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I’m in Chicago for the week with my husband while he does some work out this way.  Since I wasn’t sure how much time I would have to keep up on posts, I’ve requested three of my favorite bloggers to write guest posts for me this week.  Today is the first guest post.

Kacie blogs at SenseToSave.com about frugal living, saving money on daily expenses and general personal finance topics. She and her husband are expecting their first son to be born around the end of 2008, and are excited to meet him and anxious to find ways to save money on baby expenses.

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Last year, my husband and I had graduated from college, got married, and moved 400 miles from home—all in the span of about one month.  We had several thousand dollars worth of credit card debt, and it seemed as if being in debt would be a reality of our lives for a long time.  After discovering some frugal living/personal finance blogs, I soon realized that we could get out of debt a lot faster than we first imagined.

It was around that time that we went from a two-income to one-income household. We trimmed costs wherever we could, tracked our expenses, created a budget and tackled our debts one by one.  We’re still learning more ways to save money and live better. I’d like to share a few major things I’ve learned in the last year.

Just as it takes awhile to get into debt, it can take awhile to get out of debt. Don’t be intimidated by your debt load. Be patient and focus all extra money on paying off your debts. See if you can get a better interest rate on your credit cards, and stop using them. Whether you prefer the Dave Ramsey method of attacking your smallest debt first, or paying down your highest-interest debt, the important thing is you get started and stay committed to paying it off.

Don’t be tempted by taking out a line of credit to ‘pay off’ your debt. Some people roll their credit card debts into their mortgage to eliminate their credit card debt. Actually, this debt isn’t paid off—it’s just transferred. If you can’t make traction paying off credit cards because you have an extremely high interest rate, see if you can transfer the balance to a 0% interest card. Don’t risk losing your home by transferring your unsecured debt to a HELOC.

Be accountable. I’ve kept myself accountable to my debt situation by blogging about it. My readers know when I’ve had success and setbacks, and their comments keep me encouraged. Plus, I’m more focused on saving money since I know that things I’ve learned can benefit others. If you don’t want to blog about your finances, keep yourself accountable by having regular financial discussions with your spouse (you should do this no matter what).

Gradually cut your expenses and try new tightwad tactics. It’s great if you discover that you can reduce your cable bill, reduce subscriptions, and carpool. You might try to lower your grocery budget by a certain amount of money by planning your shopping list, buying only what you need for the week, and buying from Aldi or playing “the grocery game.” But be careful: If you try to change your standard of living too drastically too fast, your efforts could backfire. Too many changes at once could overwhelm you and even make you feel deprived. Take it slowly, and add frugal changes to your lifestyle bit by bit.

Stay focused. Remember why you’re making changes in the first place. You probably hate being in debt—you hate owing people money and you hate having to send your hard-earned money to pay off debt. Remember what that feeling is like, and vow to get out of debt ASAP and resolve never to get into debt again.

You can do it! My husband and I paid off thousands of dollars of credit card debt and have come close to building a six-month emergency fund in just about a year’s time. If I told you our income, you’d be shocked that this would be possible. Stay focused, get creative, and remember that if you can get into debt, you can certainly get out of it.