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Kitsune · 01-03-2005, 01:05 PM

Student loans were bad, but credit cards were the real killer for me. They took forever. I used them for all my big purchases after my move and new job. In an attempt to remedy my debt, I took the cards out of my wallet and began using cash. That should have made the debt go down, right?

Bad idea.

Each time I'd take money out of the ATM and break a twenty, it would dissapear a short time later and I had no way to know where it went. Lunch out somewhere? The grocery store? Gasoline? Piles of checks being written didn't help much, either. I tried various methods of keeping a budget which didn't work so well, was difficult to keep up with, and was tough to stay motivated about. My savings account never seemed to have anything in it.

Oddly enough the solution, for me, was to use nothing but a credit card for everyday purchases. With the help of a friend, I was able to consolidate all my credit card debt onto one card with a high limit (this required some balance transfers) and then use one of the newly empty cards for daily transactions. While I paid a set amount to the low rate/high balance card each month, I paid off the small card with the high rate/low balance every thirty days without fail. The result was that none of the cards accumulated interest and I got a nice printed, running tally of my monthy budget. Gasoline, the phone bill, and food were all easy to check at a glance.

Sometime ago I had worked out that it would have taken five years (perhaps longer) to clear my debt the old way of paying it off in chunks on the card it originated on. I don't think I'll ever trust any of the advertised consolidators, either.

Of course, being single and not having children, I've often been told I have no idea what living with real debt is like...

01-03-2005, 01:05 PM	#5
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	Student loans were bad, but credit cards were the real killer for me. They took forever. I used them for all my big purchases after my move and new job. In an attempt to remedy my debt, I took the cards out of my wallet and began using cash. That should have made the debt go down, right? Bad idea. Each time I'd take money out of the ATM and break a twenty, it would dissapear a short time later and I had no way to know where it went. Lunch out somewhere? The grocery store? Gasoline? Piles of checks being written didn't help much, either. I tried various methods of keeping a budget which didn't work so well, was difficult to keep up with, and was tough to stay motivated about. My savings account never seemed to have anything in it. Oddly enough the solution, for me, was to use nothing but a credit card for everyday purchases. With the help of a friend, I was able to consolidate all my credit card debt onto one card with a high limit (this required some balance transfers) and then use one of the newly empty cards for daily transactions. While I paid a set amount to the low rate/high balance card each month, I paid off the small card with the high rate/low balance every thirty days without fail. The result was that none of the cards accumulated interest and I got a nice printed, running tally of my monthy budget. Gasoline, the phone bill, and food were all easy to check at a glance. Sometime ago I had worked out that it would have taken five years (perhaps longer) to clear my debt the old way of paying it off in chunks on the card it originated on. I don't think I'll ever trust any of the advertised consolidators, either. Of course, being single and not having children, I've often been told I have no idea what living with real debt is like...