Debt years are depressing years. You want to travel to help educate your children, but you can’t. You want to send your friend something special to encourage her, but you can’t. You want to buy something nice for your spouse, but you can’t. You desperately need to purchase a functional appliance for your family, but you can’t. The list of financial can’ts reaches into every part of your day-to-day existence, it seems. Family arguments result from the financial strain.

Life is too precious and too short to grind under the financial and mental burden of unmanageable debt. But be aware: It will take drastic action for you to get out.

Even if you’ve already begun to live responsibly, buying nothing more on credit, and budgeting payments that will gradually pay off all your previous debts—this alone may not be enough if you are heavily in debt.

For example, if you repay $100 or more a month on debts presently totaling $5,000, you still might not be out of debt for a decade!

To really make headway, you must cut your standard of living to “state of emergency” levels. By switching to emergency mode, you can be debt-free in perhaps less than two years, excluding mortgage debt.

How can you do it? Scrutinize your expenses. Look for ways to make emergency cuts in spending in order to live far below your present income. Decide what you can cut out entirely. Really sacrifice! The more you sacrifice now, the sooner you’ll be out of debt.

Consider your vehicle first. Ask yourself if you could possibly get along without it. A car can cost you as much as it costs to support another member of the family. So it might be a good idea to get rid of your car altogether, if possible. Perhaps for a few dollars a month you can carpool to work. Maybe you could even walk, or ride a bus or bicycle. The money you receive for your car—plus the amount you save in insurance, gasoline, licensing and maintenance costs—will go a long way to help you get out of debt far sooner.

At the very least, if you drive an expensive car, consider selling it in favor of something more modest. And if you drive your vehicle “into the ground,” instead of trading it in every few years, you will save yourself thousands more.

You might also be able to move to an area closer to your job and/or near a store you could walk to for shopping. You could conceivably cut your rent hundreds of dollars per month by renting a less-expensive house. Paint and elbow grease are not very expensive! Dirty, dingy rooms can be made very livable and attractive with a little cleaning, paint and inexpensive curtains.

Pets are another area where some people spend thousands of dollars per year. Maybe it is time to find another home for them so you can work your way out of financial crisis.

Now consider your food bill. Do not skimp on your health. Doing that will cost you more later on. While you must provide for adequate nutrition, you can accomplish it using less money than you may think. Eliminate all food expenditures not essential to maintaining good health. Buying food on sale—and in bulk when possible—will save money. Baking your own bread and planting a garden can also be huge money-savers. A $1 tomato plant can produce many dollars’ worth of tomatoes. Cheaper cuts of meat will also do just as well as the more expensive cuts. Also, if a member of your family has the time, coupons can be a huge source of savings. You’ll find many other ways to save if you really put your mind to it.

Recreation expenses can easily be cut too. A family dinner at a restaurant can become a family picnic at a nearby park. A trip to a major-league ballpark can become a nine-inning nail-biter at the local high school field. An excursion to the movies can become games and family conversation at home.

Don’t give up after a month or two. Set your will. Determine to stick with it. Seeing your debts melt away month by month will be worth all the effort and sacrifice!

The Bible says that if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small (Proverbs 24:10). Be strong—finish the course. Oftentimes people quit when just a few more steps would reveal rays of light on the horizon (Proverbs 24:10). Saving money and reducing debt can seem overwhelming. Do not give in. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to run our spiritual race with patience, but smartly, casting off those things that impede our progress. The same principle applies in our financial “race.”

Seek God’s guidance. See your employer. See your creditor. Talk your situation over with them. Don’t just sit at home and say, “It’s no use!” Don’t procrastinate. Keep thinking. Keep planning. Keep working.

It will take some austere living to get completely out of debt, but rejoice in the progress you make. Don’t fix your attention on the long way to go, but on how far you have come and on the value in reaching the goal!

Technically, to get the most bang for your buck, you should pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first while maintaining minimum payments on all your other debt. But if you are in need of a psychological boost, consider the snowball method. Begin by paying off the loan that has the smallest principle. Once that debt is paid off, use the money you were putting toward that debt to help pay off your next smallest debt. Whichever method you choose, keep moving forward!

Be sure not to waste hard-earned dollars on gambling, lotteries or get-rich-quick schemes. Act with integrity and honesty. Follow the law and stay away from unethical businesses and practices (Proverbs 22:16; 28:6; Romans 13:1, 7). “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. … He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him” (Proverbs 28:20, 22). Faithfully stick to the plan of reducing debt and increasing savings until you have enough to meet your needs, emergencies—and then wants.

The way to prosper is to work diligently, plan ahead, invest wisely.

“Are you willing to get another job and work a few 80-hour weeks?” asks well-known debt consultant Dave Ramsey. “If you think that it is too hard, you will never get out of the debt that you brought upon yourself. … [Laziness] will get you absolutely nowhere in life. We all make mistakes, but the question is whether you are willing to take responsibility for your mistakes! You need to learn from your mistakes or you—and your children—will be doomed to repeat the cycle.”

The question you need to ask yourself, says Ramsey, is this: “How badly do you want to be out of debt?”

Remember: God wants us to prosper. He wants us to be able to live the debt-free way of life and experience the blessings that come as a result of obeying His financial laws. So keep working, get creative in finding ways to save money, and persevere through the drastic action and emergency cuts you have decided to take.

For information on the most important financial law of all, read: “Ending Your Financial Worries.”