I've remarked elsewhere that credit card debt is a modern form of indentured servitude, and I've been laboring under a load of it since I got my first card, I guess. That would be 13 years of stupid purchases and tide-us-over grocery trips and a divorce and car repairs and usurious interest rates until I woke up one day and realized all my cards added up to around 15K. Not nearly as much debt as some of my friends and family had accrued, but still enough to make me feel shamefully foolish.

Six years ago I got my first real job (25K/year doesn't sound like much of a real job, now) and decided I was going to pay the cards off. I was lucky in that being a state employee in Louisiana meant I could qualify for the credit union (basically a not-for-profit bank) and dump all my debt into one account. Credit unions are great because they actually encourage you to pay down your debt, unlike most credit lenders who would rather you feed them interest on a floating pile of debt.

The last three years, I've been doubling payments and transferring extra cash into the account; I've gotten obsessed with it, I suppose.

But after six years of making those punishing monthly payments, as of today I am totally free of credit card debt. I logged onto my credit union website this morning and made my last payment: balance zero.

It hasn't sunk in, fully, but it does feel sweet to look at that zero. I'll probably log on and stare at it again. I do feel a lot lighter, already, like I can stand up straight again.