Debt Free Living
WizardPC has been writing a very good series on his website called Debt Free Living. I'm very fortunate to have the father I do because he began his own business with nothing and now has the most successful auto shop in his town. While he had to take business loans periodically to establish and expand his business he's always paid them off far ahead of their due date and has never accumulated debt via credit cards of other frivolous expenditures. Although I'm not the smartest man on the planet I'm very capable of learning from those who are incredibly smart and thus I've always been a close manager of my money.
Unfortunately many people in this country (and elsewhere in the world) are not so careful with their finances. WizardPC's guide explains important things that you need to consider when trying to get out of debt. The most important of these lessons is creating and sticking to a budget and eliminating your current debt and the interest that must be paid on it as soon as possible.
Sadly as government policies continue to cause ever increasing inflation it's difficult to create a sustainable budget while your purchasing power is reduced on a daily basis. While the interest in my money market account used to be notable it's now so pathetically low that it's like having no interest at all. Thankfully I'm a man who diversifies a bit and have been able to maintain much of my purchasing power through investments in precious metals. I think an important lesson for getting out of debt is understanding that you not only have to eliminate your current debt to forgo paying eternal interest but also because your money is becoming more worthless every day (thanks government) and thus you're going to need more of it in the future to cover basic living expenses such as food and water (especially if you're not getting periodic raises to offset the effects of devaluing money).
A man without debt is truly beholden to nobody (well except the government because they still have guns to your head). Instead of working for your financer, work for yourself. Once you've eliminated your current debt then all money made by you goes to you (and the government who will ultimately shoot you if you refuse to pay their demanded pizzo).