When you look at the financial situation of most families who are struggling to make ends meet in today’s economy, you will find that most of them are swamped with high-interest debt. This debt eats away a good portion of their monthly income by way of interest payments, and money spent on interest payments is money wasted. It serves no purpose and does nothing to provide a higher quality of life for the family.

Sadly, though, once families get into a cycle of carrying high balances on their credit cards, it is extremely difficult to turn things around and get those credit cards paid off. Here’s why: most credit card companies charge a minimum balance that consists of the finance charges for the month and only 1 percent of the principle balance.

That means that if you can only make your minimum payments each month, your payments are eaten up by interest and are doing virtually nothing to bring down your balance. This sets you up for another high-interest payment yet again the next month. As you can see, if nothing is done to stop this cycle, you could end up paying off your credit cards over the next 30 years and spend tens-of-thousands more than the principle amount that you charged on them.

One of the best and easiest ways to stop this trend is through debt consolidation. Not only does debt consolidation stop your high-interest payments for good, it also lowers the amount of money that you owe out every month. Less interest paid and less principle paid equals more money in your pocket each month, and that does a lot for your family’s quality of life.

After consolidating your debts, you will no longer have to wonder where you are going to get the money to pay your staggering monthly bills. You will pay one lower bill and see your balance decrease a great deal faster than if you tried to pay each bill off individually.

And the drastically lower interest rate of your consolidation loan means that you will not waste any more money on high-interest payments. The money saved in interest payments alone could save you thousands of dollars. It’s your hard-earned money. Why not put it to use where it does the most good: in your family’s bank account?