Finding yourself mired in debt isn't something that happens to just one type of person. We often think of spendthrifts and shopaholics as the only people who let their credit get ahead of their earnings.
That wasn't exactly the case with Mary Bell.
After working 13 years for Stone Container (now Weyerhaeuser) she lost her job. A little over a week later, her mother died. Bell had been caring for her parent, who was legally blind and had breathing difficulties.
"It was hard," said Bell. "She was my best friend."
Although she received severance pay, Bell said she pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck and didn't have a lot of savings. She relied on credit cards to make up the difference.
