Debt: How to Get Out of It Without Selling a Kidney

(Or: the way out exists, and it doesn’t require any financial miracle)

Owing money creates a particular feeling: like every month you’re already starting “in the negative,” before spending on anything else. We already covered how credit works when it’s used well — this article is about what to do when it wasn’t used so well. The good news is that getting out of debt, even though it’s not instant, is a perfectly achievable process with the right approach.

First: understand exactly what you owe

Before any strategy, you need the full picture: how much you owe in total, to whom, at what interest rate, and over what term. A lot of people avoid looking at this head-on because it causes anxiety — but not knowing exactly how much you owe is far more dangerous than facing it with clear numbers.

“You can’t solve a problem you refuse to measure precisely.”

Two classic strategies for paying off multiple debts

If you have more than one debt, there are two main approaches, each with its own logic:

• Avalanche method: pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first, while paying the minimum on the rest. Mathematically, it’s the most efficient option: it saves you the most money in total interest.
• Snowball method: pay off the smallest debt first (regardless of its interest rate), while paying the minimum on the rest. It’s not mathematically optimal, but it generates quick small wins that help keep up the psychological motivation to keep paying.

“The ‘perfect’ method on paper is useless if the person loses motivation and abandons the plan halfway through. Sometimes the best method is the one you’re actually going to stick with to the end.”

Stop the bleeding before trying to heal the wound

Trying to pay off a debt while you keep generating new debt is like bailing water out of a boat with a hole in it, without plugging the hole first. Before focusing on paying off what you already owe, it’s essential to stop any new, unnecessary borrowing — especially on high-interest credit cards.

Renegotiating: an option a lot of people don’t consider

In a lot of cases, it’s possible to talk directly with whoever lent you the money (a bank, a store) to renegotiate terms: longer periods, lower rates, or payment plans adjusted to your real situation. Financial institutions generally prefer to receive their money in an orderly way, even if it takes longer, over the person stopping payment entirely — that’s why they’re often willing to negotiate.

The mistake of “borrowing to pay off another debt” with no plan

Consolidating debts (bundling several debts into one, ideally with a better interest rate) can be a useful tool, if it actually improves your terms. But using it simply to “hide” the problem without changing the habits that generated the debt in the first place almost always ends up creating an even bigger debt later.

How to avoid falling back into the same spot

• Create a real budget, distinguishing fixed costs from variable costs, so you know exactly how much you can put toward paying off debt each month.
• Build, even if small, an emergency fund — a lot of new debt is born from unexpected events people had no way to cover without borrowing.
• Be honest with yourself about which expenses caused the original debt, and adjust those specific habits, not just the symptom.

“Getting out of debt doesn’t require winning the lottery. It requires a clear plan, consistency, and the discipline of not digging the same hole again while you’re still filling it in.”

There’s no magic, instant solution, but there is a clear path — and understanding it now saves you years of unnecessary financial stress in the future.