  If you are using your cards for luxuries then you will need to refocus your spending habits.  If they are being used just to survive then you will need to take a good long look at a budget and see where you can cut costs.  If there isn’t enough money to live off of then it will be a matter of finding a way to bring more money into your household. 

Contact the Card Companies
Next, you want to call all of the card issuing companies and talk to them.  You need to let them know that you need help lowering your debt.  This is by no means to be a threat to them or to imply that you cannot pay.  You are simply asking for them to work with you. 

While they cannot remove any charges from your bills or lower your balance there are other ways that they can assist you.  Believe it or not, most companies will lower your interest rate just by asking them.  This will go a long way in helping.  But if you fail to make your payments on time this may make the new deal null and void. 

Eliminate Your Bills
Your next goal is to eliminate the number of bills that you have.  Statistics show that very few consumers have only one card.  In fact, some families have 20 or more.   Take a look at your list and see which one has the lowest balance.  You will start by attacking this with a vengeance.  Focus all of your attention on this one bill while making the minimum on the others.  

As your balance drops the issuer will automatically lower your minimum payment.  Disregard this and pay the same amount, or more if you can.  Soon the bill will be eliminated.  Then take the next lowest balance and do the same except add the payment you were making on the first bill, too.  Your balance should drop like a rock. 

Consider Debt Consolidation
Your other option is to use a debt consolidation service which work with companies to lower your payments.  But be careful using these companies.   Using their services will appear almost the same as filing bankruptcy on your credit report and will count against you.  They should only be used as a last resort.