There are millions of lucky people out there who are responsible to the hilt. They pay off their credit cards each month, avoiding interest, and really getting the benefits of those cash back percentages and awards of some sort. But what about the rest of us, who feel like misfits? Are we stupid? Where did we go wrong with this area of lives?

It's time to stop feeling like a butthead (to put it bluntly) and do something more intelligent about our situation with credit card debt. Realize you are not alone. Here are some of the facts. The national credit card debt was assessed in 2005 as being a total of $800 million. This tripled since only 1989, about a decade and a half ago. The average household credit card debt is $8,650 and 70% of these credit cad debt holders had post-secondary education. There are some people whose debt-to-income ratio is at 100%, meaning that what they owe is equal to their annual net income. Renters are more subject to incurring credit card debt over homeowners, but 30 million homeowners in the USA refinanced over the last five years to pay off an average of $12,000 of credit card debt. One out of five of those homeowners incurred an average of $14,000.00 within three years after refinancing. What's the problem here? No, it's just not being ignorant, it's failing to learn from a mistake. There are many ways to stop the vicious cycle of falling into credit card debt for those who haven't gotten that far in and for those who are in so far they feel hopeless. There is hope.

It might be a matter of learning for the first time, proper budgeting skills, gaining wisdom for priority spending, and getting a sense of accomplishment from an old time habit called “saving for a rainy day”. The truth is many people can justify their credit card debts due to life emergencies. They couldn't help it, because events that happened really brought them financially under. Now, it's tough to get out. What if a great, easy program could come along and just solve it all for you? There is no such thing. It's time to get a grip of reality.

Real steps to take to get out of credit card debt:

1. Stop using the credit cards. Don't carry them with you. Cut them up. Cancel them, if you have to. You're credit score will get better as time goes, when you learn wise credit card habits, later on.

2. Put together a solid plan for repaying those credit card debts, along with maintaining your other necessary bills. Stick to it.

3. Stop making excuses for using credit cards. All excuses have a realistic and common sense solution.

4. Don't spend money on anything you don't really need to survive. This is a temporary sacrifice. It won't be that way forever, if you have a goal to get out of debt.

5. Stay away from malls and shopping centers. PERIOD.

6. Find free or already paid for activities to balance out your time, in a healthy way.

7. Stop overeating. Only eat planned healthy meals per day, that fit a realistic budget. No more fast food.

These are efforts that will make anyone who is struggling with credit card debt a self made champion. Then, you too can become part the elite, “smart” people who use those credit lines wisely. It's never too late. We can change the statistics for the better, with lower numbers. It starts with you and me, the rogue sufferers of credit card debt.