Who would have ever thought? Me cutting up ALL of my credit cards! Yikes… ALL of them. I still remember after college getting my first card, a Spiegel card. Do you remember the Spiegel catalog? I was so excited to have “free” money… I guess I didn’t really understand the whole credit does not equal free… I bought all sorts of stuff, I had fun shopping the pages… Then the bill came and I was shocked! Each month I just paid what I could and continued my ways. After Robert and I were dating for a while we talked about credit and finances. He was so surprised by my credit card balance. He had no debt and I think I freaked him out. Luckily, he still decided to marry me. Unluckily, he didn’t know I still had my little plastic passion.
As we have been moving through the Financial Peace University classes, I feel like I am learning a new language. I am truly educating myself about the credit card industry and I am quite sickened. The stats on people in debt and the amounts that the average family carries monthly on credit card debt is so disheartening. By truly educating myself, I have found hidden strength to do the unthinkable. PLASTIC SURGERY… Yes, with the help of my amazing husband, I have kicked the habit and cut up my credit cards! Bye bye Target Red Card, see ya later JcPenneys, hasta la vista Macys…Express…Capital One…Chase Amazon! We paid off my many mini balances of 6 cards and cut them up! Then I cancelled all of my other cards that have been hanging around waiting their turn for a stroll down memory lane. Altogether, I think I cut up…well a lot! Too many.
I am convinced that as Dave Ramsey says, “by living like no one else today, I can live like no one else tomorrow.” We are very close to being debt free. We hope to have the cars paid off by Christmas. Getting rid of my safety net felt a little scary, but then I realized the true safety is in my faith and my family (and our emergency fund -which we have been able to create). I know that I am on the way to smart spending. We are using our zero based budget, our cash envelopes, and our monthly balance sheet to be smart, educated and intentional. I have enjoyed this journey towards being debt free – surprisingly so.
Let me leave you with a couple of statistics on credit card debt…
The average household in 2010 carried nearly $6,500 in credit card debt. (just think if you didn’t have that, all of the savings could go into your emergency fund).
According to the latest information gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 173 million credit card holders in the United States in 2006, and that number was projected to grow to 181 million Americans by the end of 2010. These same Americans own approximately 1.5 billion cards, which is an average of nearly nine credit cards issued per credit card holder.
I encourage you to educate yourself. www.daveramsey.com is a great place to start.
p.s. I almost didn’t post this blog because I was embarassed by the number of credit cards that are in the photo. Let me clarify that some of those are older ones that haven’t been used in a LONG time, but none the less, I had kept them for “a rainy day”. I was embarassed that people might think I am a nut, but then I thought, surely I am not alone. This is a huge step for me. Being honest about my plastic problems and I am so proud of my commitment to be debt free that it was fun to pull out ALL the cards and take care of business. After reading a lot of research and statistics I am certain that I am not alone. So I share this with everyone hoping to give others courage to make steps toward a strong, peaceful financial future. Good Luck.
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