Sliced the credit cards?

[AmyM]

Has anybody else sliced up the credit cards in an effort to get out of debt? We did about a year ago, maybe more. I kept the bank cards with the Visa logo so we can use them anywhere but other than that they are all gone. It's been tough sometimes to have to say no to myself. I feel like a kid whining for candy in line at the grocery store at times. Like when there's a new whatever out that I just have GOT TO HAVE right NOW! But then later I realize I'm grown and don't have to have everything I want. Sometimes I miss the cards but most of the time I'm glad they are gone.
Hubby wants a wii so bad and if we still had them I would have went out and charged the thing and got all the bells and whistles too. Then paid a ridiculously high interest rate and took forever to pay it off. So maybe we're better without it? What do you think?

[Becca Bonneville]

We don't have any credit cards either. Just the check card. I know I am better off without them. I used to have tons and tons of them babies and was very bad with them. It is sooo easy to charge! LOL!

[Paula]

We sliced all but one of ours when we bought our house. The only one we kept is our Chase card, and neither one of us carries it on us. We keep it in an envelope in our desk in case of an emergency.

[BrattyMeg]

well I for one am glad we do have a card or two. When our dog got injured I had to use one then had to use it again when I needed tires. I'm just not always willing to part with that kind of money up front. I wish I was, but I can't. I am however pretty frugal and will not charge b/c i have to have something right then. We mainly keep them for emergency use and not lavish things I can't afford but want.

Kudos though for living w/out them. It's too easy to get stuck in that instant gratification of spending/shopping now, paying later. I DO NOT take the cards w/me at all times. We keep them put away and only dig them out when we know we'll need it.

[Megan Turnidge]

We have a few cards... only 3 between the two of us. We are pretty good with them. They are purely for building credit sincewe are both young and in college. I am so paranoid about going into debt so most of the time the card gets paid off every month. It makes me sick having a high balance, so I avoid it. I'venever been a big shopper. In fact, my hubby always wants more stuff than me. LOL!

[Shawna]

We cut all of our major credit cards up a few years back to get out of debt. The only thing we have left is our debit cards that are attached to our checking account & then I still have a Sears card and a Dillards card that have very small credit limits that I almost never use. We used our credit cards a lot very early in our marriage and have been working to pay them off ever since. We will be paying one off end of next week and then we will have just 3 left to work on, I'm hoping to have one more of those paid off by the end of this year. There are times I wish we still had a major CC but I know deep down we'd be using it for things that aren't necessities and we'd be in trouble all over again! It is just way too easy to charge things, I know I could just about max a card out just shopping here at SSD lol!!

[mrs_jb]

I think that's awesome Amy!

I really only have an Amex and that's for work purposes (but what isn't a write-off when you work at home... LOL). Other than that, we don't use them and are just trying to dig out from under the times when we had no choice about using the cards.

[meems]

that's great!

me, I don't think I could completely give up having a CC on hand.

[Emmy]

If you can stop using a CC for that instant gratification kind of shopping then stop. It is not a good way to live - it's far more fun to pay cash for the little extras in life because you don't have it hanging over your head for years.

But if you can't own a CC without using it to do fun shopping IMO it's better to cut them up and get rid of them than to continue going further into debt.

A good way to use a CC is the way Meg described - to pay an unexpected vet bill that might take your checking account too low, or to buy needed tires for the car that you don't have money for now but will next month. It's to aid in cash flow - not to serve as an extension of your income.

This is all just my opinion - but you know I've been there and credit card debt is tough to dig out of.

[Maisie]

We re-fi-ed last year to pay all our CC's off.
But then, my sister passed and I had to fly home. The car broke down, then needed new tires, and then our oil bill was over 1000.00 for 2 months.
I hated to use them. But I needed to. Now we don't use them at all. Only in case of emergencies.

[lizzyfizzy]

your doing really good. just remember with that high interest rate your gonna pay out the wazooo for the wii. save up and wait. it's not worth it.

[Nettio]

We did. I actually have pictures of my DH doing it. We do have one card left that has a really low interest rate and no interest for like the first three months. We've only used it twice, both times for computers that were unfortunately needed at the time. In both cases though we did have the money to pay for them in cash, we just weren't comfortable giving up all that money at once.

As for the OP, I would so not use a CC for the Wii. It's a reasonable enough price that you should be able to save up for it. If you don't have the money available to save up for it, then you probably shouldn't be buying it. It's hard but that's just how it works sometimes.

[stayawake]

I LOVE that my DH is so good with money. He very gently reminds me that I can want what I want, but that doesn't mean there is always money for it. We have two credit cards, and we put a lot on them but pay them off each month. It's nice to get the rewards (we buy a lot of computers and equipment for my husbands work on our cards... which equals a LOT of free groceries for us!) It's occational that we carry a balance from one month to the next. In short, we don't use them to buy things we can't afford...so we havn't had to cut them out. If it were up to me alone, I might be in trouble!

[Micheline Lincoln]

We cut ours almost a year ago and took forever to pay it off, but I must say I'm much much much happier without the darn thing LOL

[DawnMarch]

We use ours like Lindy - to buy stuff that we otherwise need, and then pay them off each month. Ours are airline cards, and we earn several tickets a year by buying almost all of our normal monthly purchases (e.g., groceries) on the card, then paying it off. If we couldn't pay it off each month, though, I would probably take the course of getting rid of them.

[rh_scrapbooker]

We paid off our 1 credit card in December.

I've had no issues, except for one. YOU CANNOT RENT A CAR OUT OF STATE without a credit card. I was in Philadelphia, PA and my credit card was in Oregon, safe in the safe (why bother carry it when I don't use it)....I was lucky I had relatives who could pick up the slack, but it was a rude awakening.

It's a sad state of affairs when you can't even use cash or a Visa debit card to complete a transaction. Multiple car agencies all said the same thing, "You're out of state, we won't take cash, your Visa debit card does you no good..."

Just something to keep in mind.

Rachel

[mrsmbm]

We have one card (well, two cards, same account) that we charge everything on. We pay it off in full each month, we are never charged interest. We use the reward points to get airline tickets. It works for us.

[tuneskids]

hubby had one in his name before we got married, and abused it big time. We are still paying it off 7 years later (he's slow on that).
I have one that I got to build my credit, since other than student loans, I have never had anything that determined my credit. So I chose to get a CCD for that purpose only. We use it, and pay it off right away.

We have also decided to pay over our limit so that we have our vacation paid for, instead of having cash sitting around. Thankfully, the ccd company let us, I called and asked if we could pay over so we had a large credit.

[rach3975]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

We use ours like Lindy - to buy stuff that we otherwise need, and then pay them off each month. Ours are airline cards, and we earn several tickets a year by buying almost all of our normal monthly purchases (e.g., groceries) on the card, then paying it off. If we couldn't pay it off each month, though, I would probably take the course of getting rid of them.

That's us, too (though without the airline or other rewards, unfortunately). We don't charge anything we couldn't afford to buy in cash, and we still save up ahead of time for the big things.

[wildblueeyez]

We had a few when we first got married and it was a disaster - it required us hooking up with a credit counseling company to get them paid off. I do have one that I used for school shopping last year and wish now I hadn't done it. They are just so bad - miminum payments with high interest.

[Stacey42]

We have 2, one is a Discover that gets used only at Sam's club because Sam's won't take my Check card as Visa, only as a debit card and I have no idea what my pin number is. I transfer the amount to Discover when we get home from Sam's. The other is a regular Visa that we keep for emergencies - like the $2000 worth of work my car needed last month and the $325 to rent a vehicle for the 2 weeks mine was being fixed. We used to use it all the time & got into some significant debt with it, but then we paid it off with a refi a few years back and have kept for emergency since then. It stays locked up at home until needed.

[my3hens]

We dont have a CC either. Actually we have NO credit so it wouldn't be a bad idea but Im terrified we are going to abuse it (or more like my husband will abuse it LOL) So I am trying to avoid it if its unncessary!

[supertwinkle]

We have 4 cards between us and we use it to pay for almost everything we buy. Then we pay it off when the bill comes. It's like a free loan for one month, plus we get the reward points for trips and stuff. I've never carried credit card debt, but if I did, I would stop using them. If I can't afford something, then I don't buy it on the CC either. Credit cards can be a great thing, only IF you can pay them off at the end of the month and not pay them interest.

[nonnie]

We are HUGE fans of Dave Ramsey - He saved our credit and our marriage - No credit cards at all If we don't have the cash for it - we don't get it - period. The only debt that we have is Student Loan debt - but we also try to live simply - One car no cell phone - we live on base -

[rh_scrapbooker]

We are doing Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover as well.

We paid off our credit card (it was the first thing to go).
We just paid off my student loan in April.

Next, we pay off both vehicles.

Then we save six months worth of bills.

Then the mortgage is all we have left, besides retirement saving.

The debt snowball works for us...still working on the whole budget/envelope thing.

Rachel

Originally Posted by nonnie

We are HUGE fans of Dave Ramsey - He saved our credit and our marriage

[NettieB]

if you can't cut your cards, then here's an option:

Remember those checks sitting in a desk someplace? when you charge an item, write a check for the item amount to your CC co when you get home. Yes, when the statement comes, you have a handful of checks you may not send in if you pay electronically, but the method helps keep you from overspending on plastic.

[EveRecinella]

We sliced every one we had except the mastercard (which gets paid in full end of each month) around two years ago!