It has been almost six months since I last used a credit card, and the transition has been surprisingly simple and easy. To be honest, I don’t really think about it much at all these days. The differences in the ways I interact with my money are subtle, they do not jump out and scream “look how much better your life is now!”
But life is better living off of cash. There is no dreading the end of the month, when the statements arrive and I realize just how much I have spent on credit. When I buy something, there is no lingering guilt about it - I am free to enjoy the thing I have purchased instead of worrying about how I am going to pay for it later.
Budgeting is a simple, straightforward process now: Income - Basic Expenses (utilities, groceries, savings, etc…) = money we can spend however we see fit. There is no need for fancy software to track it, maintaining it takes me about thirty minutes a week, and I don’t dread doing it like I did when there was credit and debt to factor in.
I can only really think of one instance in which not having a credit card, as opposed to a bank card, has kept me from doing something. Blockbuster Video would not let me rent three video games without giving them a credit card number - so I went somewhere where that was not an issue. Simple enough.
Tags: budget, debt, finances, money
These are the ramblings of 
I know exactly how you feel. My wife and I were like this three years ago when we were saving for a house. As long as we had the goal of the house before us, staying off credit was easy. Once we obtained the goal we feel right back into the credit trap.
I really believe that you have to have a goal to focus on why you spend on credit. Otherwise it’s to easy.
If you mean a goal other than not having debt, I disagree. For us at least, the lack of the stress and guilt that debt (including mortgage debt) comes with is reward enough.
I lived on cash alone for about 8 years. This was because I had made poor finacial decisions(imagine that) when I was 18 and obtained credit for the first time. In short, during a 5 month span after my 18th birthday, I emassed a debt to the tune of over $10,000 us dollars that I had essentially no way of paying off, even worse, I had no desire to try. Understandably, these circumstances are quite oppisite from choosing to be cash only. However, the end results are similar. Its quite hard to live beyond your means in a cash only concept, and I can see how that is enticing to some one who desires to be within thier means. The questions I have are, is this a permant choice, or temporary, because we all realize that having established, good credit could be very important at a later time in life. Also, does it worry you that you might need the credit that has become inactive (eventually), and will have to start it all over again?
The questions I have are, is this a permant choice, or temporary, because we all realize that having established, good credit could be very important at a later time in life.
Is credit really so necessary? There is this thing called saving. It’s just like credit in that you get to stretch your payments for something out over time. The only difference is that you don’t get the item until all of the payments have been made. So, I would like to think that it is permanent, but we never know what the future holds.
Also, does it worry you that you might need the credit that has become inactive (eventually), and will have to start it all over again?
It is impossible to know what might happen in the future, so I will just have to cross that bridge if I ever get to it.
Things really are a lot easier all around when you just pay cash. No worry, no paying more, no guilt.