Credit card debt today is one of the banes in many people’s lives. Many will wake up at night in a lather of sweat and toss and turn, worrying about how they are going to manage to "rob Peter to pay Paul". This constant juggling of family finances is adding stress into people’s already overstressed life and shortening life spans. Here are three easy ways to consolidate credit card debt:

1. Don’t Use a Credit Card:

Sounds pretty obvious but if you don’t put any charges on your credit card then they can’t send you a bill at the end of the month. So when should you use a credit card?

A credit card should only be used to purchase goods and services when cash won’t do. Cash is not acceptable to be sent through the snail-mail system and it can’t be used when purchasing anything off the internet.

A credit card can be used to make any big purchases like car tires or a refrigerator that is urgently needed for health and safety reasons and that you can’t immediately lay your hands on some cash to pay for it. This is/ was the original purpose of a credit card, but since people have been so underpaid for so long, they have resorted to using a credit card to pay for household expenses that were once budgeted to pay cash for out of the family budget.

Also, it’s not just a matter of underpaid employees but also a case of people’s expectations and the "I want it now" syndrome. If people saved up their money instead of paying and wasting it on credit card interest, they would be able to get what they wanted at a much lower price by swapping waiting time for money.

2. Use Cash ~ Cash is King

Cold hard cash is welcomed by every business and person. Cash is money that is immediately usable, doesn’t have any other charges associated with it and is acceptable everywhere. Cash is the basis of our monetary systems and still rules supreme. Cash is King.

To use cash will allow you to better handle your family budget. Once you know what you spend on groceries and incidentals every week which you will probably be able to find out from simply reading your last few credit card bills, you will know what amount of cash to get out of the bank and to use.

3. Bury the Credit Card safely in a locked drawer

Credit cards are an essential item in today’s world. Just ask anyone who doesn’t have a debit or credit card just how inconvenient life can become without one! But this doesn’t mean that you should use it every day.

Credit cards were originally designed to give good bank customers a means of accessing credit easily for those bigger purchases that people would go to their banks to get a small loan to buy. Then the banks saw what a ‘cash cow’ they could be and made them accessible to everyone.

These days, credit card debt repayments have become the foundation of bank’s billion dollar profits. Without such an easy income stream the banks would not be able to pay their CEO’s million dollar bonuses every year. So do you really want to continue to contribute to this inequality? If not, then bury that and every other credit card deep in a safe place like a locked drawer.

If you absolutely need to use it, bring it out, and be sure to pay the full balance owing at the end of the month. Once the balance owing is paid off, it has been an interest free loan to you for the month. If you can’t pay it off at the end of the month then you will be paying interests on the balance owed.