Here a seven ways to “find” extra money each month. Make a list and prioritize your credit card bills—pay off the highest interest rate first and quit carrying the card so you aren’t tempted to use it.

As you accumulate money from day to day, keep it separate from “regular” money. At the end of the month, make a payment on your targeted priority credit card. Once one card is paid off, move on the next one.

If your town started charging a fast food tax tomorrow, what would you do? You’d probably gripe—and pay it. By charging yourself a “fast food tax” of $.25 on snacks and $1 on meals, you can begin to build a fund to pay down debt.

Every week, grocery stores offer hundreds of dollars in coupon savings. Your receipt usually has the amount printed in bold at the bottom. Move that much cash into your payment fund.

Every time you make a purchase, track the amount of change you had to the nearest dollar. Move that cash into your payment fund.

Times are tough, and good full-time jobs are hard to find. But temporary part-time jobs are still available. You can either put all your temp wages into paying off credit cards (and get them paid off faster) or use half your wages for debt and half for savings.

Recycling is another way to add to your fund. It’s simple enough to toss aluminum cans into a separate trash can and take them for recycling once a month.

You probably have all kinds of used stuff just sitting around gathering dust. You can have a rummage sale—or list items on eBay or Craigslist to sell. Remember, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Finally, you may be able to raise extra money from a hobby. Rent a table at your local craft show or flea market to sell your crafts. You may even be able to sell goodies like homemade fudge or cookies.

While bringing in more money is the fastest way to pay down debt, you can also make an effort to spend less. And combining the two is the fastest, best way to build your payoff fund.

Whether you can find an extra fifty dollars within the budget or can find several hundred dollars to repay the debt, use these techniques to track down the money that seems to go missing within the budget and take advantage of alternative methods that can be used to find money to repay your debt from credit cards, loans and other consumer debts.

Here are some of the methods that you can use to find alternative methods to repay the debt that has been accumulated.

Free Money from the Government
Finding free money from the government to cover debt repayment can be as easy as applying for a government grant that is designed for those that are facing high levels of debt. Take advantage of grant offers available through internet searches and through the local grant approval office and start applying today. Grants do not have to be repaid to the government and can lead the consumer to a life of debt free existence!

Cut Down Your Lifestyle
If you are facing high levels of debt, than it could be essential to make changes within the lifestyle that can come as a shock. Downgrading your lifestyle and moving to a smaller home, or choosing a smaller and lesser expensive vehicle is a way to instantly save hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month. Not only are costs saved through the month, the consumer can often see profits from the equity that has developed from assets such as homes. As the consumer is downgrading, there is often fewer costs associated monthly so the consumer can begin to adjust their expectations when it comes to their lifestyle.

Tighten the Purse Strings
Live on cash and tighten the budget to find money within the budget to repay debt. Ask yourself before you purchase something if you truly do need this product. This simple question can lead to less money spent on junk and more money that can be allocated to repaying the debt that has been accumulated.

Settle Your Debt
If you are simply unable to find money within the budget to repay the credit card debt that has been accumulated consider making a phone call to the credit card company and asking them to settle the debt, which means that you can pay less than the balance – often with monthly installments!

One of the best options is to refinance your debt into a different payment structure. This type of reorganization is called debt consolidation. When you consolidate your debt, you change it from many separate loans into one single loan, in which property is usually used as collateral. This type of reoganization is useful because it replaces many high interest rates with a single lower interest rate, saving you a lot of money in the long term.

If the debt is bad, liquidating some assets can help in a pinch. With the advent of the internet and other forms of mass communications, it is definitely possible to sell a few items to generate some cash in the short term. Go through your house and assess what you need and what you could live without. It might not be pleasant to sell the items that you purchased which got you into debt, but it may be a viable option to owing a vast sum of money to creditors. If things get really bad, you could sell some larger-ticket items like cars or boats, and at its worst, moving into a smaller house might be preferrable to bankruptcy.

Ask for more hours at work, and see what other members of the household can contribute to the family’s welfare. Ask for a raise at your current job or consider taking on part time freelance work if you have a skillset.. Even with the current environment, asking for a raise can’t hurt when facing bankruptcy. If your significant other doesn’t work, perhaps its time that they go out and pursue a career or at least find some part time work while things get better economically.

Be honest to your lenders, and if things are getting difficult, talk to them about restructuring. Tell them about your situation and that without some relief, bankruptcy is a real possibility for you. Banks don’t want their clients to be unable to pay, so they may be willing to reduce some of your debt or reduce the rates you pay on your loan in order to accomodate your situation. Be upfront with your information and ask if they have any way of helping you pay the loan. Even if they offer assistance, make sure that you read the small print on the contract, as they may agree to offer assistance in the short term, and raise your rates astronomically down the road.

Do the research about the regulations and laws of your locality. States have varying bankruptcy laws, so its in your interest to be familiar with them. By understanding the laws, you given yourself a valuable advantage when it comes to deciding your own fate in the bankruptcy process. Some states can even rule that you are bankrupt without you even being present or knowing of your situation. Even if you have to find a lawyer who is willing to work “pro bono,” do everything you can to obtain legal representation and advice. Its worth it in the end.

With the credit crunch causing tough economic conditions all over the world this problem is just getting worse, with job losses, pay cuts and failing businesses meaning many more people than usual are facing legal action and bailiffs due to not making minimum payments to the various credit companies.

Even for those making their minimum payments the situation is far from ideal. The interest rate on debts can be very substantial, and with the large average amount that a person owes they will find themselves paying this debt back many, many times over.

With so many minimum payments to be making it can be a real struggle coming up with the cash every month, especially when interest rates mean you are barely seeing any dent being made in the amount that you owe. Being able to cut this down would benefit most households and individuals.

So how do you cut down these payments and allow yourself some more spare cash?

Consolidate your debt.

Now debt consolidation is hardly a new scheme, it has been around for many years. But with the rise in debt and the troubled employment and business markets many more people are examining it as an option, and liking what they see.

The basic idea behind debt consolidation is that you take out a loan that you use the money from to pay off your other debts, be they credit cards, loans, over-drafts, car purchases etc. By doing this you put all your debt into one place, rather than paying off half a dozen credit agencies. Because of this the amount that you are paying each month is reduced dramatically.

By looking into proper debt consolidation schemes, rather than just loans, you should be able to negotiate yourself a far more favorable interest rate, meaning you will also be able to cut down on the amount that you are losing every month.

Paying off other debt companies can help solve issues you may have with meeting minimum payments, potential legal action etc. By doing so you will be helping your credit file as well.

Most important though is how many bills you will be cutting from your monthly budget. You could be looking at paying out as little as a third of what you are paying out on your current debts. That is a huge amount of money that will give you the sort of cash that you will need to have a better lifestyle, start saving or blow however you want. Who doesn’t need some extra spending money these days?

Debt consolidation is popular business because it helps so many thousands of people every year. Look into it, you could well be looking at having a lot more money in your pocket, every month.