"One of my mantras is: You can have it all; you just can’t have it all at the same time. You have to choose what you want right now. Once you accomplish that goal, you get to choose another.

Another of my mantras: It’s your life. Make of it what you will. So you can bitch and complain about what’s not working for you, or you can figure out what’s not working, fix it, and have a great life. It’s all about what you want. Of course, nobody said it was easy. (p139-140)."

The book offers almost 300 pages of concrete insight on these steps:

1. Take stock of your debt situation
This might take an hour or 12, but have a written plan means you are way more likely to get where you want to be.

2. Stop using your credit
Put away all the credit. It’s time to start living on what you make.

3. Prioritize your debt and calculate your payments
4. Don’t ignore good debt - like a student loan
5. Make your debt repayments automatic
6. Chart your progress - a visual depiction keeps you motivated
7. Vow to be debt-free forever
8. Re-allocate the money -- After you are debt-free, use one-third of that money to boost your emergency or long-range savings; one-third to work toward a goal; the rest back into your budget.

We all know HOW to stay debt-free. Spend less than you earn. But Gail's book is a great one for being quick to remind us every step of the way that we can't make change happen unless we actually stick to a plan.

-- Mikki