Paying Off Your Debt: How One Woman Paid Off $30,000 in Credit Card Debt

This is the second installment in our Paying Off Your Debt series that looks at how real people beat their debt for good.

Lori Meyer has been debt-free for more than two years. For the 37-year old former teacher, it's a feat she once thought impossible. "Between credit cards, student loans and car payments, I was $30,000 in debt with no hope of ever paying it off," says Meyer, who now lives in Los Angeles.

Meyer's debt didn't happen overnight. It was a slow-growing, painful process. "I'd been in debt continuously since I was 23," says Meyer, pictured at right, "and it just kept growing and growing and growing."