The slowing economy hit retailers hard this past shopping season. Many stores depend on the holiday gift giving season for up to 40% of their annual sales. When retail stores don't realize enough sales during December, many face the real prospect of closing their doors in the January.

This is happening throughout the country. Retail stores from the local mom-n-pop shop to major national chains are going out of business, or at least closing some of their under-achieving stores.

But holiday shopping still occurred. People still shopped, though just not as much in years past. And when they purchased those gifts, too many were paid for using credit cards, increasing already inflated account balances.

Once again, the reality of those balances will begin to show up as the credit card monthly statements start to arrive in the mail. More people than ever are wondering how they are going to pay those 2008 debt balances, and still survive in 2009.

Unless a person can payoff their card balances within a few months, then the amount of spent on those 2008 gifts will continue to increase as interest on those purchases continues to accumulate. Too many people don't realize that the $500 they spent on holiday gifts could really cost them $600 to $700 once those purchases, plus interest, are paid for.

The sad part is that most people never know how much money they are actually spending. Purchases made now, are simply added to previous balances, plus old interest, plus future purchases, plus future interest. A family cannot possibly budget their expenses when they do not know how much their purchases are actually costing them. All they really see is an ever growing debt balance.

How does a family survive when their debt begins to grow out of control? The first order of business is to put away the credit cards. Make a commitment to live without them. If a family's monthly income is not enough to cover the monthly expenses, then some hard, difficult choices must be made on which expenses must be cut out their lives.

The second order of business is eliminating the debt burden left behind. There are many solutions and programs available to achieve this goal. Not every solution is a good fit for every person. Some may try and settle for a lower balance, some people may obtain a low interest consolidation loan.

Many people are now discovering that debt elimination programs are very real. To accomplish this, you must make the commitment to live without credit cards. It can be done. The interest savings alone could seem like getting a pay raise.

The perception in this country is that you must have a credit card. This is false. Many debit cards can be used just like credit cards. Many people travel around the world, and never use a credit card. Of course, the money must actually be in the bank in order to make purchases using a debit card. Do not forget about using cash for your purchases. You are less likely to make that un-needed purchase when you can actually see the money disappearing from their wallet.

This just leads to a very simple concept: If you don't have the money, don't make the purchase. Living by this rule will eliminate foolish purchases, and save money that would be wasted on interest charges.

When you live in this manner, the $500 spent on next year's holiday gifts, will only cost you $500.