Allright, you are in debt and your creditors are screaming. How do you handle it and get debt relief before you have a nervous breakdown? Use this simple guide for Dateline Paying.

Dateline paying is a simple method of paying oldest bills first, based on the due date. The dateline shows you how far back in time your past due bills go. Yes, credit card debt is treated just like any other past due bill. Here are a few simple steps to use this method that anyone can do.

1 - List out all your past due bills and credit card debt. Use a spreadsheet or a report from your accounting program and sort them in order of due date. Be sure and put in a bill for more than the minimum payment for each credit card.

Make the credit card bill for the amount you want to try to pay over the few weeks before the payment is actually due. For example, if your minimum payment is running at $400, put a bill in for $600.

2 - At the end of your business week, carve off 15% of the income and use this to pay down past due bills and debt. Use the remaining 85% to pay current bills to keep the doors open, the staff in place and the telephone ringing to get in more income.

Be sure and use part of the remaining 85% for promoting your products and services so customers keep buying, and set a bit aside as an emergency fund so you have a cushion to fall back on.

3 - Utilize the 15% to chip away at the debt dateline - oldest bills first. Make sure to use a portion of the cash to pay suppliers and part to pay credit card debt.

4 - Pay a bit against credit card debt each week by paying on-line.

What for? Because you stop the daily interest compounding for the rest of the month on that amount you paid. That alone can save you many dollars in interest charges over the long haul. It also keeps you from being late on your payments and avoiding the late payment charges. Additionally, it stops the scrambling to find enough cash to pay the credit debt in the week the payment is actually due.

5 - Pay suppliers' past due bills - oldest bill first. The only exception is a supplier who is threatening legal action, or one who refuses to ship more product that you must have to make more income. These are dangerous situations that must be handled immediately.

6 - Work out how to raise your income so that you have an increasing amount of money to utilize to work this strategy of dateline paying.

Methodically working to pay both ends of the dateline, 85% to current operating expenses and 15% to past due bills, gradually moves the dateline forward to present time till you are current on your bills and out of debt.

You can easily see this strategy of dateline paying working for you if you make a graph of the total debt you owe and plot the figure each week so you can see the total of the debt coming down. It helps you confront the debt you created, it validates the actions you are taking to get that situation handled.

Sandra Simmons, President of Money Management Solutions has years of experience helping business owners and individuals manage their money to achieve financial freedom. Claim your FREE REPORT "7 Fatal Money Management Mistakes Business Owners Make"