Re: credit card problems
You would be better off cutting up the cards now and closing the account once you have cleared the debt or replaced it with more affordable credit in my view.
You can call the Credit Card Company and ask them to close the account NOW. Tell them you'll be paying off the balance over the coming months.
They'll continue to send you a statement each month with the usual minimum payment etc, but you won't be able to charge anything to the card.
As for which debt to pay off first. Some people like the psychological effect of clearing a smaller loan so that they have one less loan to deal with.
In truth the most cost effective pay to pay off loans is to throw as much as you can afford at the higher interest rate loan and pay the minimum to all others. As each loan is cleared throw whatever you were throwing at that loan at the next most expensive.
That said, there's a lot to be said for dealing with debt in a way that suits your psychology.
Here's a suggestion.
Write down how much you'll owe at the end of each month from now until the debt is gone. Each month check to see that you are keeping up, when you see the progress being made it can be very rewarding.
Set a number of milestones, when will the debt have been halved? When will the debt be completely gone? Mark these dates in a calendar and reward yourself (cheaply) if/when reach those points at the date predicted.
Finally, you need to learn to hate debt. See it as a way that the banks have of stopping you from getting wealthy and independant. Once the debt is gone save up and go an a decent holiday using saved cash. Then get down to saving an investing for the future.
I usually reccomend Alvin Hall's book "Your Money Or Your Life". It can be a good motivator. Someone here suggested getting it from the Library rather than buying.
Good luck.
-Rd