Suze Orman, in her 9 Steps To Financial Freedom, says that until you have cut up all your credit cards, you will never be able to get ahead financially. This can be bad news for most of us, who are carrying significant credit card debt. Fortunately, if you own your home, you can get refinancing tips to consolidate the credit card debt as part of a new mortgage, and allow you to get rid of those credit cards for once and for all!

Following the 9 Steps To Financial Freedom will always require short-term sacrifices to achieve long-term gains. By mortgage refinancing, you buy yourself some time and breathing space. However, unless you change your lifestyle to remain within your current income, you will be unable to complete the 9 Steps To Financial Freedom.

It is just too easy to slip back into bad spending habits. Just as the New Year's Resolution diets disappear before the end of January, and 90% of gym members never show up at the gym, most people's resolution to live within their means doesn't last beyond the first unexpected bill.

The thing is that mortgage refinancing is not a magic bullet. The instant relief from lowering the interest rate on your credit card balances from the appalling credit card rate to the merely painful mortgage rate is not a solution to the problem - it is just spreading the pain over 30 years. You can't take that feeling of relief as an indication that your work here is done.

Following the 9 Steps To Financial Freedom involves much more than simple financial restructuring. You really need to restructure your mind, and then your habits and financial results will follow.

If you get good information about refinancing, you will hear the same thing. Use mortgage refinancing by all means to improve your immediate situation, but don't just allow the cards to run up again, or you will be in a worse pickle. Anyone giving information about refinancing will tell you that there is an end to that particular merry-go-round, and the more times you have gone around, the more painful when you hit the brick wall - when you no longer have equity to extend your mortgage any further. The power of mortgage refinancing depends on continually rising valuations, and in today's market, more and more people are hitting the mortgage refinancing wall.

By all means use refinancing your home to get yourself some valuable breathing space, lower your monthly interest bills, and clear your credit card debts. But don't stop there - cut those cards up, and resolve never again to buy anything on credit. Grit your teeth and bear the short-term pain of adjusting your expectations. The end result is worth it.