It all started more than 20 years ago with Santa Claus -- Santa Claus and the Sears Wishbook and a mother's desire to wrap her children in Christmas gifts.
This month it ended with Sherry, 47, sitting in a counselor's office surrounded by credit-card bills and telephone bills and insurance statements and paycheck records that all pointed to one indisputable fact -- Sherry and her husband couldn't pay their bills.
By the time Sherry arrived at the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Maryland's Catonsville headquarters, she and her husband owed $12,000 in consumer debt -- a third of their $36,000 annual income. On average, she said, she was two to three months behind on payments to nine creditors.
"I was getting all these calls so I was avoiding the calls," she said.
Sherry's moment of truth came when one of the credit-card companies advised her to contact CCCS.
"It was when I talked to Discover on the phone and they suggested I come here," said the mother of two.
Sherry readily conceded that she was responsible for the family's financial pickle. Her husband, she said, handed her his paycheck on Thursdays, and she decided where the dollars would go. Not until the current crisis did he tell her that, no matter what, he'd better not see his wages garnished. Contemplating the spending habits that landed her at CCCS, Sherry observed that her debts centered on her now-grown son and daughter, whom, she emphasized again and again, "I love dearly."
"I really think it got out of hand because credit was too easy," Sherry said. "I overindulged the children at Christmas and kept taking out bill-payer loans. It was like a mushroom -- it kept blowing up. My son says I'm a chargaholic."
"There were a few years when things were paid off," said Sherry. "I put my credit cards away for a while. But then I took them out for just a little bit of shopping and. . . ," she recounted.
Expenses increased as Sherry's son, now 24, and daughter, 22, grew older.
When her son left home to attend the University of Maryland at College Park, there were added costs for a fraternity, clothes, the extras. "He likes the high life," Sherry said.
In addition, Sherry and her husband bankrolled him while he worked summers in Ocean City. Then the family decided to send the daughter to a private college that cost $14,000 a year.
