The holidays are over and you realize that you spent more money than you should have. Was your New Year’s Resolution to become debt free? It’s easy to say that is what you want but it takes more than just a want or need to become debt free.

It is important to set your goal of becoming debt free. But to reach any goal, a plan is needed and steps are required to make it happen.

The first and most important step in becoming debt free is to STOP CHARGING. There is no way to be debt free if you are still digging deeper in debt and adding to the problem.

There are many strategies for getting out of debt. Once you have decided which one to use, stick to it. A great tool to use in determining how debt should be paid is PowerPay.org. This is a secure site offered by Utah State University Cooperative Extension.

There are multiple strategies like paying off the highest interest rate debt first or paying off the lowest balance debt first. By choosing which payment method you want to use, you can see the amount of interest savings and how long it will take to pay off your debt. You can track your progress with the PowerPay online program.

In addition to debt reduction, PowerPay has other tools for managing your personal finances. An online spending plan can be created, the extended spending plan option allows for a very in-depth spending plan to keep track of your monthly expenses. Online calculators are available in multiple areas of personal finance. There are also many educational publications available in many areas as well.

PowerPay has savings calculators, but there is not a way to track your savings online. If you are interested in starting to track your savings America Saves has a great tool available online at http://saverstool.americasaves.org. Or sign up to be a South Dakota Saver at http://southdakotasaves.org and get access to the saver tool.