The Final Solution For Credit Card Debt
By Anonymous
Credit Card debt is slowly swallowing our way of life. Where before many worked to pursue the American dream, we now have legions of family's working for Visa, Master Card, and Discover. The question remains, can we give up our addiction to credit, or have we evolved to the point where we have developed a sort of Stockholm syndrome to those rectangular plastic trouble makers?
Whether we like it or not, we have to adapt. We can't stop the ever increasing avalanche of credit card debt that inundates society and the individuals that make it up; so we have to learn to live with it. Credit is one of the spokes that rotate the wheel of our economy, and believe it or not, if used properly credit cards can become an asset. The liability of credit cards comes in part from self-control, part from poor planning, and in part from the debt-treadmill on which we perpetually exercise our paychecks.
The self-control is the most obvious part. Impulse buying runs....impulsively, and we only have ourselves to blame. The fact that clever marketing techniques, the science of product placement, and mesmerizing ad campaigns all conspire against our carefully balanced budget is not an excuse for the red that blankets our bank statements.
One of the most effective things that can be done is to pay cash for absolutely everything. It is one thing to pick up an outfit or DVD when you are paying credit, but when you have a limited amount of cash to spend on the items you originally went out for....you might just take a pause before adding an extra item to your cart.
Poor-planning is not as obvious, which in part is what makes it even more devastating. Typically folks have credit cards for "emergencies only". The word emergency in this case is a flexible term. Emergency applies to purchases on plastic when we don't want to go to the ATM, emergency applies bill payments when we don't want to send a check (because the deadline is a tad too close), and of course emergency applies to that item we have to have before our next payday rolls around.
Proper planning demonstrates the need for planning our spending. This means living within a budget, and limiting the avenues our money takes. More options inevitably leads to more purchases, which leads to more debt.
Rather than limiting ourselves to wads of cash, keep a ledger for your credit card. Use the credit card to purchase everything, but pay it off every month. By limiting the debt to a single card, you still keep your cash, have the convenience of plastic, and also have the added benefit of building excellent credit by paying off your debt consistently. If you only use the card, and only use it within budget, then you have a great way of limiting your spending.
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