I feel your pain, Lindsay. I have been in credit card debt over my eyeballs.
Nope, unlike Dr. Drew Pinskey I am not going to plant drugs in your car to frame you. Dr. Pinsky isn’t breaking the law breaking your Hippocratic oath?

After losing my marriage, business and health I had $88,000 of corporate credit card debt from my business (which seemed like $600,000 at the time.) Here are some tools that will help you and anyone out there get out of credit card debt. These tools worked for me, and millions like me. They can work for you.

1. Don’t Go This Alone
Lindsay, you are not alone. Studies show that currently 58 million Americans are not paying their bills on time. Get caring support as you reinvent your habits. ( No, Dr. Pinsky wouldn’t be on my list either.) Yes, you are going to need to change your habits. It isn’t easy. My prayer for you is that you have someone that sees your great good that goes beyond your current behavior.

2. Use Paper Power
You aren’t going to like this one…but it works.
Simply, switch from plastic to paper money. A study from NYU and the University of Maryland found that when consumers switch from credit cards to cash and they automatically 30 % spend less. These studies show there’s a gut reaction that’s absent when we pay with plastic. That’s the reason you trade your money for poker chips (plastic!) in Las Vegas. Credit cards use this fact to their advantage.

3. Get A Grip
You aren’t going to like this one either.
Make a budget. Put the cash for each budget category into envelopes. Food, gas, entertainment, clothes, shoes etc. I did this. It is very simple and it works. From my own personal experience once you get down to the copper money (they are called pennies in case you forgot) in an envelope you are highly motivated to get out there and make some money. Highly motivated.

4. Pick Up the Phone
Before a large expense, ask for a discount. Sure, you are Lindsay Lohan, but I know that this tip works for the rest of us. One LA consumer got her dentist visit cut for a crown from $850 to $550 by simply calling and explaining her circumstances and asking for a discount for being a long term customer. I’ve heard of lots of people asking for reductions on the rent they pay…and getting it. Give your landlord a call…and let me know.

5. Ask For Help
If you are in over your head in debt you can get help. Credit Counseling will help you with your budget and lower your interest rates. My bet is that Credit Counseling companies are call you right now. Lindsay, listen up…because this is a very hidden fact.

Most consumers aren’t aware that these credit counseling “non-profits” are actually funded by the credit card companies. They are not working for you…they are working for the credit card companies. I used a debt settlement company that cut my credit card debt in half. Having my debt cut in half helped me to avoid bankruptcy and give me the dignity to pay off the debt my start up business had created. Get educated and see what is the best fit for you.I am here to help you. If this worked for me, it can work for you.

Are you struggling under credit card debt? I want to hear your story.

The Today Show “Reinvention Expert” shares her system to get out of debt using her “Turnaround Techniques.” system with other consumers to get out of debt- for good.

You can receive notice of my blogs by checking Become a Fan at the top. Ask Eli a question at [email protected] or go to www.elidavidson.com today.

Eli Davidson is a nationally recognized motivational speaker and executive coach. Her book, Funky to Fabulous: Surefire Success Stories for the Savvy, Sassy and Swamped, (Oak Grove Publishing) has won three national book awards. Eli is a reinvention catalyst, who can transform your professional and personal life from Funky to Fabulous with her 10 trademarked Turnaround Techniques that create rapid and remarkable results. Check out her blog at http://funkytofabulous.blogspot.com/

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Read more: Eli Davidson, Credit Card Debt, Credit Cards, Lindsay Lohan, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Living News

A few weeks ago we learned that Lindsay Lohan was broke and owed $23,000 in rent, and now Radaronline.com reports she is more than half a million dollars in debt.

“Lindsay owes credit cards $600,000,” a source tells Radar. “One card cut her off last week and it’s only a matter of time before all her other credit cards cut her off too.” The source said that if Lindsay cannot make her payments, the credit card company is prepared to sue her.

Over the weekend, Dr. Drew Pinsky wrote in his blog on the Huffington Post that if he were Lindsay’s parent, he would go to any length to get her into treatment, including involving law enforcement. Earlier Dr. Drew said he would frame her by packing her car full of substances, if that’s what it took.

Lindsay responded to Gossip Cop, “He’s a quack and a sell-out… Please tell him to stop!”

She also dismissed Dr. Drew’s concerns about her addiction, saying, “I’m fine.”

“He’s such a loser,” she said. “He’s not a real doctor, he’s a celebrity doctor.”

According to onlookers, Lindsay appeared “wasted” and obviously impaired at Coachella over the weekend.

Read more: Lindsay Lohan Broke, Linday Lohan Dr. Drew, Lindsay Lohan, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Lindsay Lohan Debt, Entertainment News

I have been working in the field of addiction for over twenty years and I continue to be mystified by many of the misconceptions surrounding this most common disorder. Addiction is a deadly disease. It is a brain disease that alters the brain’s fundamental motivational drives such that thoughts, judgment and volition become severely distorted and actually serve the abnormal motivational priority of getting and using more drugs. Untreated severe addiction is more likely to kill a patient suffering with the condition than most cancers. Treated Breast Cancers, Prostate Cancer, most Lymphomas, and the vast majority of skin cancers, have a better prognosis than a treated addict. And yet addiction is the only disease I have to convince a patient that they have and more importantly convince the patient that without treatment his or her life is in danger. Getting families to understand this is often even more difficult. For those of us that are parents, every instinct we have is often precisely anathema to the interventions we should be taking when our children become addicted.

I was at dinner with my own children some months ago and we were discussing addiction and I explained to them that as a result of my experience treating addicts, I wanted them to know that I would go to any lengths to combat this disease should one of them ever fall victim. I reminded them that I spend my days trying to resurrect lives that have been devastated by this disease, devastation that might have been avoided had someone been sufficiently clear to have gone to the mat for this patient when they were younger and earlier in their disease. Family members have to be willing to go to any lengths and unfortunately this often means bringing about circumstances that restrict that individual’s freedom. As the parent of an addict you must be prepared to bring consequences to bear. I am talking about painful interventions that save lives.

I am not naïve about the treatment of addiction and I know well that some times any and all interventions are in vain. There are those professional who would argue that abstinence based interventions are unrealistic for severe addicts and physicians should pursue replacement or so called harm reduction therapies. But when I was asked as a father, if I were in Michael Lohan’s position, what would I do to help my daughter, I am clear that I would go to any lengths to get her to and retain her in treatment. Bringing legal consequences to bear is often the only alternative. It would kill me but I would do it. Perhaps I surrendered my equanimity to a flight of journalistic excess by even suggesting that he plant drugs. But if I was in his position and I knew she was addicted (which I personally do not) and all else had failed, I suspect I would contemplate even this as a last resort.

Let me be clear I am not suggesting this as a routine intervention but we frequently enlist law enforcement when we have exhausted other measures. To those of you who reacted in outrage when I made this suggestion, I will remind you that millions of you watched the first season of Sober House when as difficult as it was for her, the house manager, Jennifer Gimenez, summoned police to contain Steven Adler. We then advocated for long-term treatment as an alternative to imprisonment; an enlightened judge granted this, and today as a result Steven is sober and thriving. Were it not for this intervention, as miserable as it was for Steven, I believe he would have soon succumbed to his addiction.

I have participated in similar interventions many many times and it saves lives. Judges will grant treatment and this can be a very effective means to keep patients engaged in extended care. In my experience the outcomes can be quite good. I do not know Lindsay Lohan but I sincerely wish her the best. She has had excellent treatment in the past at outstanding treatment programs. I hope one day she returns to her recovery as I believe she will one day thrive, provided that this disease does not first bring some horrible consequences down upon her. As a father my heart goes out to Michael Lohan who deeply appreciates the dangers of this condition and (if she is in fact active in her disease) lives every day in the shadow of his daughter’s potential demise.

Read more: Addiction, Lindsay Lohan Drugs, Michael Lohan, Lindsay Lohan, Drug Addiction, Lindsay Lohan Rehab, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Lindsay Lohan Drew Pinsky, Entertainment News