Tips to help you beat debt problems

By Ross Chainey

LONDON (Reuters) - Figures show that, as a nation, we worked the first 83 days of this year just earning enough money to service the interest on our personal debts.

Almost all of our January, February and March earnings have gone towards paying interest and thus financial advice website Unbiased.co.uk declared March 25 to be this year's Debt Freedom Day.

If you cannot see your way out of debt and are struggling to pay your bills, here are 10 tips to help you get back into the black.

ADMIT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM

It won't take care of itself. You have to face up to the fact that you are in debt and make a commitment to getting yourself out of it. Ignoring it will only make it worse, so make sure you open all mail from the bank and other companies you owe money to. You need to be honest about how much you owe and who you owe it to. Ignoring parts of your debt will only come back to haunt you later on, so lay all your cards on the table at the outset.

WRITE IT ALL DOWN

This will help you to visualise everything you owe and make it easier to plan your repayments. Make sure you know which ones are most urgent and which are the most costly (store cards, for example) so you can deal with them first.

LEARN TO BUDGET