Credit Cards Are Evil

Credit Cards Are Evil

Yes, I believe credit cards are evil. It may seem like a necessary evil, but if we plan ahead for emergencies, we can avoid using credit for such emergencies. Once you whip out that card it's a slippery slope into major debt-hood. 

No judgement here, though. I get sucked in just as easily as the next person. I try really hard not to use them and, instead, use my savings for emergencies, but there are times when it just feels so much easier to put it on the card and give my savings a rest. 

This is how I've ended up with balances on a few cards after having paid all of them off last year. Ugh. I'm so frustrated with myself. I realize that I need to change my habits if I am ever going to get completely out of debt and stay out.

Facing up to the state of my credit card balances is feeling harder than I thought it would, but I've managed to screw up my courage and found the balances on two of them. My next step will be to dig out all of the cards - most of them I hid from myself to avoid being able to use them - and find out the balances on all of them. They all need to be checked just for good measure and make sure there are no balances on any of them.

Then I need to make a plan to get the ones with balances paid off, once I've rebuilt my savings up. Small steps, but each one gets me moving in the right direction.

What about you? What are your struggles with credit card debt?

Next steps:

Get real about the debt
Save $1,000
Keep working on the budget

Photo courtesy of chodra with morguefile.com.