Times are tough, and they are only going to get tougher if you believe the dire forecasts as predicted by national economists and financial planners. And just when you thought that your finances couldn’t get any tighter than what they are, gas prices soar and it is predicted that the average family’s heating bill could raise by as much as 71 percent this year. So, what can a family do to stay afloat during these hard economic times?

If you’re like most American families, you probably carry a good deal of unsecured, high-interest debt. With average credit card interest rates varying from approximately 21 percent to 30 percent, it does not take long to figure out where a lot of your hard earned dollars are being wasted: on interest payments.

The truth is that interest payments can account for hundreds of dollars of your family’s total income each month. Just think about how much money you spend in credit card interest alone. Tack onto that amount the interest for your mortgage, second mortgage, car and other debts and you could be interest poor before you know it.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. There is an easy way to lower your interest payments and the amount of money that you pay out each month: debt consolidaton. When you consolidate your debts, you combine all of your debt payments into one lower payment and dramatically lower your interest rates. A lower interest rate means that more of your money will go to pay off your financial responsibilities and you will be debt free sooner than you think.

Combining your payments also allows you to reduce the amount of money that you pay out each month by hundreds of dollars. No more will you have to send out multiple payments to several different lenders. You can pay everything with one simple, smaller payment.

How could your family use all of that extra money? Well hopefully you won’t have to spend it all at the gas pump. Maybe you could take a vacation or get those house repairs that you couldn’t afford finished. Really, what couldn’t you do with a few extra hundred dollars a month?