As the end of the year approaches most people look to the next year hoping to derive a plan to accomplish more than the year prior or at least aspire to. Every year just like clockwork one of the most important things to change or accomplish is getting out of debt. Debt consolidation and New Year’s resolutions almost go hand in hand. CNN, MSNBC and FOX all show reports saying that most resolutions talked about are never followed through on. Instead of pontificating on why things didn’t happen in the past formulating a strategic plan to accomplish the goal of getting out of debt is probably the best way to focus your energy. Although the initial impact of looking at your finances can be overwhelming you need to remember that your debt wasn’t accumulated in a year so paying off all of your debt next year isn’t all that likely. More realistically though choosing a percentage of debt to eliminate is a better over all approach. Use our low debt settlement calculator to determine if you can accomplish your goal to get out of debt or evaluate if using a debt settlement company is a more cost effective option.