This week, I've decided to break format a bit and answer several questions related to credit card debt. The average American carries thousands of dollars in this type of debt.

Although the details differ from case to case, all of the scenarios outlined by this week's questions underscore a basic truth: Carrying extra debt is like carrying too much weight. My advice is to lose it.

What you really need is a spending plan -- a nicer phrase for the "B" word that no one uses anymore: budget. Bankrate has a number of useful tools to help you create and manage a spending plan, including this free home budgeting tool and different spending plan work sheets from the Financial Literacy series on budgeting. These will help you to create a plan that will help you decide how to spend your money. Then, you'll have no more excuses.

Dear Debt Adviser,
My husband and I make $145,000 a year. We own a home and a cabin, and put $1,200 a month into retirement plans. We are embarrassed to admit that we have $35,000 in credit card debt. Would it hurt my credit to take out a 9.99 percent loan to pay this off? I need a plan other than just making my monthly payments.
-- Stephanie

Dear Stephanie,
The first item on your plan needs to be ditching the credit cards. Until you get out of the habit of charging, I suggest you leave them in a drawer at home.

Dear Debt Adviser,
I am having a hard time with my credit card debt and keep making up excuses for using my cards. Can you suggest a book or anything I can buy to help guide me to financial freedom?
-- Jessica

Dear Jessica ,
Hmm ... a book? As the author of "Credit Repair Kit for Dummies," I could recommend a good one, but I won't.

I also suggest you not worry too much about your credit history. Opening a new loan will lower your score, but diversifying away from the credit cards may help it. So it may be a wash. If you believe an installment loan will give you the necessary discipline to pay off the debt by consolidating to one monthly payment, then by all means, go forward.

Dear Debt Adviser,
My grandmother is 82. Her rent is increasing by $125 a month, but she is already tapped out on bills. The main culprit is her credit card debt. Currently, she spends $640 a month on credit card bills. She even uses credit cards for groceries.

Are there programs for the elderly to help reduce this debt, or to lower monthly payments? Her credit card companies have told us that as long as she pays her bills, they cannot do anything to help her. She refuses to not pay them or to get behind on payments.

Can you offer any assistance as we figure out what to do?
-- Heather

Dear Heather,
My experience is that octogenarians are pretty set in their ways -- especially when it comes to listening to their grandkids.

I recommend that your grandmother (alone, if possible) visit with a qualified credit counselor to determine the best course of action. While she is there, she should ask not only about debt-management options, but also about community resources that might help her save on goods and services.

I am confident that a good counselor will come up with a solution that satisfies your grandmother's desire to pay what she owes and your desire to stop worrying about her finances.

I don't know about you, but all that revolving debt makes me dizzy. First, resolve not to add more to your balances. Once you have done so, turn your attention to a consolidation loan, which I agree might be helpful.

Dear Debt Adviser,
I have two credit cards with high balances. One balance is $15,000 -- the annual percentage rate, or APR, is 2.99 percent. The other card balance is $11,000 -- the APR is 3.99 percent. I would like to combine these credit cards with a few other credit cards of smaller balances. Would it be better to consolidate my credit card debt into an 8.99 percent consolidation loan?
-- Dorothy

Dear Dorothy,
Sorry, but that's the wrong question. The right one is: Why do you have more than $25,000 in revolving consumer debt?

The credit card interest rates you currently have sound like teasers. Even if they are set for the life of the loan, you are still running the risk of a huge hike if you get caught in a universal default situation. A lowering of your credit score or missing a single payment, even on another bill, could raise your interest rate to around 30 percent.

For this reason, it's best to start whittling down your debt as soon as you can.

The Debt Adviser, Steve Bucci, is the president of Money Management International Financial Education Foundation and the author of "Credit Repair Kit for Dummies."