Big goals, made even bigger by the fact that, almost a year before, Michael had put his trust in me, giving me the go-ahead to leave my full-time job and pursue the freelance lifestyle I had always wanted. I was disgusted with myself, remembering all the confidence he had placed in me. Every frilly skirt, every piece of hand-painted furniture, every pair of Alfani peep-toe shoes had taken us further away from our most important goals.

As someone who purported to be self-sufficient, I knew I had to fix this problem myself. And in order to do that, I had to surrender my financial autonomy. I handed all my credit cards over to Michael.

In the end, getting closer to debt-free took several steps.

The first thing I did was transfer all of my credit card debt away from my high-interest card and onto a card that offered a 0% interest rate for one year. I had been trapped by my high interest rates, my bill becoming more and more insurmountable with every month that I did not pay my balance in full. If you're similarly money-challenged, you can get credit card suggestions from BillShrink. The site allows you to plug in your personal info—such as how much you spend each month, which areas you spend the most in, and what your credit rating is—and then suggests several credit cards to compare and contrast.

The next thing I did was determine a manageable amount to throw at these two cards each month. If your bank account can handle it, I would suggest setting up an automatic monthly bill pay, so that you don't even have to worry about forgetting your bills and incurring late fees. Extra bonus: Knowing how much I was paying each month also did me the favor of allowing me to see the end of the debt tunnel. The knowledge that, if I stuck to my plan, I could be debt-free within a year was a very powerful thing.

After that, I signed up for a free online money management system. The one I use is Mint but there are others to choose from, such as Yodlee, Wesabe, and Quicken Online. With my Mint account, I can categorize all of my financial transactions into categories, such as transportation, health, shopping, and entertainment. Then I have the pleasure of gazing upon pie charts that show me where my money is going each month. Let me tell you, nothing drives home your shopping issues quicker than the realization that most of your hard-earned moolah is going toward a-line skirts, newsboy caps, and candles.

Of course, the biggest challenge for me was giving up my credit cards.

I locked all of them away in an incredibly attractive business card case and left them in my husband's care.

And then I just stopped shopping.

Knowing that I had been unable to learn my lesson in the past, I knew that there was no other way. Drastic measures were required, and drastic measures were taken. Without the plastic, I've been forced to pay for the necessities with cash, or with my debit card. This makes it necessary for me to balance my checkbook regularly, in order to ensure that I have enough to pay my bills every month without bouncing any checks. The upside to this bit of tedium? I'm always incredibly aware of what is in my bank account at any given time.