Sage advice! What you said about the dying unexpectedly part particularly hit home. Not as young as I use to be and have had a couple of health hiccups. While the card I quoted is interest free for another several months, and I can make up to between $1000 and $1350 in a single shift, plus I have about 60% equity in my home if disaster struck, I'd not want to refinance at what would certainly be a higher interest rate. Plus, I'm working extra at a high-stress job to keep it all covered. This will detract from my health and take time I could be enjoying travels with the wife and grandbaby. My philosophy has always been "it's just money. I can make more." But what if I couldn't? Most people have more practical sense than me, including my wife and all you guys. I really appreciate the perspective of all of you!This is another not-so-good sign. Withholding spending/financial habits from your SO is a key indicator of being a bit out of control. Believe me, I'm not speaking from a high horse, I've been there. Think about it this way if it helps. You get hit by a bus on the way to work today. Then she finds out you had tens of k of credit card debt with no real plan to pay it off. What kind of emotional and financial situation does that leave her in? Spoiler alert: you could get hit by a bus on the way into work today, or tomorrow, or next month. Tomorrow is not a guarantee.
There's a fine line between maximizing life and putting yourself in a long-term situation financially. Like anything else, practicing a particular type of behavior over the long term develops habits, and they're quite hard to break. A key milestone on the road to realization for me was my grandfather's unexpected passing in a brush fire at 71. He left behind 3 barns full of crap and a totally drained retirement account for my grandmother and mother to sort out. They ended up taking a washing even on the property sale (125acres of Texas hill country) due to the sad state of hoarding that had set in.
From a more practical standpoint, you're paying a mountain of interest on that much accumulated credit card debt. That is totally negating any deals you may be achieving by buying stuff on clearance/sale. All you've done is add yourself some extra stress.
Breaking the cycle is harder than it sounds, but from a practical standpoint it's pretty simple. Stop buying non-essentials (food, water, shelter) until the cards are paid. Once the cards are paid, keep stopping buying stuff for another 2-3 months and put the money you had been paying towards cards into a checking account (you can also use a work bonus or sell some stuff to charge this up quicker). Magically, you've now got a budget that you can spend interest free, just never let the cards get higher than the amount you have in checking to pay them off each billing period. You will save thousands of dollars a year simply in not paying interest on that much CC debt. You're killing yourself with that, total it up on your statements over a period of time and see for your self, especially once you compare to totaling up what you've "saved" with all those deals.
I think it's time to maybe hit the panic button and start a massive sell-off. Even at 50 cents on the dollar recouped, I could pay the cards, and you'd have to figure I'd get a little more than that for most of it. Hopefully the stocks will stay strong, as I have some small investments, but that could easily fail, too.
Best-worst-case scenario is we do a full home refi, pay everything else off, then sell the house. If I'm still working, we can amass enough quickly to purchase a lot on which to build ia small cabin or similar, as we've planned to down-size big for awhile. The reason we haven't already is I've been tied to the area due to being under contract with work. That contract is now up and I can transfer nationwide, though I don't see us going far from the grandbaby or my in-laws who are aging. We both have grandparents here that require special care, but probably not long. Also, I have dogs that could not be a part of a lease agreement on another temporary place. I just lost one dog, bymut there are 3 left. We might get away with 1, but certainly not 3.
I've got to decide what's going to go and get it listed in all the usual places for a price likely to lead to a sale. It's going to take a few months to get through it all, but I have months...unless I don't. Problem with shipping long guns with long barrels is UPS charges such ridiculous prices now if your rifle box is 48" or more in length regardless of weight. An empty 49" box was going to cost $75 to 2 states over. Most factory boxes are at least 48" if not more. Having it keeps the value of the gun high. I shipped the empty box last time through the PO for $25 and shipped the gun in a 46" box for $27 or so. That was as cheap as I could make it. Many buyers don't understand this and think sellers are just gouging when they charge $75 or more for shipping. If you appear to be price gouging on anything, you can forget selling. That's why auctions are best where you can start bids at almost nothing and let the item sell itself with competition among bidders.
Dealing with people in general now can be a chore or worse. Not many are respectful and will lie, back out, or try to rip you off. It's much worse now than years ago.
Wish me luck, and keep the posts coming.