Tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Can’t afford to pay your bills anymore? Well, it’s time to sit down and figure out a budget. You don’t know where to start? There are a number of credit counseling agencies that can help you.

However, before you choose to work with a credit counseling agency, check out the Federal Trade Commission’s publication for consumers called For People on Debt Management Plans: A Must-Do List. Take a look at the following steps:

Make a budget

A budget is not that difficult to figure out. You can use this budget worksheet available free online from the Indiana Department of Child Services. This is a very basic budget worksheet, however, it does list some typical percentages for your expense categories that you can use as guidelines.

Cut your expenses

If your expenses in any of the categories falls into a percentage higher than the suggested one, except for the savings category, you should definitely cut your expenses in that category. You do want to make sure your life style does not cost more than you can afford. If it does, you need to make changes right now. Even the best debt management plan will not be able to eliminate your debt, if you keep adding to it.

Create a debt management plan

You can find worksheets to help you establish your own free debt management plan. One such worksheet will help you determine what payments to make. Concordia Plan Services also has a section on debt management that will explain how to use their worksheets. Using a debt management plan worksheet will help you figure out how to allocate your money and how long it will take to eliminate your debt.

Seek credit counseling

Check into the credit counseling agencies in your area. A legitimate credit counseling agency should have counselors that are trained somewhere other than on the job. They also should be teaching you about budgeting and debt management techniques. Do not fall pray to the companies that just want to take your money, a rather high percentage of which goes towards their services.

Check out the credit counseling agency with the Better Business Bureau

If the company has been around a fair amount of time and still has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau, you can be fairly certain that the company deals with any customer complaint smoothly. A perfect A+ rating does not mean that the company has no complaints, merely that the company dealt with complaints to the customer’s satisfaction.

Implement the plan

It doesn’t matter how ingenious your plan is, if you do not act on it. Currently, the financial community is divided into two camps when it comes to paying off debt. One group believes they should start with the debt that carries the highest interest rate on it. And that makes sense for those of you that are motivated by money. However, the other camp thinks you should start by paying off the smallest loan first, so the act of paying it off can entice you to keep going to increasingly larger loans.

If you do not have the discipline to carry out your plan, you should consider enlisting the help of a credit counselor. There are honest ones out there. You could also enlist the help of a good friend. Take them shopping with you and tell them to keep you from buying anything other than the item you came for. A true friend will be happy to help you.