How I got into debt

Saving money is a skill. Do not lose sight of this fact. The vast majority of people simply do not have the monetary skills to get beyond the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle. I am currently one of those multitude. I know better, in fact I know much better; however, my family is still stuck. Why? I lack the will power to attempt to stop collecting “stuff”. We as a society, have a plasti-dementia. We are literally crazy about plastic. Plastic cards, plastic toys, heck you name it, it is made from the material. Nothing has the populace gripped in a choke hold like those little 4” x 3” plastic demons known as the charge card.

Need gas? Charge it. Need clothes? Charge! Need a down payment on a used car? Yep, might as well add it to the monthly revolving debt. Why do we like using our plastic so much? When you charge an item to your card, you are physically detached from the sales process. Simply put, it does not cause you pain to charge an item. At least not in the way that the same purchase does when you pay cold, hard cash. I can not name how many times I have charged items in the past and never thought twice; however, for a similar (or even the same) item, when paying cash, I thought long and hard before the purchase. Several times, I simply walked away from the purchase. Paying with cash not only gives you time to honestly think, it also increases your purchasing power. I have never paid retail at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Circuit City or Best Buy. Why? Because I paid with cash and negotiated the price. Try negotiating and pulling out a credit card. Simply will not work. Pain is the key. When you make that cash purchase, it hurts to see the money that you worked so hard for leave your hand or account. The flipside to this is simple to understand: no pain = numbness; numbness = over spending. Overtime, the debts begin to grow. Before long, the debt is large enough to roll by itself (get larger through compounding interest charges). You miss a payment here, are late there and suddenly you have been ran over by a mountain of debt…..while sitting there and wondering how you go into such a mess. Sound familiar? This basically is my life story lol.

For more, please read on……