Looking for an easier way to manage your finances? Or perhaps a faster way to eliminate debt? Debt consolidation has helped millions of people. You can combine all your outstanding balances into one loan, enjoy easy account management, reduce your interest rates and monthly payments, and ultimately get out of debt quicker.

Everyone wants to get out of debt. But if you don’t have much cash leftover once all your bills are paid, it’ll take forever to get your finances back on track. Paying double or triple the minimum payment helps, especially since minimum payments barely reduce the interest due. But if you owe several thousands of dollars on a credit card, doubling your payments may not be enough. To knock down the debt, you’ll need a lump sum of cash or a low interest rate. There’s no easy way to get rid of debt, but a debt consolidation can help.

Zero Interest Credit Card/Balance Transfer

Some people use credit cards everyday of their lives, yet, they never know their interest rates – big mistake. The first step to getting out of debt and knocking down those credit card balances is acquiring a lower rate. There are different ways to achieve this. Contact your existing credit card company and ask for a reduced rate, or apply for a low rate credit card. You never know, they might offer you zero percent interest for six months. Next, ask about a balance transfer, in which you can transfer the balances from your high interest cards to the low interest card. Imagine paying zero percent interest for six months or one year.

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You’ve come a long way, baby.

We most certainly have. Powerful female role models, (relatively) equal pay, televised tampon commercials, and the freedom to wear pants. On top of it all, the ability to pursue a career — any career. We’re supposed to embrace that freedom and power, carve out own way in the world, make our own money. All by ourselves. Without help, and surely, without the help of a man.

I will leave the serious dissertations on modern feminism to others — the justification of the housewife, the resurgence of the stay at home mom, being valued for cherishing the role of mothers, placing family above career… That is an ideological debate on values, femininity, freedom of choice, and power.

This article is on money.

While I embrace my self-reliant, self-assured Alpha Woman ideal, allow me to fantasize about “the good life” and play devil’s advocate for a moment.

Marry For Money?

Go ahead, scoff at your Anna Nicole Smiths, your Heather Millses, your Kevin Federlines. But let’s have a look at the positive side. After all, marrying for money can’t be all bad, can it?

For starters, you can quit your day job. Come on, you know you want to. Unless you’re in some wildly fantastic position like Oprah or Jennifer Lopez or Hilary Clinton, you’re probably in a less-than-perfect professional scenario. Well, now that you’ve married Mr. Big, you can finally tell your boss what time it is. Besides, isn’t working overrated and unnatural? Imagine having the choice between lounging on the beach drinking Mai Tais, or sitting in your uncomfortable, non-ergonomic chair in a stuffy office with mediocre coffee and hospital lighting. Which would you prefer?

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I can’t understand how someone could have the audacity to swipe an innocent child’s personal information and open fraudulent credit accounts in their name, but then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. I know of many situations where parents have opened accounts in their children’s name; they didn’t pay the bill, and their child spends the first few years of their adult life undoing their parent’s mistake.

Children and Teens are Easy Targets

Identity theft among children is more common than most people realize. In the past year I’ve stumbled upon many cases. There was the infant who owed a $600,000 mortgage loan; and a 14-year-old with more than $10,000 in credit card debt. Children are easy targets for brazen thieves. According to the Federal Trade Commission, approximately 400,000 children under the age of 18 have their identities stolen each year. Unlike adults, children have a clean slate; it’s much easier for thieves to open accounts, and in some cases, thieves don’t have to work hard to acquire a child’s personal information. Some children and teens willingly offer this information. Therefore, it’s important for parents to closely monitor their children’s activity and take steps to protect their identity.

Keeping Personal Information Secret

Thieves don’t need a lot of information to open a fraudulent account. In most cases, the only information they need is a birth date, full name, and Social Security number. Children should understand the importance of keeping this information private. It shouldn’t be revealed to anyone, including friends, relatives, teacher or other trusted adults.

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“Can I pick up anything while I’m out?” my brother-in-law kindly asks before walking the kids to school. Those eight simple words just might be one of the leading causes of tight budgets.

Think about your spending patterns. Do you spent too much or too often? How many times per week – no, per day! – do you pull out your wallet? And the most important question – how many of those purchases were planned?

Spending Too OFTEN

The joke’s on my brother-in-law, because unless Armande’s organic farm is open today, there’s nowhere he could just stop by on the way home. No quick coffee or muffin, no “we’re out of baking soda”, no blue-light specials in our rural neighborhood. Since moving to this area where almost every item in the store is more expensive, we’ve been saving heaps of money. We simply don’t have the opportunity to buy buy buy.

My family has also become hyper-conscious of the constant pressure to spend when in the city. Stores and billboards and restaurants are everywhere, calling for attention, beating down our budgetary defenses. The whole economy, media, and consumer culture is constructed to push us into spending – too much and too often. One local business association actually successfully lobbied to have traffic lights timed to make cars stop more often so that commuters would be more likely to notice and pull into the shops.

Planning Your Purchases

Back here in the country, instead of running to the store all the time, we have to plan. A full week of menu planning lets us know exactly what to shop for in one trip, reducing the opportunity for impulse buys. We also keep a list of needed supplies for crafts, house repairs, leisure, etc, so that when we do hit that thrift store or coop we again minimize the amount of unnecessary extra filler.

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My psychologist is hot for my husband, I’m sure of it. We have decided to go to couples therapy. This is our first visit, and I’m losing.

She knows we are here at the geneticist’s suggestion after our child died of a chromosomal disorder. But that’s not why I’m here. I have other issues with our marriage. I list them off, typical sordid couple fare: money, sex, parenting, and whose turn it is to walk the dogs. I start my monologue in a clinical tone but soon spiral into teary blubbering, ending with a self pitying remark about being “too soft” to handle this relationship.

Silence. Tough crowd. I’m not even offered a tissue.

My husband is asked to speak. He has a beautiful rich calm voice and he’s incredibly articulate. It’s like Eckhart Tolle has invaded his body. He’s agreed to come to couples therapy. That wins him big points right there. He does not counter, he does not blame. He is saddened and shocked at how upset I am. He’s willing to do anything to keep our love alive in this marriage. And he’s wearing that blue shirt that brings out his shockingly light eyes. Great. Don’t I look like the ungrateful turd?

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