You won't be caught off guard and you won't feel guilty, because you'll be spending money that you've allocated for the occasion.

The interest rate you receive, however, is contingent on your credit score.

Get your friends involved. Let your shopping buddies know that you're on a tight budget, and they can help you out when your willpower starts to weaken at the mall.

If you are able to settle, you'll be getting off rather easy. Debt settlement companies can sometimes get you off the hook for a large percentage of your debt - in many cases, up to 50% will be written off.

Even in the days of the tightest credit in 2008, HELOCs [ home equity line of credit ] and home equity loans were being made.

In about one-third of credit card consolidations, within a short period of time, the cards come back out of the wallet, and in no time at all, they're charged back up. Then you're in an even worse position, because you have the credit card debt and the consolidation loan to worry about. You're in a hole that's twice as deep - and twice as steep.

Turn down offers for new cards or credit line increases on your current cards. Credit's tight, and chances are, you're not getting many offers anyway. But if you do, remember that the less credit you have available, the less trouble you can get into.