As Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi pointed out in their book The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke, the cost of realizing the dream of homeownership and raising a family in a safe neighborhood in a good school district has risen dramatically over the past 30 years. The majority of Americans are now taking on larger so-called “fixed expenses” – costs that don’t vary much month to month and can’t be easily reduced, such as housing, health insurance, school tuition. At the same time, the majority of women in America now work full or part-time. Without the financial safety net of emergency savings funds, or a non-working spouse to help make ends meet when an emergency occurs, a significant number live on a financial tightrope, supplementing an already-stretched-thin income with credit card debt and loans (i.e. car payments, mortgages).

It’s easy to see how families can quickly find themselves in major financial distress when there is so little extra money and so much debt. Perhaps you feel the frustration, feeling that you live modestly compared to other people and yet you know how much of your family’s money and resources it takes to maintain that so-called middle-class lifestyle.

Nearly 90 percent of families reaching the financial breaking point cited “job loss, a medical problem, a family breakup or a combination of the three” as the reason behind their major debt crisis. Warren & Tyagi found that fewer than 6 percent of families filing for bankruptcy cited consumer credit debt created by purchasing “luxury items” or due to having trouble managing money.

If you have reached the financial breaking point, know that it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person and it certainly doesn’t mean that you are alone. When you have reached the point where you can’t see a sign of possible improvement on the horizon, you may be wondering what your options are. Let’s take a look at how you can accurately diagnose your current “financial health” and think about beginning to take steps back from the financial brink.