When you are in debt, there is a tendency to think that there is no way to get out of it and that you will probably have to spend half your lifetime making repayments on the debt that you have incurred. The truth is, even when your financial situation may seem overwhelming and increasingly stressful, there are many ways to keep it from becoming worse. Debt consolidation is a debt reduction alternative that can help you to do just that. In order to find out whether debt consolidation is the solution to your financial problems, it is advised that you take the help of reputable credit counselors as they are certified and trained in the areas of consumer credit, money management and budgeting and can help you develop more clarity on how to manage your debt.If you choose debt consolidation as the method to get rid of your debt, you need to first assess how much money you have (in the form of sources of income) and how much of it you need to spend. A personal budget would help you to analyze how much disposable income you would be left with after paying off your monthly necessities. This will also help you to recognize your spending patterns and make the debt consolidation more realistic.Debt consolidation can prove to be very beneficial for consumers who are facing a considerable amount of debt from different sources as it will merge the various debts into a single consolidated loan, most often at a much lower rate of interest. This will help you to manage your debts better since you would need to make only a single payment instead of writing out multiple checks and dealing with a large number of creditors. The most alluring benefit that attracts debtors towards debt consolidation is that the significant reduction in monthly payments that need to be made since the repayment period is longer. Also, if you pledge a security against the consolidated loan, the interest rate that you pay on the loan is much less as the creditors face less risk of non-recovery of the amount they lend out.