You can choose to either start paying off the credit card with the highest interest rate first or you can get rid of the credit cards with the smallest balance first. The important thing is to know exactly how you are going to approach your credit card debt elimination before you begin.

First, set a realistic budget for yourself to lower your spending in all areas and stick to it. Living by your budget will help you pool your available cash for your credit card debt elimination plan.

The most important you must do immediately is eliminate your credit card spending. You can never succeed with credit card debt elimination if you continue to add to the outstanding balance. The interest on that debt added with a climbing balance will make credit card debt elimination impossible.

It's important to pay your credit card bills on time and always pay more than the minimum payment on the bills you want paid off first. Paying the minimum payment doesn't eliminate that high credit card interest rate. That's exactly what the credit card companies want because they are making a killing off of that interest.

If you are concentrating your bill paying efforts on one bill at a time, then you should still pay at least the minimum on the others. Once each bill is paid redirect your resources to the next bill so your credit card debt elimination can become a reality.

A tip that some have been successful with is contacting creditors to ask for a lower interest rate. Even if most creditors say no what if some of them say yes? The interest savings to you will multiply your credit card debt elimination efforts and save you money. It's worth a few phone calls and your time to try this.

One last tip is, if you choose to close your credit card accounts, do not close them until after the bill has been paid. Some credit card companies often will penalize you by raising interest rates if you close an account that carries an outstanding balance.

The most important thing to remember is to begin your plan right now. Think of how you will feel when you are finally free of high credit card interest. The sooner you start, the sooner your ultimate goal of credit card debt elimination can be accomplished.