Debt reduction programs pros and cons are an interesting topic to explore. About 6 years ago, I found myself drowning in debt. I had over $20,000 in student loans, about $15,000 in credit card balances, a car payment, and I was only making about $25,000 per year. I needed help, so I began looking into the pros and cons of debt reduction programs.

Well actually, that is not entirely truthful. As the bills mounted and I barely scraped by from month to month, I wallowed in self pity, complained, stressed myself out, and dreamed of winning the lottery. I did not take any action to change my situation or even try to come up with a plan to get out of debt.

Then, as I was watching television late one night and trying to forget about all of my financial woes, I saw a commercial. The company on the commercial promised that it could solve all of my problems with one simple call. Everything sounded great, and I called immediately.

Luckily, I did not commit to anything in my emotional state that night, although I nearly did. I slept on it and was just about to sign on the dotted line the next day when I finally listened to that tiny little voice in the back of my head.

That voice told me that this was too good to be true. If it were this easy to reduce my debt, then everyone would be doing this. I didn’t want to listen to that nagging little voice. I wanted to believe that my problems were finally about to be solved, and better days were ahead.

I finally caved in and started researching the company and my options for getting out of debt. As I began reading, I started to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I realized that the nagging voice was right. This particular company had tens of thousands of complaints against it and a terrible rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Still, instead of blindly believing what I wanted to believe, I finally made the hard choice that getting out of debt was not going to be easy. As I researched more, I saw that help was available, and although it wouldn’t be super fast and easy, I could be out of debt in less than 5 years.

At first 5 years seemed like an impossibly long time to live a life without the luxuries I wanted. But I finally realized that, without making changes and committing to a debt relief plan, I would likely be in debt for the rest of my life. With that in mind, the decision was made.

The first 6 months were tough, but I scaled back my spending and even started saving a meager $50 per month. It finally began to get easier as I realized I was making progress towards freedom and I did not really miss most of the things I used to spend money on.

After about a year, I got a raise. Instead of jumping back into my old habits, I continued working my way out of debt at a faster pace. I did, however, resume spending on just a couple of the “luxuries” that I truly did miss and consider important in my life. The main luxury was a once weekly dinner out with friends. After a year to think about it, I realized that I didn’t miss the material things, but the time with friends and family.

With a rising income and new perspective on money, I was out of debt in just 2 and a half years! The hardest part was initially committing 100 percent to my debt reduction program.