Back to this thing about Americans living in "debt denial," and all that.

Here's a line from the piece at Bankrate.com: Forty-seven percent of Americans flat-out refuse to divulge the extent of their credit card debt to a friend.

Actually, I bet the number is higher than that. But to make certain which side of that percentage I stand on, I will state quite clearly here that my family's current credit-card debt is $1,579.86. That is down from an all-time high of just over $10,000 back in early 2002.

I will also state quite clearly that as of this time next month, barring something really unexpected, that debt will be at zero.

December 2004 will mark the point when, after probably 14 years of carrying at least some balance on some credit card somewhere, I will join that group of people who are credit-card-debt-free. At this point I will have only the remainder of my student loan ($2,606.18) and my mortgage remaining.

I am so close I can taste it.