Escaping the Trap of Credit Card Debt

Can I just say, I was educated well.  My parents did a fabulous job. I took personal finance classes as an accounting major before switched my major to elementary ed. Not to mention the oodles of books I have read on finance along with the money pages in every newspaper.  I know finance.  I know what one "should" do to balance ones' budget.  But knowing what to do is easy, doing it is not.  And so has the trap of credit card debt entered my life.  We have a handful of cards and most we are able to pay in full each month avoiding interest---however, after paying them in full our account is quite low so there is always a chance we may have to pull out a card to make it to the next payday.  TRAP.  We have one for our mattress (deemed a NEED by my husband's chronic back pain) that is interest free for five years, making it so easy to just pay the minimum payment. TRAP in a nice, sweet, wrapped up package because I never stress it and my money is not being wasted on interest (yet).  Then there is the one. The monkey on our back.  Frustrating, big, and hard to pay off with a megabank that refuses to refinance the card to a lower rate. TRAP! TRAP! TRAP!  This is the card I showed a picture of frozen on ice in an earlier post this year.  Thankfully, it is still frozen, and so the balance is dropping nicely.  A few months ago I did something I rarely do. I read the ENTIRE bill, rather than just the balance, and payment. I read the fine print.  Depressing? Yes, that is probably why it hadn't been done sooner.  Before reading the little letters and numbers, the history of the card is that is had been close to maxed out for about 7 years.  I would use it as my fall back and purchase with it when the checking account looked a little low. It was only $100 or $200 every month, but coupled with the minimum payment, the result was a balance that didn't change.  Fast forward to the day I read the whole statement.  I noticed the truth-in-lending:  Paying the minimum payment (which I was close to doing each month, but usually just rounding it up $20 more or so) would take 22 years to pay off the card.  That made me want to cry as I mentioned about this, it is a MONKEY ON MY BACK!!!  But the next line was a silver lining. It said if I paid only $60 additional a month, it would be paid off in 36 months. Like 3 years (I had to grab a calculator because it seemed unbelievable to me!) And that is what I have done the last few months. It is helping, about $700 paid down so far.  Today though, I have even more hope.  Writing out the budget for June with a few items slashed and cut back, I realized I will have a bit more to pay toward the card. I started wondering at the new amount I am going to pay, how long would it take to pay it off?  I used the credit card calculator http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/credit-cards/credit-card-payoff-calculator.aspx  and I now down to 2 YEARS!!! Here is a summary:
December 2013, minimum payment was $180--I was paying $200, balance owed was $7600, and stuck there due to occasional use of the card
January 2014, credit card was frozen in a block of ice, and not used since.
February 2014, credit card statement was read, and new payment of $268 would cut 19 years off of payments, payments of $80 more than the min. payment, and only $68 more than I used to make began
May 2014 bank rate calculator was used, and payments of $350 will begin in June 2014. Card will be paid off just two years!
June 2016 I will have an extra $350 a month and a credit card without a balance!!!
What is your next step? Look to see if you are caught in any similar traps and make your escape plan! Go read your credit card statements, if you have to learn the hard way like me....