Thanks to rising interest rates, higher minimum payments required by credit card companies, as well as your own overspending (just admit it!), your ability to keep up with your credit card debt may be more difficult than ever. More and more people are finding themselves in a situation where they are struggling to keep their heads above water.

It doesn't even seem to matter if you pay extra when you can, because your balances still grow. It's like running to get away from a boulder that keeps going faster and faster.

Here are five things you can try right now to try to ease the pain.

1. Negotiate Lower Interest Rates. You need to call each of your credit card companies and try to get a lower interest rate. This often takes begging, pleading, negotiating, asking for higher levels of authority, even cajoling and wheedling (whatever those are). Their response will normally depend on things like your payment history, creditworthiness, etc. It can help if you can earn a higher credit score before you take this route. Keep track of who you talk to and when, and what their responses are.

2. Consolidate Debt. In some cases (but not in all) it makes sense to transfer a bunch of smaller cards over to one bigger card with a lower interest rate. Be sure to read the fine print to see what kind of fees they will charge you for making the transfer. Sometimes this is not another card, but a loan that is not secured by your house or property. (That's an entirely separate topic!). You probably get these offers in the mail.

One problem I had recently with getting one of these loans is that they checked my credit report first. Due to these credit card problems, the results were not good. Try to earn a higher credit score before doing this. It is important that if you do transfer your balances to another card or a consolidation loan, that you do not use the original card any more. It takes discipline.

3. Create A Payoff Plan. Start paying off your credit cards one at a time. Make minimum payments on all but one card. On that one card, pay as much as you possibly can. Try to set up a schedule to show how much you need to pay to be rid of the first card. Once you have paid that one off, use the money you were putting towards paying that one off, and ADD it to the next card in line. This also takes discipline, but is the most prudent way to eliminate your debt.

The order you pay them off can be determined in one of two ways. First, pay off the highest interest rate cards first. This will save you the most money over time as you are just flushing away the money spent on interest every month. Method two is the one I prefer. Pay off the smallest balances first. This frees up your cash faster to apply towards the next card. In reality, you can use both methods. Pay off a small balance card first to free up a little more cash, then hit a high interest-rate card, then go after the next smallest balance, and so on.

4. Increase Cashflow. It's always helpful to have some extra cash to begin or continue a debt payoff plan. Go through your house and find all the junk you don't need any more: baby clothes, collectibles, decorations, housewares, books, VHS tapes,
DVDs, computer and video games, etc. List them on eBay or Craigslist and sell them off. It will help generate some cash, as well as give you some peace of mind by uncluttering the domicile.

5. Apply Extra Money to Your Debt. Are you getting an annual bonus at work? Are you going to receive a tax refund from the government? Are you going to get that credit the IRS promised US taxpayers? Apply that to one or more of your credit cards to help you eliminate that debt. Believe me, I know it will be tempting to spend it, but it will do you far more good to apply it to covering what you've already spent. That's actually how I got out of debt the first time!

These five steps may not work for everyone, but they are a great place to start. Apply yourself to controlling your debt and paying it off. It takes work, but it wil be well worth the effort.