Yes, I am a personal finance reporter with over seven years of experience telling readers how to wisely manage their money. Yes, I've also been in credit card debt for basically all of that time.

I have carried a balance on one or more credit cards for nearly all of the 10 years I have had credit cards. Sometimes, especially in the early years when I was still a college student, I did not have the cash on hand to pay it all off. Most of the time, however, I just didn't have the discipline.

I was making more than the minimum payment every month, but I also felt like credit card debt was normal so I didn't make a concerted effort to fully clear my balance. I assumed when my peers were putting things on credit , they too, weren't paying it off right away, though many of them actually were.

I did get my cards paid off for a brief period in 2020 when I put my Covid-19 stimulus checks toward my debt.…