In this debt primer we are going to simply cover the basics of what to do, as well as what not to do, when it comes to debt. Some of the entries may seem fairly obvious while others may be ideas that you have not yet considered. Any way you look at it, even if you think you know everything that there is to know about debt, it can't hurt to review the tips that you will find here.

How did this happen?

The first thing to understand about debt is that, like money, it does not grow on trees. The Zen masters would tell you that there is a reaction for every action and that debt cannot be created without the debtee being somewhat involved in the process.

Once you can admit that you have a problem with debt, and that, yes, it was you who created the debt, you will have taken your first step toward debt recovery. Sure, people can get in debt for a variety of reasons and some of these reasons may not even be their fault. For now, let's just push ahead and assume that we are at fault for our debts (because it doesn't really matter who's at fault).

One way or another, you got in over your head. You may have had some unexpected medical bills, experienced a sudden, unexpected crash in the housing market, or you might have even been a victim of identity theft. The point is, it doesn't really matter. You are in too much debt and you need to do something about it.

Is there really such a thing as good debt? There are many reasons why perfectly good people take on perfectly good loans for perfectly good reasons. Want to make more money? Get a better job. How do you get a better job? Get more education. That can cost a lot of money! You probably don't have 20 or 30 thousand dollars stashed in a sock somewhere so that you can pull it our whenever you need an education. You must get a student loan. It's a good debt. Just make sure that you don't borrow more than you can reasonable pay back once you get your dream job.

A bad debt is when you use your credit cards to pay for items or services that are immediately consumable. If you regularly go out to dinner, use your credit card to foot the bill, and don't pay your total credit card balance at the end of the month, that is a bad debt. Same thing goes for vacations, getting your nails done, going to the movies or paying for your gas. Try to only use your credit cards for items of value. Preferably for items that have lasting value.

Ugly debt is anything that you charge for that you wouldn't pay cash for. It is very simple to avoid this. The next time that you are going to use your credit card in order to buy something, just ask yourself if you would be buying that item if you had to pay with cash.

If you want to pay off your debts, clear your credit card balances and sleep better at night then the first thing that you need to do is to curb your spending. Just like dieting, one of your best lines of defense can be to keep a journal. Write down everything. Keep track of every item that you buy, why you bought it and whether or not you would have bought it with cash if you didn't have any credit cards. You might be surprised how fast all of the little items add up.

The next thing that you need to do is start paying off your credit cards, one at a time. You should obviously start with your ugliest debts. These are the credit cards that have a high interest rate, maybe a hefty annual fee and cards for which you carry a high balance. Get your ugliest credit card paid off and then start tackling the rest of your cards, one at a time.

Don't be afraid to get some help. Sometimes people just get too far over their heads to really see the big picture and they fail to realize that they are not going to get out of their debt without some professional help. Get help sooner rather than later. You might be able to benefit for a debt consolidation loan or by using one of the many debt negotiation companies who can help you reduce your debt by negotiating with the credit card companies on your behalf.