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Getting over the Credit Card Trap

Cash, check or credit card, that is the various forms of paying for things, as we know it today. With the boom of the online industry and the online shopping experience, the use of the credit card is getting a little out of hand. If you find that you are using your credit card more and more often, you need to take control of your spending and your balances for your solid financial future. 

First let’s think about your income. Are you making the income needed to purchase what you are getting? If you can’t pay off your credit cards every month, or at least half of your credit card, it is time to step back and think about laying off the buying for a while. Credit cards are just another method of spending money. Think about it like that. Only purchase what you can afford to go home and write the check out for. The only other reason that credit cards should be used is for emergencies. If you max out your cards on purchases because you just want things, without needing things, you often will find that when you need money fast for an emergency you won’t have it. 

If you do most of your purchasing and buying things online, make it a point once a week to pay on all of your credit cards. If you can’t go online, make the payments for what you have purchased this week; you are spending too much money. Avoid those once a month payments because the balances add up so fast that the payments seem as if they will never go away. 

Get what you deserve and more. 
If you find that you are able to handle purchasing with a credit card, and paying off the balance every month, get more out of your credit card. Obtaining a credit card that gives you free miles, free points or what you may be looking for extra, use that card and no others. Having three credit cards does not mean that you should have three cards with balances, use the one that offers you as the consumer the most for your money. 

Getting ahead of the credit card game 
Credit cards are easy to use because you feel like you can spend and spend without having to ‘earn’ the money, but in reality you will find that in a month when the bill comes for that card it is difficult to pay off all at one time after a large purchase. To get ahead of the game put off any major purchase decisions by at least a day or two. If you think you need a new computer – why? If you can wait at least two months, saving up the majority of the money and then purchase the computer when you have almost all the money needed, and putting only a small amount on your credit card, you will have made a wise decision. 

But on the other hand, if you work from home, depend on your computer, and your computer ‘dies’ or crashes, you need to make a purchase, but shopping around for the best deal before just purchasing a new computer is going to make the entire purchase well worth the money in the end. Taking your time in making any large purchase you will find that you will change your mind on those things in life that you might not really need after all. 

Getting ahead of the credit card game involves not purchasing gas or groceries or clothing on a credit card. Purchasing the items you need daily with cash and still paying off your credit card balances is going to put you ahead financially. When you have your credit card balances lower, you can then work on paying them off and using them in a wise method that will enable you to have smaller balances and smaller ongoing bills. You have to make more than the minimum payments on a credit card in order to get ahead of the money game and to pay off your credit cards in a timely manner. 

Put a limit on what you will spend monthly. If you are going to use your credit card for all your purchases, be sure to check online or on the phone for your balances so you know when you are spending too much. If you are going to pay off your balances every month, give yourself a limit, and then when you are nearing that limit you must use cash the remainder of the month. 

Using your credit cards for your financial benefit and in the case of emergency is the one method of getting ahead financially so you don’t have to worry about money and bills all your life.