Spotlight: Clark Howard
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But let's get back to that 30-month plan for a minute. I'm focused on between 30 months and 60 months. I prefer 30 but can live with 60 on the outside because you can see the progress that you're making in paying down your balances, and you put yourself under a firm timeline to pay your credit card debt off just as you would, say, a car loan.

Additionally, you can use the great online calculators like those you'd find at Bankrate, for example, that'll show you exactly how much you'd need to pay per month in order to get the debt paid off in the 30 months. And, if that's impossible, you can try and see what it would take in 40 months or in 50 months or in 60 months. And if you're in a situation where 60 months is impossible, that's when you know you have to go to an affiliate of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

But isn't there a negative consequence to your credit score if you pursue credit counseling?

If you just go in just for budget help, there'll be no effect at all. But if you go into what's called a "debt-management plan," then yes, your credit will be harmed for the short-term for having gone into a payment plan.

A lot of indebted people question whether downsizing their lifestyles is an absolute must in the process of moving from debt to financial freedom. They'll say that they can refinance their loans, transfer credit card balances over to new cards to take advantage of various "zero-percent interest" offers, etc. Are these valid arguments? Or is some degree of pain always necessary in order to get the gain?

If someone rolls credit card debt over to a new card just to take advantage of one of these "teaser offers" -- let's say that the offer's for zero percent for a year -- well, if you're not doing anything to reduce your overall balances, you really haven't benefited at all. All you have really done is gotten a year older and the debt's still there.

Now, if you had done this as part of an active plan to reduce your credit card balances, then that sort of move would've been fine.

If somebody got into debt by spending more than they make, before they can stop hurting themselves, they have to spend substantially less than they make. In order to deal successfully with debt, people have to cover their payments, they have to cover their interest, and if they're going to pay off balances, they're going to have to cover that, too. And all that involves a major lifestyle change.

Should you set up a reserve of cash in an emergency fund or a "rainy day" fund before you embark on any debt-reduction campaign? Or should you wait until after you eliminate all of your debts?

Eliminate your debt first. Rainy day accounts are cute, they're nice, but I put them in the cute category because your first goal should be to can all of your debt. And with rainy day accounts, if you're already in debt, it's not raining, it's pouring on you if you're carrying big balances on your credit cards.