In this financial downturn, many of us vowed to spend less this holiday season.

However, the urge to splurge on gifts is still there for some. Deep discounts still manage to lure some shoppers to spend beyond their means and rack up credit card debt.

According to the Federal Reserve, consumer debt totals about $2.6 trillion.

Cindy Williams, vice president at Madison Insurance, is encouraging people to look at creative ways to lower other bills to manage that debt.

"If you can't do a refinance and tweak your mortgage, and obviously your utilities are a fixed expense, you're going to want to look at those other bills that you have and work with a professional to maybe consolidate those. But definitely take it off the credit card," says Williams.

Williams says paying off credit cards quickly is most important since that debt is likely to have the highest interest rate.