Credit Card Magazine

DEBT is a huge problem, for some people a great deal more than for others. Yet despite reams of literature on the topic, some important guidance is missing.

Getting out of debt still is couched, typically, as a straightforward money issue. Most advice centers on the mechanics of interest rates and minimum payments, ways to cut expenses and so on.

But having recently climbed out of a deep hole of credit card debt myself, I’m convinced that focusing on mere dollars and cents gets you only so far.

Ditching debt requires dealing with the emotional underbelly of owing money, and coming to terms with a culture that has serious debt addiction issues. Getting out of debt can feel like a battle — because it is one, on many fronts.

Borrowing money to buy a home or a car, or to complete an education, might be necessary. But carrying credit card debt for months or years is a red flag signaling that you can’t afford your life. The cycle is a brutal one. You can’t afford your life, and thus fall into debt; so how can you afford to pay your way out of it while still living your life?

Clearly it’s important to address the numerical side of debt. The standard advice to first tally up what you owe and then plug the numbers into an online debt calculator is a sound step for developing a financial plan of attack .

But before you create the mother of all budgets, I recommend putting a lot of time and thought into examining the way you live, how you have mentally calculated what’s “affordable” or what you “deserve” to spend — and what it would require, financially and emotionally, to live a life based on the money you actually have.