Like Rust It Never Sleeps

By Isobel Miller

It grows when you’re happy, when you’re sad, while you’re snuggled up in your favorite chair watching 24. It grows regardless of age, sex, race, creed, it has no bias, it doesn’t care if you’re sick, penniless or in the midst of a major life crises. It never pities, shows neither compassion nor remorse and doesn’t spare a thought for the bad day you just had. Like rust it doesn’t sleep, it doesn’t eat, it doesn’t have a conscience but that’s okay, it’s not personal. Its appetite is never satisfied and it never stops growing.

Like a scene from the movie “The Blob”, debt interest grows and snowballs over time, swelling your original credit card or loan debt to the point where all you end up paying each month is the interest on the debt you owe.

Stuck in the Spin Cycle

Like being forever caught in a washing machine set on the “spin” cycle it’s hard to get anywhere with your debt reduction when you only opt to pay the minimum amount, this keeps you in debt longer and for the most part only covers a good chunk of the interest never mind the original amount you borrowed. The banks and credit card companies love you, in fact, that’s why they give the option, sure it makes the amount you pay each month manageable but you remained trapped in that nasty debt cycle.

Light At the End of the Tunnel

Although paying the minimum keeps the debt collector monkeys off your back you’re actually penalizing yourself by paying more in the long run.

Do the simple thing of increasing the amount you pay or pay more frequently, doing so puts more money in your own pocket you saved on the extra interest you would have paid.

Put your debts in order of interest rate, the highest having the most urgent priority to the lowest.

The Psychology of Using Cash

We live too much in a “plastic, cashless” society, banking institutions have made it too convenient for us to pay for items with the simple swipe of a card, it slips our attention just how much we’ve shelled out by the time we get to the fourth credit card purchase for the day. The risk of paying with credit is the tendency to spend what you don’t have.

Pay credit card payments, bills and groceries using cash instead of credit, the more you spend using cash and physically handling it, the better. It gives a sense of psychological perspective on how much you’re actually spending.

For example, it’s much easier to realize you’ve spent $100 in cash when you’re counting the bills in your hands rather than with a few electronic swipes of your card. You have more thought for the “hard earned” dollar you worked for when you’re forking it over to the shopkeeper for your groceries.

Stores reward cash buyers and give them greater purchasing power and bigger discounts so there are great benefits to using cash.

Do not procrastinate debt interest. Use cash and you’ll not only be debt free quicker but have a deeper appreciation for the hard work it took to earn that money.