Do you live beyond your means?
@sarahkskeeters (235)
United States
April 9, 2007 12:28pm CST
When you want something, do you just go ahead and buy it, regardless of if you have the money to spend right now, or do you make yourself wait? My husband and I both work, we own our house, have 2 cars, and a new baby. Needless to say, we have a lot of bills. We are working on building our savings up, and we both have retirement accounts and a few investments, but it seems like every time we have the least little bit of extra money left over, we spend it. My husband is the worst. If he can't afford something, he'll just charge it. We'll finally get our credit cards paid off, and then he'll go and start using them all over again! The worst part is he doesn't tell me before he makes large purchases. He knows what I would say if he told me first, so he just buys what he wants and then waits for me to find out about it. It's like he has no self control! I'm no angel myself, but I only spend a tiny fraction of what he does and I try very hard not to use my credit cards. What do you do if you want something and can't afford it? Do you charge it or start saving and wait until you can afford it? Are your credit cards always maxed out or do you pay them off each month? Do you dream about getting out of debt? Do you think you'll ever reach that point or do you feel doomed to be forever paying off credit cards and loans?
3 responses
@crazy_me (588)
• Philippines
9 Apr 07
I do not live beyond my means. When I want something and I have extra cash for it, I buy it. But if my money is not enough, I just save for it. Even though I have credits cards, I try my best not to use them. I avoid having debts. I know many people who have many credit card debts because they enjoyed using it too much. And that is what I try not to happen to me. So it is either I will buy something with cash or I will just not buy it. I will use my credit cards for emergency purposes only.
1 person likes this
@sarahkskeeters (235)
• United States
9 Apr 07
That's how it should be. Good for you! Credit cards should really only be used for A) emergencies or B) if you can afford to pay the balance in full at the end of each month. They do not exsist so you can buy things you can't afford (although that's what the credit card companies are counting on)! I wish I excercised better self control. And even more than that, I wish my husband did! If we spent only what we could afford, we could get a lot farther in life a lot quicker.
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
9 Apr 07
I try hard to wait to buy what I want if I can't really afford it, sometimes however I break that vow. I hate when I do it, but I don't get large sums of money every day so I just want to spend it when I can get it. I try to stay away from rather largely priced items and stick with the smaller items that I want that do not cost an arm and a leg. I however, never use my credit card. I have one that has a max. limit of $500 and that is my emergency credit card. I have that in case something happens while I'm at school and I need to pay for something and I do not have the cash on me at the time. I think the best thing you guys can do is to only have one or two cards, not a lot of them. You'll be more tempted to use them more and more, especially if you have several you can get your hands on.
1 person likes this
@sarahkskeeters (235)
• United States
9 Apr 07
You're exactly right. I only have 2 credit cards. One stays in my wallet, the other is an emergency card, and the only reason I keep it open is because it's the first credit card I ever got when I turned 18 and it looks good on your credit report to keep accounts open for a long time. So I keep it open as a "just in case" card. My husband, on the other hand, has 4 or 5 cards open right now (I can't even keep track!), and I think he uses all of them. The last time we had our cards all paid off, I told him he needed to close all but 1 or 2 of his credit cards, but he kept coming up with excuses why he should keep each one open, so I finally left it alone. We get credit card offers daily, and they do make the offers really appealing, but that's what can get you into trouble! I just wish he was smarter about his purchases. I know what it's like to want things, there are TONS of things I would buy if we could afford them, but you have to be smart about your purchases. I do the same thing you do. I buy small items that I want so that I don't feel like I'm depriving myself, but I'm also not breaking the bank or maxing out my cards, either.
@bcote212 (1112)
• United States
9 Apr 07
I believe that most people do live beyond their means. I personally do not use credit cards very often so I have no credit card dept at all. The only debt that I have is on 2 cars that I am paying off. currently that is about 20,000 but will be paid off in about 2 years. I have to admit if I see something that I want I go out and get it. But I do make sure that I have chash to make the purchase. Usually if you need the plastic, then you really dont need the product.
1 person likes this
@sarahkskeeters (235)
• United States
9 Apr 07
Excellent point. If we didn't use credit cards, and there was an item that we absolutely HAD to have, than we would budget for it. I applaud you for not getting yourself into credit card debt. It's a vicious cycle! Once you start using credit cards to buy things that you want and can't afford, than you become accustomed to living a certain way, I think, and then it's even harder to stop.
