Many consumers are more serious than ever about resolving to pay down personal debts in the coming year, according to recent reports.

This week, the Baltimore Examiner offered several tips from the National Federation for Credit Counseling on how consumers can help themselves emerge from debt in 2009.

"Many consumers have been renting their lifestyle by living off credit, and it's time they took ownership," Gail Cunningham of the NFCC told the newspaper.

Some of the organization's tips include keeping a daily log for 30 days of all personal expenditures to identify any spending patterns that need changing. Others are to develop and stick to a budget that includes debt repayment as well as living expenses, with a focus on avoiding any new debt increases, and to have ten percent of each paycheck deposited into an interest-bearing account.

Elsewhere, the Dallas Morning News offered its own suggestions for consumers eager to make debt reduction part of their new year strategy.

The newspaper advises keeping a summary sheet that lists creditors, due dates, account status, and similar information, and to contact creditors as well as possibly credit counseling services to negotiate lower interest rates. Debt consolidation is also an attractive goal for those able to open new lines of consumer credit.

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