Aside from curbing your internet shopping, consider these ways to get out of credit card debt.

First things first. Stop running up balances!. If you carry a balance from month to month, stop using credit cards entirely. If you don’t have the discipline for it, put the cards into storage or cut them up.

Find your best offer. review the fine print on all your card contracts to make sure you owe the most money on the card with the lowest interest rate. If not, investigate the costs of transferring balances. It’s a good idea to also hold on to every solicitation you receive. Look for the best introductory rates, perhaps six months at 5.9 percent or lower, and consider transferring all your balances to the new card. Be careful with these offers, though,there is usually 1-5 percent transfer fee, or a set fee, whichever is less. If you’re transferring from several cards, you can get hit with a fee for each card. It’s important that you also know what your interest rate will switch to after the promotional period ends. Make sure it’s not higher than the one you’re switching from. If, after six months, you want to switch cards again to take advantage of another introductory offer, be certain you won’t fall subject to a penalty. READ THE FINE PRINT! Credit card companies protect themselves against card hopping by restricting terms on introductory rates. Sometimes they apply only if total balances are paid off within the promotional period, or worse still, kept with that bank for at least 12 months. If neither of these provisions is satisfied, you could face retroactive interest charges at the full rate the minute you transfer to another card.

Stop the solicitations. If you are in credit card debt, the last thing you need are countless platinum card solicitations. As a consumer, you don’t have to put up with it. Say no to unwanted solicitations. When you’ve settled on the one or two credit cards that will help consolidate and eliminate your debt, contact one of the three main U.S. credit bureaus and have yourself removed from all prescreened credit offer lists (those credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union and can be contacted at http://www.equifax.com/, http://www.experian.com/, and http://www.tuc.com/, respectively). They’re required to notify each other of your decision. This action will also limit your risk of identity theft. Thieves can easily intercept solicitations, use their own name and address, and max out the card before you even know about it.

Pay more than the minimum. The more you pay down every month, the faster you get rid of the debt, so set your own minimum payment. If you make only the minimum monthly payments, it will take you years to pay off the balance! And along the way, you’ll pay a ton in finance charges. The minimum balance payment is designed to benefit the financial services company so they can earn interest. Scrape together everything you can each month and send it in.

Renegotiate terms with your creditors. Contact your creditors and ask for a new, lower repayment schedule. You could be surprised by their reaction, particularly if this is the first time you’ve gotten into real trouble. You could tell them you have a preapproved offer from another bank and would like them to match the terms if they wish to keep you as a client. If it’s clear you are in debt crisis, let the banks know this is a call of last resort short of filing for bankruptcy. Creditors will do what they can to protect themselves against a total loss.

Create a budget and live by it. Technically this should be the first step, but it may not be possible to create a budget until you’ve settled your accounts and counted what’s left over, if anything. This may be the time to ask yourself the tough questions such as what it is about your lifestyle that allows debt to happen in the first place. Is your apartment or house more expensive than your income allows? Are you a shopaholic? Are you having too much fun? And so on. If any of these factors is precipitating debt, consider taking aggressive steps before trouble starts again.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Online retailer Amazon.com, Inc on Friday reported its best holiday sales season yet, even as sales and traffic at U.S. store chains were the weakest in decades, sending its shares up nearly 4 percent.

Analysts have pointed to Amazon as a rare bright spot in this year’s holiday shopping season due to its scale and flexibility, as retailers try to outdo each other with deep discounts to lure consumers during a recession.

Online sales were also helped by winter storms that hit large sections of the United States on the last major shopping weekend beforeChristmas.

In a release titled “Amazon.com’s 14th holiday season is best ever,” the company said more than 6.3 million items were ordered on its site worldwide for the peak shopping day of December 15, amounting to 72.9 items ordered per second. On its peak day, it shipped more than 5.6 million units.

However, the company gave no financial details regarding the sales, such as how its margins fared with the discounts seen across the retail sector.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt said Amazon’s day of peak orders represented a 17 percent rise from a year ago, while its peak shipments represented an increase of 44 percent. He rates the share a “buy” with a $61 price target.

Amazon shipped merchandise to more than 210 countries, and said it shipped more than 99 percent of orders on time for holiday deadlines.

Amazon shares rose 3.6 percent to $53.31.

Source : Yahoo!News

(Reporting by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Derek Caney and Steve Orlofsky)

• Put your credit card in a safe place. If you’re staying in a boarding school, make sure that your student credit card is kept in a safe place. Never leave your wallet unattended and make sure that your locker is securely locked in place.

• If you lost your card, call your bank immediately. In case of a lost credit card, the best thing to do is alert your credit card issuer right away. Request that your account be blocked to prevent the thief from using your account.

• Choose a student credit card with liability protection. Some credit cards have a $50 liability protection which means you’ll only pay $50 for unauthorized charges regardless of the amount reflected on your bill. You can also find a student credit card that offers a no liability protection for unauthorized charges so you won’t have to pay for anything.

• Be vigilant when using your student credit card online. If you want to purchase online, make sure that you’re buying only form a legitimate and trusted merchant. Check the security of the website. Look for the locked icon on the bottom right corner of your browser and see to it that the URL of site begins with https://, indicating a secured server.

• Request for a card replacement. Immediately request student credit card replacement if it has been misplaced or stolen. Having new card protects you from the risk of fraud and ID theft.

Money worries are one of the major stressors that couples face. Having a baby is sure to amplify any concerns you may have already had. As a couple or a singleton you may have been able to survive from paycheck to paycheck, but with a baby on the way there are certain essentials and day to day products that you must have, all of which add up to a lot of money.

If you haven’t thought about how you’re going to pay for your little one, there are a lot of different strategies and ideas you can use to save a lot of money along the way. Here are some tips to take into consideration when planning out how you’re going to afford everything you need for your little one’s arrival:

Take an Inventory

Ask yourself, What do I need in order to prepare for my baby? Make a list of things you consider essential. Most stores will provide lists of everything they think you need. You probably need about 1/2 to 2/3 of what the stores tell you that you need.

Talk to friends and relatives in order to figure out what they used and liked with their baby. What were the most useful items they bought? What did they never use? Bring them your list of items from the store or the list that you’ve compiled on your own and see what they can add or subtract from the list. You’ll be surprised the things that are never used.

Don’t Try and Keep Up with the Jones’

Let’s face it, as consumers things have gotten quite out of hand. Americans are not known for their saving power, but their spending power and debt. Many of us live beyond our means. It’s easy to do with the media bombarding us with celebs steering their $3,000 strollers and carrying their $500+ diaper bags as if they were actually affordable. You don’t need to spend a lot to buy high quality products though. Do you really need the Rolls Royce of strollers? Probably not. It’d be much better to put excess money aside in savings in case you lose your job and need reserves and buy the $150 stroller that is a Consumer Reports Best Buy.

Buy in Bulk

A lot of items for your baby can be bought in bulk and this can save you lots of money and time. You can buy many daily use items like diapers, baby wipes, bottle nipples, and pre-mixed formulas in bulk. Experiment with which products you like and then stock up.

Costco has great deals on bulk items such as baby wipes, diapers, and formula. Amazon.com also offers good deals on diapers and pre-made glass bottles of formula for traveling (free shipping and no tax). You can also buy items like bottle nipples and diapers in bulk on EBay, but watch out for shipping costs. Do some research and you will see that buying in bulk from the right places will really make a difference on your bottom line.

Buy Gently Used

Don’t be afraid to buy products that have been used. No one needs to know. Craigslist.org has the best listing of used items for sale by owner, often at a fraction of the original retail price. Craigslist is easy to use, it’s like an online garage sale, but it takes much less time to find what you are looking for. Just click on the baby category and your off. People list some of the best brands out there from Graco to Peg Perego to Bugaboo. If you don’t have $500+ for a designer stroller check out Craigslist.

You can even earn a little money listing some of the items you will be clearing out of your home to make room for your baby. Unlike EBay, listing is free and people that are searching for items are local.

Explore Buying Generic

There are a lot of good products on the market that are generic. Make sure you are picky when choosing your items. Don’t go generic if you don’t trust the company or if you don’t like the product after you’ve tried it out. It is a process of trial and error. You might love the generic formula, but your baby hates the generic diapers. I found the generic formula was about a $10 savings per can and it includes the same ingredients as the brand named counterpart. If you go through a can a week, that’s saving over $500 per year. Add all of your generic savings up and it will most likely be over $1,000 a year.

Use Coupons

Coupons are not only found in your weekly newspaper, you can also find them on the internet. Get free shipping coupons, percent off coupons, and dollar off coupons from some of the internet sites listed below. Pick out what you want ahead of time and then wait for the sales. Most online stores have sales and you can combine those sales with internet coupons. I purchased a lot of baby gear (large items like the stroller and playpen) over the internet when Target was running a free shipping special. I combined that with a 15% off coupon I found on coolsavings.com and saved quite a bit of money and it was delivered right to my door. Also check out websites such as couponchief.com and ultimatecoupons.com. These sites are free to use.

Keep Track of all Receipts

This might seem like a no-brainer, but you will be getting presents and making so many purchases that it is easy to lose track of the receipts for all of your baby gear and clothes. You will not use everything you receive. Keeping the receipts in a special file with a note identifying the item or taping the receipt on the box until you use the product is a great way to keep track of all your receipts. The last thing you want is to have $100’s of dollars of merchandise to return and not be able to get your money back because you can’t find the receipts.