<prompt> Human: I have accumulated a lot of debt over the course of ten years. For the past year I have been attempting to pay it down, but the minimum payments were so high that life kept getting in the way of making extra payments. All in all, I was looking at nearly 1500 in monthly payments just to make the minimums. And that wasnt leaving anything to deal with emergencies - nothing to create a buffer.So, in a controversial move that I feel pretty good about, I used some of the equity in my home to consolidate the debt. My monthly payment dropped to 250, but I set up an autopay of 250week. The extra will go directly into creating a buffer and emergency fund. When that gets large enough, Im going to dump it back into the payments. I figure that Ill have it completely paid off in about But I feel guiltier than I did before - I feel like by doing this Ive admitted there was a problem. I know ... its stupid.  <response>: Well getting rid of debt is admirable. I guess it would help to see all the numbers, but it isnt completely relevant to the psychological side of things. For a lot of people, calculating net worth is a good way to see real progress. Try making a spreadsheet of your assets and subtract liabilities. As you see this number go from negative to positive over time, and then get larger each month, it makes it tangible progress. 