An Early Thanksgiving: I Haven’t Used A Credit Card In Seven Weeks And I Feel Fine
As we prepare to enter that last full week of November, I have one big thanksgiving this year: I am slowly getting out of debt and I've never felt better. Besides the fact that I have less stress and my relationship with my wife is growing closer; I'm truly thankful that the end of November will mean that my wife and I have successfully managed to stay on a written budget for two months straight. We're not exactly moving mountains here, but it's a very significant accomplishment for us. Now the question becomes, why would I want to get out of debt? Isn't debt the engine which drives our economy round and round? Is it heresy to say you're a capitalist (in as far as one's views on market forces and the government's role thereof), but deny the overwhelming grandeur that we call financing? How I could I ever backstab debt like I after all it's done for me? (If you're not picking up on the sarcasm by now, please note: I'm being _very_ sarcastic.) I must be sniffing fumes, or at the very least been taken hostage by some radical financial cult bent on tearing down the lending and credit industry. Right? RIGHT!?!? Well yes and no. Granted I did read *Dave Ramsey's* book _Total Money Makeover_ in September, but it wasn't reading his book that turned us the direction my wife and I are heading -- we were already heading that direction. If anything, Dave just reaffirmed what we already knew we had to do. I remember in college I had a history professor who spent 15 minutes one day speaking at length on the idiocy of paying cash for a car, when one could simply borrow money to pay for it and place the money you would have paid cash with into a Money Market account or something of the like. While I respect this man for his historical knowledge, it probably would have been better for him to leave his own personal financial advice at the door. The sheer dangerous lunacy of telling impressionable college freshmen that borrowing is "the American way", and not only that but "smart", is setting kids up to fail -- and for some, fail miserably. I won't go into great detail over my professor's error, but suffice to say is that the big argument in his case was that you already had the cash in hand. Most kids are going to forget that part. It takes too long to save up for a car for must college kids, especially when you're blowing it on pizza, beer, or any other number of food, entertainment, or any combination thereof. Also my professor's statement married the idea of going into debt is just part of the house on the corner with the white picket fence. That America has always run this way. It's a lie which most don't realize is so heavily marketed nowadays within advertising. And when you start paying for things with credit, you will get burned eventually. It may be awhile, and it may be for something relatively small (a late payment for example), but you will get burned. The system is set up that way. And besides, if you get into a habit of paying for things on credit, eventually any sound financial habits you had before will slide. Ultimately though the biggest mistake my professor made is he forgot risk. Sure the reasoning of sticking money into an account to accrue interest sounds all well and good, but most of the time that is rarely the case. Most of the time people go about purchasing items with that in mind and something "always comes up" that dwindles that cash stash just a little. And you never are able to fully replenish it, and before you know it -- you're dipping back in. Now maybe for you personally, that won't happen; but for most people -- it does. These few months have taught me that as long as you're persistent and determined enough to accomplish a goal, you can hit it. All we did was cut our lifestyle, save all extra income, and live as frugally as possible. What does this mean? I don't eat-out for lunch much anymore (if ever), eating out in general is on a lifeline for us, we use the library more often, and we don't indulge the impulsive buyer in ourselves anymore. It's hard at times, but over the past four months from when we started to half-heartedly do this til now, where we're going full steam ahead; we've been able to make considerable headway in our debt, bring our marriage closer together, and live with less stress in our lives. And for that, I'm very thankful.
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 10:40pm. It has been filed under General, Thoughts, Joshua, Finances.
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Okay. So only one person has cared enough to leave their two cents. How depressing! Especially considering all the trouble I went through posting this in the first place. Well you can leave a comment if you want. It might cheer me up.
Josh - that’s great to hear! Finances are some of the hardest things to manage, and even more so once there are two of you buying things on credit. Glad to hear you are turning things around, Dave Ramsey’s books are a great tool to get things moving in the other direction.
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Justin wrote on Friday, December 1, 2006 at 4:15pm.