Getting out of Debt: Step Two

Now that you have assumed responsibility for your debts, you are ready to get rolling. But roll to where?

FIGURING OUT YOUR "NUMBERS"

You have assumed the responsibility - but the responsibility for what? It is now time to gather all your financial info and I mean ALL of it.

You have got to know exactly where you stand. Get all those debt statements, to include the house and the car. Write them all down and get that ugly total number. It will probably be shocking, but you need to do it!

You also need to get all your paystubs. Figure out how much you actually MAKE each month.

If you have any open savings or checkings accounts with balances in them - you know, assests - get that information together as well. Heck, you can even get together any stocks, retirement accounts and/or savings bonds together as well, so you can have a clear total of how much money you have at your disposable.

Once you get all of this information together, written down, and filed in a system that works for you, you should be ready for the next step.

But don't be suprised if it takes you a couple of weeks to complete this step. Some of us just don't keep good financial records (which would make sense considering we are in debt!) and it takes some time to get all of those records together. Just do it as quickly as you can, since time is a wastin'!