Do you hide behind the sofa every time the Postman delivers the post, hoping against hope that he is not going to try and deliver the sort of letter that needs to be signed for? You know the type? The type that ensures that you acknowledge the correspondence from the Debt Collection Agency and makes it virtually impossible to continue the pretence of ignorance.

If you're worried about any of the above then don't worry you're not alone; there are loads of people (more than you would realise and certainly more than would like to admit it) face financial crisis sometime in their lives whether the crisis is self-inflicted, personal, a family illness, the loss of your job or overspending. If you are not careful it can seem overwhelming at the time. Often with careful planning it can be completely overcome. Your financial situation doesn't have to go from bad to worse.

It might sound very basic but if you or someone you know is in financial difficulties consider these options:

1. Realistic budgeting

2. Credit counseling from a reputable organization

3. Debt consolidation

4. Bankruptcy

Debt negotiation is another option you might not have considered. Unless you investigate all of these options properly you will never know which one will work best for you? The bottom line is depends on your level of debt, how much discipline you have and also your prospects for the future.

If we take a look at realistic budgeting first. The first step towards taking control of your financial situation is establish a realistic and honest assessment of how much money you make each month and work out how much money you spend. It is basic income versus expenditure.

Start by listing your income from all sources. Then, list your exact expenses -- those that are the same each month like your mortgage payments, rent payments and insurance premiums, this sort of thing. Next you must list the expense i.e. the variables -- like entertainment, recreation, and clothing. It doesn't matter what sort of route you go down to extract yourself from debt I would say to anybody involved in this type of activity doesn't matter what your looking at it is always a good idea to develop your own objective expenditure budget. The reason for this being first it's a helpful way to track your spending patterns, identifying necessary expenses, and prioritizing the rest. The goal is to make sure that you can make ends meet on your basic expenses your housing, food, healthcare, insurance and education bills.

Despite what people say, this is a good discipline and one that actually you can learn from. Wouldn't it be great if you could manage to get something positive out of the entire experience?