You can count on one hand the few topics in life that make your hopes sink and your shoulders slouch, I mean beyond whether or not "Heroes" is a rerun or what's happening on "Grey's Anatomy." This handful of dreaded topics include bypass surgery, taxes, and credit card debt settlements. Notice how quickly your hopes sank. Now, pull yourself together, pull up a chair and try to look on the bright side.

Few people will cop to being out-and-out irresponsible. What was done at the moment can be dismissed as whimsy, but in the end, the reckoning is still the same: time to pay the ferryman, to butcher a Chris de Burgh classic. But owning your debt and being responsible does not have to mean forty lashes. Take a deep breath and get your bills together. The rest is relatively easy.

Getting enrolled in a reputable debt consolidation program is the best way to get collectors off your back, redirecting precious cash back into your own coffers. Most reputable programs allow you to sign up on line, filing in all the would-be embarrassing details of your debt discretely. Then, a representative that will hash out the details of some possible repayment scenarios will contact you and -- voila! You're back in black. I'm just talking about Shaft!

This, of course, entails embodying a more mature austerity. I don't mean licking the crumbs from a box of donuts, but you will have to ask yourself what is more important: paying your bills or treating yourself to dinner out every night? The transition can be a bit off-putting, but the sense of gratification that comes from seeing your debt dwindle month by month will help keep you focused. Keep your eyes on the road, people!

The fact of the matter is credit card debt settlements are unpleasant affairs. There is typically a wealth of guilt associated with debt, and perhaps rightfully so. You feel guilty because you spent what you did not have. Then again, you spent a line (or lines) or credit that was extended to you, implying you had the wherewithal to pay. It's a tricky thing, a slippery slope, if you will, but lifelines abound. Grab hold of one and swing to freedom.