To get rid of debt, you first need to plug the obvious holes in your financial boat before you start bailing. Otherwise what you might save in one place will only be wasted elsewhere. If you don't stop unwise spending habits, then you'll simply be running in place and getting nowhere fast.

Next, let's list the reasons you spend money that you regret later on. This will help you know what poor spending decisions look like. These should be "red flags" in your world of personal finance.

Identify things like convenience, satisfaction of getting what you want, feeling of affluence, getting a great deal, having the latest gadget, and keeping up with the neighbors. The list can be very large, so it will take some time.

Now that we've made some effort to stop the financial nosedive, it's time to turn away from crisis management and start to be proactive about our financial condition. Here is where we get serious about adding structure to your world of personal finance.

Any effective management requires a plan, so let's start planning for success instead of just sailing along and letting life happen all around us. Here is where we make deliberate efforts to make things happen for ourselves.

We'll need wise spending, so we better have a well thought out life plan to help guide us. I'm talking about something that is comprehensive in nature. Many of us know where we are going in a general manner, but few of us have a clear life plan.

Whether you're focused on paying off debt, getting ahead, or simply being more responsible about your finances, a game plan for life will be important tool - assuming you use it. I had a plan early in my career and followed it to success. When I turned my back on the plan, I found myself staring down the barrel of paying off debt for many years.

Planning has always worked well for me - when I stuck with it. You've probably heard: "If you don't plan, then you plan to fail". That's probably why many of us got into "debt quicksand" - we didn't have a plan. That's also why many of us are still sinking deeper and deeper - we still don't have a plan.

You can change all of that if you really want to be successful at paying off debt. Planning is easy and fun. It's a little like realistic dreaming. It's building a road map for you to follow.

Once you have a general plan for success (or for paying off debt), then you can start to establish meaningful goals that are directly related to the plan. These will be much more structured than the basic financial objective or two discussed above.

Next, you have to set criteria for wise spending. We should be better prepared for this because we previously identified "holes in the financial boat" and other regretable spending decisions. Here we want to turn ourselves 180 degrees from those type of activities, and begin to understand what good spending decisions look like.

An evaluation of need is a great place to start. There is also factors like return on investment, urgency and evaluation of risk. Using these core evaluation criteria, you can start to make better decisions about spending money and help prevent loss of your hard earned money through avoidance of liabilities.

Other criteria you might consider include: avoided repair/replacement costs over the long haul, dictates of timing, unavoidable expenses, investments that make money, and unavailability of alternatives.

Criteria for wise spending are the "thumbs up" for spending money more wisely. The opposite of the "red flags".

Meeting one or more of the criteria doesn't necessarily mean a proposed expenditure is wise, but at least you'll become more familiar with what good spending decisions should look like.

Wise spending decisions not only meet certain criteria, but they also relate to meaningful goals discussed above. Meaningful goals come from articulation of a life plan. If you don't have a plan, then you need to get thinking about one now.

You might ask yourself for each spending decision whether it gets you closer to your goals or farther away. Getting you closer is of course your focus.

It is so much easier to stay out of debt than it is to face paying off debt. Think of careful driving on a slick road surface - that's staying out of debt. That's something we can all do, and it isn't so difficult. It just takes skill, discipline, paying attention and good decision making.

Think of sliding and spinning at high speed on a slick road surface - that's trying to pay off your debt. You might recover from the fishtail, or you might loose control. It all depends on how fast and reckless you were getting into it in the first place.

Think about sliding off the road and crashing in the ditch or worse yet, colliding with other vehicles on the road - that's financial failure. You've lost control and you're going to get hurt financially, and you might take others with you. It's right about now that you're wishing you have done a better job of managing your personal finances.

There is no sense being in a deep financial hole, so stop digging now, set down some hard and fast rules, and get focused on things that are important for you and your family. Be disciplined and aware of the consequences of your financial decisions and you'll stay in control of your finances.

Paying off debt will be a challenge, but it isn't impossible, and it doesn't have to be extremely difficult either. Most of the challenges associated with paying off debt are in your mind.

Agonizing over your debt doesn't help - action does. Whether you like it or not, you are a big part of the problem, even if you share this debt with another. If you're in it alone, you have all the blame.

Regardless, you need to draw a line in the sand now and stand firm. If you don't, things won't get better on their own, and you'll regret having allowed it to continue on its current course.

Get paying off debt and get closer to that great feeling of financial freedom. Avoid paying off debt, and you remain a financial slave. The choice is all yours.