Need strength to stop using credit cards

[Free4Life11]

Paying at the pump is NOT secure! That's where cards get skimmed most easily.Go inside.

Wait, what?!? I've been using my DEBIT card at the pump and even typing in my PIN # for months, should I stop doing this?!? Please explain more, I haven't heard of this skimming...

 

[arthur06]

Wait, what?!? I've been using my DEBIT card at the pump and even typing in my PIN # for months, should I stop doing this?!? Please explain more, I haven't heard of this skimming...

I have always heard that you need to hit the "Clear" or "Reset" button when you finish pumping. I remember that it stores your information until the next person pays at the pump. If you hit the button that resets information, it wipes it clean from the storage memory.

 

[knittykat]

I have been through this. It's not as simple as just starting to pay cash, because when you are spending more than you earn, you have gotten yourself accustomed to a higher standard of living; one that is beyond your actual means. Many, many times I would, with the best of intentions, try the cash plan and run out of money within a few days. It's easy to say "well then you're done spending" until you need medicine for your baby or food for your family.

Society has gotten most of us used to a standard of living that is beyond our means. I remember reading a "budget" article that suggested instead of replacing your winter coat EVERY year, to only replace it every TWO years. Sure, that's half, but if you're replacing coats every year in the first place, you're spending a LOT of money, so cutting it in half doesn't necessarily bring it into your actual means.

Another thing that gets me is comparative spending. I'll see something somewhere that's $XX.00, and shop around until I find it at $xx.oo, and feel like I "saved" half. If I didn't need the object in the first place, however, it's still wasted money (or at least money I shouldn't have spent).

Since so many people have just allowed themselves to become accustomed to a higher standard of living through credit, our viewpoints, collectively, of what a "normal" amount of spending for a given income level are skewed. It takes a LOT of really hard work to change your thinking. I still often have to catch myself when I'm going to buy something that I think will make life easier or more convenient, then realize I can either live without it or use something I have (or make something) that will work just as well.

Another BIG hurdle is that, at least in the beginning, you'll be dealing with your new frugality and also dealing with mistakes you've made in the past. For example, if you usually allow yourself $XX.00 for spending, and now want to use that to pay off your credit card, you'll have to actually give up spending for some time. The toughest thing for me was that it wasn't just a switch from spending $500.00 a month on the credit card to spending $500.00 in cash, it was, for several years, a switch to spending $450.00 on the credit card bill and limiting myself to only $50 discretionary spending. That's the hardest part, it really is. The money to pay the bills has to come from SOMEWHERE. (those numbers are just an example to illustrate my point).

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I have not read this thread but wanted to offer up some of the best advice I had ever heard:

Put your credit card in a bag of water and stick it in the freezer. If you really need to use it, it is there. But you have to wait for it to unthaw. You won't be able to do the spur of the moment "I saw it on the home shopping channel" purchase!

And you won't be able to microwave it to speed up the process... that would ruin the card!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Paying at the pump is NOT secure! That's where cards get skimmed most easily.Go inside.

You can't get skimmed if you're paying attention. I frequently fill up after the store has closed, or when I have my small children buckled into their car seats. I'll keep paying at the pump


edit: Oh, the one time I did have my card # stolen, it was the kid inside the gas station who did it. Was a brand new card, had $12 worth of gas on it & the bill came in over $300. Kid at the service station stole the #'s, and used them to call dial-a-porn. The first few calls he made originated FROM the station ON the day he stole the #'s, and the rest from his home. Police were waiting to pick him up at work day after I received my bill. LOL.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Just this month, I had to pay nearly $2k for the birth of my daughter and $500 in car repairs.

Sorry about the car repair & the $2,500, but CONGRATS on the birth of your daughter!!!!!


BTW, we got stuck with a couple of unexpected medical bills of our own awhile back and were able to arrange no-interest payments to the hospital.