Originally posted by disneysteve
Sorry to be blunt, Dawn, but this statement just jumped out at me. The fact that you look at $4,000 as "free" money while you are in "serious CC debt" just doesn't make much sense.
Unfortunately, debt won't just go away unless you make a serious effort to change your spending habits, tighten your belt and use any "extra" money to pay it off. So as much as you might enjoy a Disney trip (wouldn't we all), I'll have to go along with the majority and say to be responsible and put the "free" money toward your debt. You'll be much better off in the long run.
I was thinking along the same lines. If you even have to ask the question, that tells me you are still, well again to put it bluntly, addicted to spending money. If you don't get a handle on your spending habits now, you'll be asking yourself these questions the rest of your life. I was there too during and post-college. I had my first CC and thought it was great. I paid it off every month, then I let a little add on and a little add on and next thing it was up to $5K.
I made some serious changes and within a couple of years I was out of that and have never been back. Mostly it involved cutting up the CC, staying out of the malls and finding hobbies other than shopping
i agree with what some others have said. Pay down the CC and also start putting money away for a future Disney vacation. Not to start an ING thread, but I really have found the automatic transfers into the ING direct accounts work great as a vacation club account. It makes good interest and it automatically transfers it out of your checking. You can learn about ING from other threads on this board, or you can ask me.
Sorcha