This weekend, the New York Times ran a series of articles on debt in America. It’s definitely worth reading, but if you don’t have the time to go through all of them, there are two paragraphs that I think are absolutely key:

Average late fees rose to $35 in 2007 from less than $13 in 1994, and fees charged when customers exceed their credit limits more than doubled to $26 a month from $11, according to CardWeb, an online publisher of information on payment and credit cards.

Mortgage lenders similarly added or raised fees associated with borrowing to buy a home — like $75 e-mail charges, $100 document preparation costs and $70 courier fees — bringing the average to $700 a mortgage…

Credit card interest rates are on the rise, as well, even for those customers with good credit.

It costs money to buy on credit, whether you’re purchasing a new home or just putting a bag of groceries on your Visa. Credit is expensive, and while various lenders work on recovering from the credit crisis, it’s going to get even pricier. It’s important to remember that credit card companies don’t send you all those preapproved offers out of the kindness of their hearts. They’re marketing their businesses in order to make money — from you.

There is only one way to avoid paying fees and interest, and that’s to stop using credit. Personally, I’m not entirely there yet, and I still have some debt I need to pay off, but I’m working on it. I know it’s the only way to go.

Very few people are ready to go completely cold turkey on their credit cards — very few can truly afford it. But there are steps that you can take.

• Use only one line of credit. You’ll still have to make payments on your other cards and lines of credit, but if you’re only adding to what you owe with one card, you will have a better handle on what you spend.
• Pay cash wherever you can, especially for anything beyond the bare necessities. You have to buy groceries and pay rent, but for consumer purchases, using only cash can help teach you to save up for purchases. Even better, you don’t pay any fees or interest on cash purchases.
• Don’t open new lines of credit. For mortgages and other loans, a big chunk of the fees occur whenever you get a new loan or open a new account. The same is true for refinancing and other major changes to your account.

There are plenty of personal finance advisers out there recommending extreme solutions. If you can handle an extreme approach to paying down debt and getting away from needing credit, I’m all in favor of it. Most of us need slower and steadier methods, though. We all have to look at our own financial situations and chose the best path for ourselves.

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People like to talk about money — whether they’re gossiping about Wesley Snipes’ tax bill or bragging about the new house they just bought. At a certain level, we’re all pretty comfortable talking about money. Beyond that surface level, though, money discussions get complicated, and fast! We’re uncomfortable sitting down with a loan officer at the bank, telling our girlfriends and boyfriends just how much we’re making, or even demonstrating that we’re trying to save money.

But, sooner or later, no matter your financial situation, you’re going to have to talk to someone about money. Even if you’re in great financial shape, you might need to take out a mortgage to purchase a home, and no lender will hand over cash without some discussion of your finances.

You can make these discussions easier, though. They don’t need to be equated with a trip to the dentist or a visit with the in-laws. It’s simple, as well.

Know your financial situation inside and out. That’s all that it takes to be more comfortable with money discussions, generally. One of the reasons we get uncomfortable in that loan officer’s chair is the fact that we’re not sure what he’ll say: will he agree to our loan? or turn us down? And it takes more than knowing our FICO scores to be able to predict the answer.

Go beyond paying attention to what’s in your checking account. To have a really good idea of what your money can do for you — or can’t — you need to have an idea of what’s going on with everyone else’s finances. Getting an idea of the local and national economy can help you figure out where you’re at, along with what you should discuss with that loan officer. A few people seem to have missed the news that the U.S. economy isn’t as strong as it was a few years ago — and are trying to buy homes in this market. It’s definitely doable, but those people will be in for a surprise when they look at the terms of the mortgages available to them. They’ll be having one of those uncomfortable discussions at the bank.

But you won’t. You’ll do a little checking up on your financial situation and be ready to start the conversation on your own terms. Once you’ve gone through the basics of understanding your own finances — reading blogs like this one can help you understand just what those numbers on your bank statement mean — you’ll need a few other resources:

• Read the business section of your local paper. It’s one of the best sources of information on what’s going on in your immediate area — and it won’t be written in technical information.
• Keep an eye on CNN Money. CNN’s site includes information on everything from the national economy down to personal finance help.
• Research the industry you work in. Whether you work for an employer or you run your own business, having an idea of how the economic situation is affecting your industry can give you some ideas on your future money situation.

Zillow.com’s big selling point for house hunters is its real estate search function. Type in an address or a zip code and you can get information on houses — sale prices, number of bathrooms, and a slew of other tidbits. You can also get a good overall idea of how much homes are going for in a particular neighborhood.

There are a few tools beyond the standard information that a number of other real estate websites offer up:

• Make Me Move: Home owners can login into Zillow and set a “Make Me Move” price. These houses aren’t actually on the market, but the owners have decided that if a potential buyer offered a certain amount, they’d be willing to sell immediately. This information is valuable far beyond the ability to find out just what it would take to get your dream house. It also gives you a way to move to a particular neighborhood, even if no homes are actually for sale.
• Sellers’ Options: Not only can sellers list their homes for sale on Zillow, they can also edit information about their houses, add photos and generally better inform you, the buyer. All this information is made available with the idea that it will make it easier to sell a house.
• Mortgage Marketplace: Zillow allows potential buyers to request mortgage quotes from a variety of lenders. While I wouldn’t take any of these mortgage offers at face value — a mortgage requires careful scrutiny and one offered up through a site like Zillow needs even further examination — I do think that the “Mortgage Marketplace” can give you a starting point, and perhaps an idea of what you need to do to get a better mortgage (raise your credit score, reduce your debts, etc.).
• Real Estate Searches: Zillow has a wide variety of search options, making it easier to limit your house hunting to a very specific sort of house. You can limit searches by price, neighborhood, the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, or even the size of the lot the house sits on.

Overall, I think Zillow can be a useful tool for getting a general idea of what your options are as you are house hunting. You can get the information necessary to eliminate houses from your list — although there is no substitute for actually going and visiting prospective houses. I especially like the fact that you can save certain information by creating a free account; the less papers to misplace during a house hunt, the better.

But Zillow is not a one stop shop. While it can help you with a house hunt, there is plenty of information not available on this site. Even within the categories of data they make available, there are certain holes: there are, generously, perhaps as many as 3 million houses listed on Zillow, and in the grand scheme of things, that’s nothing. You’ll still have to do some legwork to make sure that you aren’t missing anything in your area.