Where to Begin

The first step, and the most important factor in debt elimination, is a firm commitment to reject debt.4 A debt-elimination calendar will simply not work if new debts continue to be added to the old. This change in attitude is not subtle or gradual but rather resembles the flip of a switch—it's a resolute determination to make a clean break from the culturally accepted addiction to debt.

As a personal finance educator, I find it tremendously rewarding to see this light "switch on" in others. For instance, a student who attended a series of community-education finance classes announced enthusiastically on the last day of class that during the previous month she had taken some extra jobs and used tax-return money to pay off five credit cards and two department store cards. She had also opened a certificate of deposit and started a savings account at her bank. This student became a living embodiment of the wise statement that those who understand interest earn it rather than pay it.5