Pay your bills. Okay, that's stating the obvious. Use the debt snowball. List your debts in order from smallest balance to largest. Make minimum payment on everything EXCEPT the smallest. Pay all you can reasonably afford (don't go without food to pay your debts) on the smallest balance. When that's paid off, take the amount you were paying them and ADD it to the minimum payment of your next smallest balance, keeping your total monthly (or weekly) debt payments the same. Keep doing this until you're paying all debt-reduction money on the biggest debt. When that's paid-off, you're debt free.. . Some people will say to pay the highest interest rate debt first, but the interest savings is so small and with the debt snowball, you see progress much faster and that is VERY encouraging.. . I would also recommend setting aside a small amount each paycheck in an emergency fund (until you have $500-1000)so that you're not tempted to use credit the next time you need cash.. . Of course, I'm assuming you've cut up the credit cards so you never go back to this place again.