This article examines some straightforward ways in which you can manage debt. Firstly it must be said that managing debt effectively is not a natural state for many people, especially people who are up to their necks in the stuff. In these situations debt can see insurmountable, but in reality this is not the case; the first stage in managing debt is simply a matter of differentiating between the wood and the trees.

Debt is a common problem in modern society, and often for young people. Our educational system with tuition fees and student loans positively encourages people to get into debt. Such are the costs of further education, that people are leaving college or university with average debts of over £20,000. That is a huge amount of debt with which to embark on the road of adulthood; it is no wonder that so many people get into trouble.

For a period of time a large number of students were declaring themselves bankrupt in order to write off their student loans. Once the government saw what was happening they stopped it by excluding student loans from bankruptcy proceedings.

The first step in managing debt is to examine the balance between the cash coming in and the cash going out. It is necessary to monitor this accurately over a period of time in order to identify where the ship is holed. This is the most difficult part really; once you have faced up to the shock that you will experience during this process, all else will seem like plain sailing.

Can you increase the inflow? It is likely that you will resent cutting your expenditure; after all we only have one life and we should enjoy it. Rather than cut down on things, it is best if we can increase the amount of money we have to spend on them – perhaps we can get paid for doing overtime, take on an extra job, or better still negotiate a pay rise. There are always ways to make extra money if you have the will to do so, but sometimes even this is not enough to take you out of debt in a reasonable time frame.

So, armed with your new knowledge of your cash flow situation you need to make an assessment of the amount of money you can afford in order to repay your debts. You then need to persuade your creditors to accept this level of payment and to preferably stop charging you interest and late payment fees. That might sound difficult, but it is easier than you think, especially with a little professional help.