The most important step to getting out of debt is to understand what behaviors or circumstances caused the debt to begin with, and then focus first on changing those behaviors. This means that if you have incurred a lot of credit card debt because of undisciplined spending habits, you must immediately attack the root cause of the debt in order to reduce it. If you incurred a debt because you obtained a mortgage for more house than you can afford, you must find a way to sell the house without incurring a loss, and purchase a smaller, more affordable house.