Finally have a grasp on my debt

I first realized I was in deep financial trouble around two years ago, about the time my son graduated from high school.  I had family in town for the ceremony and wanted everything to be perfect, including our home.  We’d been struggling since my husband died and I was ashamed of how shabby our furniture looked.  I went to purchase a new living room set from a rent-to-own company and ended up getting furniture for the entire house — on credit.  While the monthly payments didn’t seem like much at first, they pushed our budget enough that I started to use credit cards for emergencies.  When my employer suddenly laid me off I quickly charged four credit cards to the max.  At first I could make the minimum payments on them all, but soon even that stretched my finances too thin.  I kept falling behind and the creditors started calling.  Now out of my mind with stress, I consulted with several credit card debt relief companies.  I am now enrolled in debt settlement and feel I am in complete control of my finances.