I can manage, but I know there is a better way.

My biggest problem came from taking on all of my wife's debt. She has become mentally/emotionally unable to work, and furthermore we have gotten ourselves into a one income family of four going on five. In the Western Washington area, one income does not fly for more than one person.

At any rate, I have had to take on her minor previous debt, but a large amount of past medical expenses AND all of her want/need expenses over the past four years and it has REALY caught up to us to where we are at our means, with none left over for anything other than bills and essentials. Now, I have been able to manage and am making my payments, but it is hard to keep everyone's spirits up with no money to even get the simplest of pleasure items, no money to go out to dinner on occasion or o the zoo with the kids.

I have found myself unable to get a personal loan through the banks i work with on my normal accounts to pay off all of my credit card debt and one personal loan, a self made consolidation, because even though the loan would be to pay off debt, my credit is already too extended. A sad paradox. Furthermore, I have heard that debt consolidation through consolidation companies can look about as bad on your credit report as bankruptcy. So, here I am looking for information on consolidation loans, facts and fiction. Even though I could eventually work this all out myself, and it is slowly getting better, there IS a better way and I just need to find the way to get that personal loan WITHOUT having a negative affect on my credit, so I can get things paid off much faster AND have some breathing room in my finances.