The spiked eggnog on Christmas Eve won't be the only part of the holidays leaving some people with a bad headache.

Any day now, credit card bills will come in the mail, and there's no bottle of aspirin big enough to ease the holiday debt hangover.

The credit card debt for the average household is now $9,200, and that was before all of the holiday shopping.

Many debt experts believe, come January, unmanaged holiday debt could end up dogging people for years, with some credit card companies charging interest rates near 20 percent.

The first thing they recommend is to stop using your credit cards immediately.

But if you can't do that, "take them, and put them in a plastic bag, and fill it with water and then put it in the freezer," said David Leuthold of Century Negotiations.

Next, bite the bullet and make larger payments. Try to double your payments if you can.

Paying only the minimum will barely make a dent in your debt, just the way the credit card companies want it.

Step three could involve signing up for yet another credit card, but only if you're disciplined. It's called debt consolidation.

Many savvy consumers will sign up for a new card offering 0 percent interest for balance transfers. Then, move of all your balances to that card, but be careful.

"You have to watch what you're doing, because you run into balance transfer fees," said Leuthold. "You have to make sure of the time limits on those, because some are only good for six months or one year."

Another rule of thumb is to pay off the cards with the highest interest rates first.

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