Digging out of credit card debt: How one young woman is getting her financial life back on track

Bit by bit, Alexa Curtis ran up her credit card debt as she built out her business as a blogger. Like many young people, she had had no formal education on personal finances and only realized the size of the hole she had dug when it was $30,000 deep.
So far, Alexa has paid off half on her own — but has slowed down now and is paying only the required monthly minimum.
For Alexa and for many other people in debt, it’s not just a black-and-white money problem. It’s also riddled with emotions — guilt, frustration, and, yes, FOMO, the fear of missing out — as she tries to make it on her own.
“I have this overwhelming sense of guilt," she says especially in the months her income may have dipped.
Even going to get a coffee, or being asked by a friend to go to dinner, "I always ... feel so on edge, like I shouldn't be doing this,” she said. “Because this is a $100 or this $5 should be going to my credit card." Still, she said, "You have to remember to live. So I never know what the right thing is.”
Alexa spoke with Hitha Herzog, a financial expert, about managing her finances as well as her emotions, in a so-called money therapy conversation with Yahoo Life and Yahoo Money.