Hi! I’m Cate, I’m in debt, and I’m going to be writing about it here on Queercents.

I’m a recent college grad working in a non-profit job. After graduating, I had no student loans, but about $5000 in credit card debt.

A LOT of people are in credit card debt. The average American has $9000 in consumer debt. I’m going to guess that the average Queercents reader has less than that, because if you’re paying enough attention to your money to read blogs about it, you stand a better chance of having a handle on your financial situation.

Everyone who’s in credit card debt has an shocked moment when they realize that they are in serious debt. That’s the moment that you decide you need to take serious steps to pay it back, even if you don’t know how to do that.

In my case, my moment was back in September when I stared at my credit card balance, realizing I had maxed out my card. Me, of all people! That was not how I’d been raised. How often had my mother told me to pay off my credit card bill in full every month? I was angry at myself.

I know this sounds stupid, but for the first time, I realized that the $5000 was in actual, human dollars that I would really have to pay back. Somehow I just hadn’t thought of it like that before. It was time for action! Too bad I didn’t know what action to take.

So, I’ve spent the last couple of months planning and starting to implement my plan for paying down my debt. You’ll hear more about that in the coming weeks. The next few months I’m going to be writing, here on Queercents, about how we get into debt, how we get out of it, and what actually works to stay out of debt permanently.

Please take this piece of advice if you, like me, are in debt: don’t panic. Don’t be ashamed. You are well equipped to pay off your debt! It’s not as daunting as it seems in that first panic-stricken moment.

Have you paid off debt before? Are you in a sticky situation now? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments on what works and what doesn’t in your financial life.

Photo credit: stock.xchng.