Things I Don't Like - Credit Cards & Clutter...

...or is it Clutter & Credit Cards?

Maybe just as important as knowing what I like (from my last post) is knowing what I don't like.

That ever so cliche' mentality of 'Keeping Up with the Joneses.' Well they have it so I can too, or I have to have it because so and so has one and I need one that is better. We all at one time or another have bought something even though we knew we didn't need it or even really want it. Voices in our heads help convince us of the reasons we deserve these things. Have we done it sometimes without realizing it, just to get home and say oh geez I really shouldn't have bought this...yes, we've all have and a majority have done it over and over again.

Now think about your parents, better yet, think about your grandparents. Did they have everything you have? Most likely not, but have they done everything they could so that you could have the things you do, did they work hard so you could start your adult life off better than they did? I'm betting you said yes. What I am seeing that I don't like is that our generation has taken advantage of this and we've not been able to learn what its like to earn things for ourselves. We've developed an expectation of thinking everything I want and need will be given to us or is available to us at all times.

Look around your house, go look out in your garage or storage closet then ask yourselves these questions, 'Do I/we have an abundance of things I/we no longer use or never have used? Why do I/we have these things?' As you see all of your accumulated things what are you thinking? If you are like me you kick yourself and say, 'Good lord why do I have so much stuff?' I am constantly trying to get rid of things and I'm to the point where I rarely buy new things yet the stuff keeps accumulating. Being a minimalist is something I constantly strive for. Its what I am in my mind, but in reality I form attachments to the silliest of things and have a difficult time parting with things because of sentimental value. The good side of this is that I am an organized mess. I think my friend Kim said it best, 'I am a mess organized.' (She'll be impressed that I actually remembered she said that!) My being organized hides my mess therefore I feel like I am a minimalist. Such a contradicition.

Anyway...back to my point. Here we are today and most of you reading my post can probably honestly tell me that you have everything you need. A roof over your head, food on your tables and people that love you...and a closet full of shoes of course. What I have come to realize is that I know I have everything I truly need. I get through each day and I am happy at the end of it. Sure there are things I want and am I willing to work for them, heck yes I am! But, what I am realizing however is that my grandparents were right. "Don't buy what you don't need and if you don't have the cash to buy it you probably don't really need it." I've adapted to that mentality after paying off thousands of dollars in credit card debts, school loans, auto loans...you name it and I am proud to say I do not have a credit card...not one! And it sure has changed my life...for the better! It doesn't mean I don't still have some outstanding debts like my mortgage but that doesn't really count, only an independently wealthy person could pay for a house with straight up cash. And I did have to forclose on my condo in Phoenix after 11 months on the market and 5 failed short sales that the bank let 'fall through' in what is quite possibly the worst of any time to try to sell or even rent.

There was a time when I had begun to use my credit cards to cover expenses for things my monthy paycheck didn't cover and I ended up having to use my credit card for essentials like food and gas. That's when I knew it was bad. I realized that 'rewarding' myself with lunch out with my co-workers since I hadn't spent any money in a week wasn't really a reward. It was only hurting me and I was paying for that lunch over and over and over again, and just digging myself in deeper with every swipe.

Did you know that the national average of personal credit card debt is approximately $22,000, and if you were to continue making your minimum payments at a 19% interest rate and a 2.1% minimum payment it would take you 54 years 8 months to pay the debt off. and your total payoff would be $82,101.91 for which $60,101.71 would be in interest alone!!! OMG!!!

All of that for what...none other than clutter! Uneccessary things, things we'll never use yet they clutter our lives. If you looked around your house saw those things you don't use or have duplicates of, toys your kids have that they honestly don't need or even play with or you can't even park a car in the garage, you are guilty of clutter. Are you in debt because of that clutter? If you said yes, don't laugh it off and continue the unhealthy cycle of accumulating more. Stop the madness!!! Do something about it! If you think you'll pay it off someday, be honest with yourself, you won't pay it off in your lifetime if you continue to live on 'borrowed' money.

I won't even get started on why the economy is the way it is, I think maybe you can all see it. We have lived on money we don't have for far too long thinking we need things we only want and using means we don't honestly have to get them. People ask me why I drive my old truck, its simple, ITS PAID FOR and it has been for 5 years!

Here's some helpful hints to help you get ahead of the game:

*Start using what you already have

*Don't fix it unless its broken

*Get rid of the things you don't use or need

*Stop accumulating more (even if its free or given to you)

*Use less expensive means for what you do need

*Pay for the things you buy with cash or don't buy it

The excuses have to stop. Don't try to convince yourself why you need something you really don't. I used to do this...and I fight it on a daily basis. Be happy that you are alive and take pleasure in all of the things you have been given. Keep up with no one but yourself...the Joneses who have just forclosed on their house are broke anyway, good thing they have all that stuff. Go ahead and keep up with them if you want...