INDIANAPOLIS — Chris Roy keeps a stack of 17 credit cards as a reminder of the debt she used to carry.
She said the collective balance peaked at more than $30,000 in 2010.
"It was $20 here and $15 there," Roy said. "When your kids are in sports, it's $500 for this and $350 for that."
But the single mom said all of that changed after a health scare.
"Because I was paying the monthly payments, it didn't seem like a big deal. And then when I wasn't going to have income, it was suddenly a big deal," Roy said.
And realization weighed on her.
"It was a sinking feeling (that) makes you kind of sick to your stomach, and I decided that, you know, I really didn't want to ever feel like that again," Roy said.
So she came up with a plan.
First, she found additional earning opportunities where her kids could tag along.
"Evening day care, weekend day care. I raked yards, I spread mulch and did gardening," Roy said.
Then each month, she mapped out in a planner who got paid and when. It is a tracking system she still uses today.
"You can see (the bills) slowly, slowly change," Roy pointed out, "and their balances change."
Roy chose to pay off cards with the lowest balance first because she said it motivated her to see bills go away.
She also cleared that same calendar of costly social gatherings.
"If you say, 'I'm broke,' they're like, 'Oh, you got money. Come on, let's go do it,'" Roy said. "If you say, 'That's not in my budget,' that tends to be more respected."
She estimates it took her around three years to clean up her credit card debt.
"I just had to keep reminding myself that I didn't get here overnight and I'm not going to get out of it overnight," Roy said.
And she's far from alone.
A study found that the average U.S. household with credit card debt owes just over $20,000.
Sara Rather, with NerdWallet, said credit cards are designed so you can continue to spend money while you're in debt.
On top of that, interest rates are high right now, with a recent average hitting almost 23%.
"Credit card interest rates are notoriously high because credit cards are what we call 'unsecured loans.' There's no physical asset like a house or a car that the bank could take away from you," Rather said.
You can save money on interest by asking your card company for a lower rate change or exploring zero-percent balance transfer cards.
"These types of cards allow you to move debt from an older card that charges interest to a new card that has a 0% APR promotion. Oftentimes, they're available for 12 months," Rather said.