Do you know that as of 2015, the average credit card load for an American family was over $15,000?

Do you know that the average college graduate leaves school with over $35,000 in student loans?

Debt struggles have become as common to us as the common cold. If you’re struggling with debts like I was, just know that your situation is fixable.

You do not have to spend your life trying to manage which bills to pay this month and which to push off until next month.

You can save yourself sleepless nights. You don’t have to feel like a failure to your family because you can’t provide them with everything you want to and they deserve.

In my first two blog posts I talked about developing your “money mindset” and how important it is to banish your limiting beliefs about money and wealth accumulation.

In my second post I gave you a simple three step formula to finally kick all your debts to the curb and never be bothered by them ever again.

The big key and most important step in debt elimination is making extra debt payments over the minimum payments you’re required to pay.

The more extra funds you have available to do this, the faster you’ll be debt free.

In this post I’ll deal with finding that extra money. I’ll give you a few ideas, but you can find additional solutions on your own.

Just use your creativity and you’ll surprise yourself with the different ways you discover to find increased funds.

But, first I want to give you a word of caution. Getting out of debt is much, much harder than getting into debt. Getting out of debt will take effort and work.

The one thing you absolutely cannot do without is discipline. Once you’ve established your plan, you must have the discipline to see it through all the way. Once you start, you must stick with it every day. Just follow through and you’ll be fine.

Let me put it directly—If you have discipline and stick with the blueprint, you’ll soon be debt free. If, however, you don’t have the necessary discipline, you will fail.

It’s that simple. There are no shortcuts.

Here are some of the ways you can find extra money for debt freedom:

1. Find a part time job.

This one is fairly obvious. Even with only a small side income to use, you will accelerate your debt pay offs.

Anyone can find some source of part time income. Mowing lawns, being a week-end cashier or doing simple handyman jobs can yield some quick cash.

Every dollar you add will provide results to get you out of debt faster.

2. Review your budget with a keen eye and a sharp knife.

It’s vitally important that you constantly review your budget and look for areas where you can slash expenses.

You don’t have to live like a hermit and deny yourself the necessities of life. The idea here is to get out of debt while still living a “normal” life.

Don’t do away with necessities. Just watch your spending carefully while being on the lookout for any areas where you can shave expenses.

Do you really need a premium cable TV package? How about your cell phone plan—can you switch to something cheaper?

Once you see the plan working for you and you begin paying off debts, you’ll automatically check your budget on your own without any prompting.

You’ll want to accelerate the plan as much as possible.

3. Use money you didn’t expect to have.

This is known as “found“ money. It’s money you don’t normally receive. If you get a nice income tax refund or win a cash prize you never expected, the best thing you can do is to use it to make extra debt payments.

It can be tempting to use this money to splurge on something extra. Don’t do it. You’ll be much better off (and eventually much happier) by paying debts.

This is one of the places where you must have discipline.

4. Ask for lower interest rates on your credit cards and loans.

It is drop dead simple to get your credit card company to lower your interest rate.

Just ask them to do it!

I’ve tried this numerous times and never failed.

The credit card companies don’t want to lose a paying customer. Ask them to lower your interest rate. If they hesitate (and they probably will just to test you), explain that you may have to transfer your balance to another company that will give you a lower rate.

If you still don’t get a yes, ask to speak to a supervisor and explain the same thing to them. That’s usually as far as you have to go to get a reduction.

5. Sell what you don’t need or use.

Do you have things lying around in your attic or garage that you really don’t need or use anymore?

Everyone has items that have been relegated to the “non-use” category. Things like clothes, lawn mowers, tools and old bicycles.

You accomplish two things when you sell these items—you raise additional cash to use for debt elimination and you reduce the clutter in your home. Your buyers may also get bargain deals. It’s a win-win for everyone.

There are any number of other ways besides these which you can use to raise cash to get out of debt faster. You’re only limited by your creativity.

Just look around and find those ways yourself.

While the information I’ve provided here is invaluable, it’s only an outline of the process.

To get more in depth step by step information on how to rid yourself of money worries, click the link below for more information