WOW, Michelle!  Thanks for the great tips!  Some I have been using and some I will be able to incorporate.  

Our biggest problem is we got to where there was more money going out than coming in, but that is finally about to change the end of August.  I will have $350 exta to pay extra towards our cc debt.

We too have learned not to buy with the "eye" and only buy what we need and can afford.  it is amazing how much you can save that way.

Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate you taking the time!

Michelle -     Way to Go! 

   Wow, Congratulations Dee!!!  What a relief and weight off your shoulders that must be!
Lipstick, I'd check out the company that gave Dee the 0% refinance consolidation thing.  Sounds like a much better option than paying all that interest.
Wasn't it in the 80's or early 90's that most laws governing lending institutions were lifted?  Seems like it's only in the past few decades people have had this problem of getting into massive debt.  A friend I was talking to on Friday said she and her DH now have $33,000 of debt, and she still won't listen to me about MLM's being evil.  She's in one of the jewelry scams.  She did point out to me, however, that it paid for the trampoline in the front yard.  I was like,  , who cares about that when you've got $33,000 in the red looming over you!   

Rethinkingpink, I think I should have been more clear about my post.  The 0% thing was a 0% credit card that I opened with the express thought of never charging anything on it,  just paying it off.  I looked for one that had the longest 0% introductory rate and also the one with the best APR for after the introductory rate.  I actually opened two because I had so much debt on the other cards, which had 27% and 29% interest rates.  I had four cards, but I only have to pay off one card now.

I did check into Consumer Credit Counseling. The one thing I didn't like is that by using their services, there would be a mark on my credit history.

You are right about people getting into debt much more in the 1980s and 1990s than the decades before that.   I watched a TV special called "Affluenza" that mentioned that while personal loans became easier to get in the 1950s and 1960s, the country's savings rate was about 50%.  Now I think it is around 4%, while Japan has a savings rate of at least 4 times that.  I couldn't tell if the announcer said 16% or 60%.  If anyone has access to the Documentary Channel, I suggest that they watch "Affluenza".  Although it was made in 1997, it was an eye opener.

Now, for your friend that has the $33,000.00 debt, maybe Consumer Credit  Counseling might be the best way to pay down their debt. 

One thing I did find out is that by cancelling a credit card, it can affect your credit score.  From what I understand, closing a credit card affects the credit score, but opening one up doesn't seem to affect it.

Michelle

ARGHHH ~ found out today that Uncle Sam kept my "Stimulus Tax Check" to pay on past due taxes....I guess it's good as that debt is now wiped by over half, but the ARGH is that the past due taxes are from when I was audited after doing MK for 3+ yrs and found out ALL the things I was told I could (and did) write off weren't accurate and I ended up owing almost $4k which I've been SLOWLY paying back....

The Lies they tell and I believed....

Just a side note: income tax is not legal, it's actually against the law, it's unconstitutional.  Yet the IRS is intimidating enough to get me to pay taxes.

That's scary dkeys, I bet alot of us have taken tax deductions at the advice of our SD's.  I thought if you have an accountant do your taxes for you then they're the ones to be held responsible in case of a mistake?  That's why I always felt safe, because I had someone "professional" doing them.  Would you mind sharing the sorts of things MK says consultants can deduct that are actually not allowable?

But what's that certain amount? Does anyone know?