Almost three out of four Americans say they’re burdened with debt.1 Whether or not you’re part of the majority here, it’s clear debt is quite common. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Besides, who wants to be common? Who wants to feel burdened?

That’s what debt does. It holds you back from excellence, from achieving your dreams, and from feeling peace.

But again: It doesn’t have to be this way. (Yes, we said it twice so it hits home.)

Not only do you not have to feel burdened by your bills, you also don’t have to spend your life owing money. You can pay off your debt. You can be the one in control of your money—not the lenders you’re borrowing from at a price that’s holding you back.

With these six tips, you can get rid of debt faster than ever. So here we go.

Take just a few minutes to think about your debt—really think about it—and you’ll no doubt begin to feel overwhelmed.

It’s weird, isn’t it? You might spend years swiping credit cards and signing for loans without a moment’s hesitation. And then one day you wake up with a gasp and a realization:

I have to get rid of all this debt!

But like most things that take time to build up, paying off debt doesn’t happen overnight. Thankfully, you’re not alone. Plenty of folks in the EveryDollar community have been right where you are.

And we’re here to offer you the best method for getting rid of debt faster and easier than you ever thought possible: the debt snowball.

Valerie and Gary were the typical American couple.

“We had credit cards, car loans and orthodontic loans,” Valerie said. “We made the mistake of refinancing the house and rolling our credit card debt in there. We swore we would never use those cards again. But we did. And then we took out a second mortgage.”

When Joel was deployed to Iraq in January 2015, he and his wife Nargis (both U.S. Army captains) were two months away from becoming parents and had more than $100,000 in total debt. Being able to talk about money was difficult but important. But EveryDollar made it easy for them to communicate without saying a word.

“While I was deployed, it helped to streamline our conversations about finances,” Joel says of the budgeting tool. “When we actually talked online or on the phone, we didn't have to spend any time talking about money. We communicated about money through the EveryDollar iPhone app. It is formatted in a way that makes budgeting really easy.”

It’s a common question when paying off debt—Should I pay the debt with the highest interest rate first since it costs me the most money?

Short answer: No. But we’ll explain. It’s best to start with the smallest balance. Here’s why.