In today’s world, it seems that everyone is worried about their credit scores. You see ads on television telling you about how difficult life is for the people who don’t go and get their scores online. You hear horror stories about people getting married to those with bad credit, and how it has negatively affected their marriages. However, your credit score is truly a measure of how you are at handling debt, and you have to ask yourself is it really worth it to have debt in your life?
The truth is that you can live without credit cards. While it may be harder at first, and you may not be able to have everything that you want immediately, in the end, it will actually be easier if you actually own everything that you buy. You will never have to worry about your house being foreclosed on. You will never have to worry about your car being repossessed. You will never have to worry about creditors calling you to ask for money that you just don’t have. It really is true freedom. Whether you have made the conscious decision to live without credit cards, or you have been forced into this decision by having bad credit, you will soon find that you no longer even want credit cards in your life.
When you are living without credit cards, it is more important than ever to set up a budget. Make sure that you allow for all of your regular expenses, and put anything that you would have paid toward credit cards into a savings account instead. As you build up your savings, you may buy the things that you normally would have put on credit out of your savings account. You may be surprised at how fast you can save up for things when you are no longer on the hamster wheel of debt. Keep in mind too, that although many credit cards have points programs or other perks, a savings account is going to accrue interest at about the same rate. Do remember that if you are living without credit cards, all of your essential bills must be paid first. Whatever is left, is what you will be living on and putting into savings.
The hardest part of living without credit comes when you go on vacation. If you are going to rent a car or hotel room to go on vacation, make sure that you talk to the companies ahead of time to make sure that they will accept a debit card. Most hotels will, but only a few select car rental agencies will. Just make sure that you have enough to cover any deposits if necessary. This makes it take a little bit more money to go on vacation, but it is worth it in the long run.
Living without credit cards is not as difficult as many (mainly the banks) would have you believe. After a little while, you are likely to find that it is actually better than being in perpetual debt, and eventually that savings may add up into new cars and homes. You will also find that before too long, if you are careful with your money, you can actually afford more, and appear to be much more well off than you actually are. This is enough to make many want to get off that hamster wheel that we all call debt.