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Christmas on credit? Dealing with debt in the New Year.

It's easy to spend and spend over the Christmas week, determined to enjoy ourselves and worry about the cost later.

Well, it's now 'later'. It's exactly four weeks since millions of us started our Christmas holiday - and now the credit card bills are landing on the doormat, we're facing up to the aftermath of our festive spending.

Around 20% of us began the New Year with over £5,000 of credit card debt, according to a story in today's Mirror.

Making the minimum payments?

"You've probably seen all kinds of warnings about the 'minimum payment trap'," said a spokesperson for the IVA Advisory Centre, "but what's the best way to avoid it?

"Step one is simply understanding where you stand. Credit card debts can be much less worrying if you have a clear idea of how long it'll take to clear them.

"If you don't have a budget, that's the obvious place to start. Figure out how much is coming into your account every month and how much is going out. Once you know how much spare cash you have on a monthly basis, you can decide how much of it you'll put towards your credit card."

Finding it hard to stay motivated?

If you're looking for some help staying motivated, take a look at the credit card calculator on whatsthecost.com. It's a simple tool that's well worth spending a bit of time on.

Say you owe £5,000 on a card with an APR of 17%.

• Pay off 3% every month and it'll take you over 21 years to clear it in full. In that time, you'll pay over £4,100 in interest.

• Paying £10 extra per month would take that down to just over 11 years - and just over £3,000 in interest.

• Paying £25 extra would mean just over 7 years and around £2,300 in interest.

"It's a simple example, but it really brings home the cost of making minimum payments - and the benefits of giving that bit more when you can.

"Of course, it's not always that easy in reality. Life has a way of springing surprises on us, and some months you'll find that making even the minimum payment is a real challenge.

"So that's another reason to work on overpaying your card debt: the more you can reduce it, the more your minimum payments will fall. 3% of £5,000 is £150 - but if you can get it down to £4,000 your minimum payment would fall to £120."

Clearing credit cards: three money-saving tips

• See if you could swap to a balance transfer card with a 0% introductory period. If your credit rating's good enough, there are cards out there that won't charge interest for a full two-year period.

• If you get a windfall of some kind, put at least part of it towards your balance. Again, if you're looking for motivation, use that credit card calculator and find out how much time and money it could save you.

• If you have any savings, they're probably growing a lot more slowly than your credit card balance. Again, putting at least some of that money towards your balance could make a big difference.