Shred the Credit

In the past we were debt free except for a mortgage.  Now we need to struggle to get back to that comfortable position.  What lead up to the making less than you spend and needing to rely on credit?  Loss of a job, give birth to twins, rely on additional income that is not an annual occurrence, medical plan changes, middle age, children involved in more organized activities, expanding family means larger home, larger grocery bills, more expensive healthcare plans and more expensive utilities.
Our home
1998 we moved to our first home.  In 2008 we moved to our 2nd home. In 2009 we sold our first home.  In 2009 we had twins.  In 2012 my husband changed jobs. In 2013 he was laid off from the new job.  Two months later he had a new job.  During this time we started charging items but not paying off the balance because there was a promotional 0% interest rate.  After the lay off I think we were unsure how long the lay off would last and did not focus on paying down our credit card prior to our interest rate going up.
Now in 2015 we are trying to get back on track.  We did this once before.  In 2005 we had just bought and leased two cars and no other debt.  In 2008 we were on our way to paying off our first house in approximately four years.  Our cars were paid off and we were handling our financial donations very well.
The problem was we were still relying on our credit cards to pay our extra expenses.  Today we shredded our credit cards.  No fan fare just a simple shredding.

My husband asked that we use cash and debit card exclusively so we have no need for a credit card.  I have thought of one instance where it could be a problem.  That would be an unmanned gas station and all that you have is cash.  I guess we will need to get all our gas during daylight hours.