Susan, can you or are you willing to cancel the cards (or all but one) once you get the loan? We did what you are suggesting and, as people have said, by the time the loan was paid off, we were back where we had started in credit card debt.

Our current method, which is working much better, is that I take $1000 from my pay check every month, stick it in a separate account, and when Joe gets paid again (our big check), I send it to the card with the smallest balance. I like the fact that I can see the balance shrink each month and we are now down to the last card. (Of course, when the baby comes, that will be the end of that.)

The other thing I like about the idea of a loan, assuming a credit union approves us and all, is I feel like it would help me forgive myself for getting into this mess in the first place.

I sorry you feel that you need forgiveness. You have not done anything wrong!! So many people have gone through this.

I hate to be all "Dave Ramsey likes carrots", but this is really why I am still listening to this man, despite his conservatism, his christianity, and extremism. He has been there, and does not blame people for getting where they are. He certainly doesn't coddle, and tells it like it is, but doesn't make people feel bad for past actions.

Well, that, and people's get-out-of-debt-stories are truly motivating.

Susan, can you or are you willing to cancel the cards (or all but one) once you get the loan?

Definitely, though the counselor said it would be better for our credit rating not to cancel all of them as long as we had the discipline to either not use them or to only use them for small amounts and pay them off every month. Which I honestly believe we can do. The huge amount of debt ran up when DH was unemployed in '01 and then when I didn't work for a year and a half in '04 and '05 after AB was born. Most of what's gone on the cards since then has been emergency expenditures. We've learned self-discipline and proved it--now we just want to set up a plan that gives the debt an end-date so it doesn't feel like it's reigning over our lives.

Susan, are you on a written budget every month? That has really helped me feel like I'm in control of my debt situation.

Not yet, but it's among the counselor's recommended next steps.

I cut my cards in half but don't cancel the accounts. That way I can't spend money with them, but my credit rating's not affected.

I have a generic monthly budget template in excel if you want me to send it.

We put our cards in a drawer. That way, we can use if needed but can't impulse buy. The problem for us is, since we move so often, there are a lot of moving-related expenses that really need to be bought *now*. It's interesting - we've been here 18 months with no move in sight and are making real progress on the debt.

I've never been so tempted to deliberately crash my car into another car as the first time I saw a yellow ribbon on a Hummer.

Oh, Susan, I've been not posting at all because every single post of yours is giving me vicious sympathy debt-related guilt and shame cramps. We're in a similar situation, for similar reasons (unemployment, check; freelance writing, check; then, just for shits and giggles, add in earlier-than-planned maternity leave and incredibly poor advice from HR regarding arrangements for leave -- whee! Wasn't that fun?), and my plans for what remains of today actually include calling Working-Assets-That-Was to apply for a card so we can dump our low balance but murderous interest cards (currently 27.99% because of two missed payments when it was literally a choice between food or the card). I'm hoping to God the WA person doesn't dissolve in a fit of giggles (or scream) when I call.

All I can say, based on our experience, is Go credit union, choose credit union, shun banks and their caraway-seed-sized hearts.