It takes patience, diligence, and control to pay down credit card debt. If you are currently in credit card debt, don’t panic. Here are 4 easy steps you can take to pay down credit card debt and reduce financial stress and burden.

Step 1 – Stop Using Your Credit Cards

This may sound like an impossible task, but it is doable and necessary if you are to pay down credit card debt. Instead of using plastic (which can be addictive), use cash to make necessary purchases. Why carry a credit card if using it only leads to more and more debt?

Step 2 – Calculate Your Total Debt

In order to pay down credit card debt, you first need to get an overview of just how much you owe. Make a list of all credit card debts, starting with the ones with the highest interest charges. List the outstanding balance you owe, interest rate, and minimum monthly payment.

If you have a credit card with a high interest rate, call the company and negotiate a better rate. Tell them that you are considering switching to a card with a lower rate. Similarly, if you are late on any of these payments, call the company immediately and explain your situation. Ignoring debt will harm your credit score.

Step 3 – Pay the Maximum Each Month

Once you have a solid overview of your credit card debt, it’s time to chip away at it. This may take months or years, depending on how much you owe. The quickest way to pay down credit card debt is to figure out the largest amount of money you can afford to pay off each month. You’ll be surprised at how much money you can actually part with; the less money we have to spend, the less money we spend. Let’s suppose you can spend $700 a month to pay off your debt.

Step 4 – Do the Math

Next, review your list of credit card debts and minimum monthly payments. You’ll want to pay the card with the highest rate off first. A good way to allocate funds is to add $20 to each of your credit cards’ monthly payments. So let’s suppose that the minimum payments plus $20 for all of your credit cards is $500.

Since you’ve allocated $700 a month to pay down credit card debt, this leaves you with $200 extra to be put toward the card with the highest interest rate. Keep doing this (and add additional funds if you can), until you pay off the card with the highest rate. Then keep working down your list until you have gotten yourself out of debt.