Those that know me know how much I hate credit cards. I honestly believe that giving people credit who don’t deserve it is the reason this country is in the predicament it is in today. And even if you do deserve it?? If you can’t pay it in full every month then you can’t afford to buy it…bottom line…but I must say that I did fall prey to credit cards once my husband and I moved into our townhouse two years ago. At the time I was living large, buying things for our home and most of all buying things for myself. Especially for our wedding or anything having to do with wedding…but once we got married and returned from our Honeymoon, all that was over. My husband and I vowed to not use credit cards anymore and now we are ONE YEAR CREDIT CARD FREE!

It feels so good to say it! Between our expensive honeymoon to Greece, and both of our extravagances we had a pretty high bill. (but lower than the national averagewhich is shockingly $18,654) This was/is extremely unfortunate but it is what it is. We just had to fix it. And in order to do that we in no way, shape, or form were allowed to add to what we were working so hard to pay off. Although we still had that credit card bill looming over us we were smart. We moved all debt to 0% cards, and my husband worked up what he called a “debt snowball” to make sure our payment schedule was bringing us to our goal as quickly as possible.

I have mentioned in a previous post that I think people need “things” too much in today’s world. Meaning, not the necessities like food and shelter, but material things. Things like clothes, and cars, and electronic gadgets. It’s one thing if you can afford to have these things another thing if you are loading up on debt to get them. I did it…I fell for it…I loved shopping and buying boots, and new clothes for different events..but I gotta tell you, nothing feels worse than paying for it now. The pleasure I had from buying and wearing it quickly faded, and now I’m left with a constant reminder in the form of a bill.

But I’m lucky…I’m young and my husband and I were able to manage our debt. We are now older and wiser and plan never to let that happen again. I’ll admit that I can see the benefits of the 1 year interest free financing for big items…but only if you can do the math and make sure it’s paid in full in that year…but other then that I plan on continuing to be debt free! I can MAYBE agree to putting stuff on credit cards for points or miles and making sure I pay in full every month, but other than that Credit cards are OUT! Debt Free is in!!