Living Off of Your Credit Cards

It isn’t news to anyone that the economy has been on a downward spiral for the past several months. Even if you don’t live in the United States, you are feeling the tightening of your budget and the queasy feelings inside the stomach of day traders and financial institutions around the world. People have started living a little more frugally by pinching pennies, hitting sales racks at stores when it is completely necessary to go shopping, clipping coupons, carpooling to work and back and so on and a lot of families have begrudgingly started living off of their credit cards and putting their entire financial stability and credit at stake to make it through these hard economic times.

There are a great deal of sacrifices one makes when even faced with no choice but to max out every credit card in their wallet in order to put food on the table and get by. They are putting the credit score that they may have worked their entire adult lives to get in good standing at risk. If they currently live in an apartment and have the dream of owning their own house some day, that dream can also be shattered once your credit score is so low it is pretty much non-existent.

When I met my boyfriend a little over three years ago, he was already feeling an economic downturn having two kids to take care of, working whenever he could and still having to live off of his credit cards in order to put food on the table. I remember him telling me what his credit card statements said when he got them and for the longest time, he didn’t even realize how much money he was spending because it was just so easy to take out a credit card, purchase whatever he wanted and walk out. The moment he realized he was in trouble was when he received his credit card statement and noticed that he had spent $600 that month at Sheetz (a gas station and convenient/made-to-order food mart for anyone wondering what a Sheetz is.) In such a short time he ended up maxing out his credit cards and we currently live in an apartment and although he had the dream of owning his own home, he knows that no bank is going to give him a loan with the amount of debt that he is currently carrying.

If you have ever found yourself in this situation or see yourself heading down that path now that the economy is still spiraling into nothingness, it is important to take precautions so you are not throwing what you have worked towards as far as financial stability and good credit go.

First of all, if you are currently purchasing everything you need with credit cards, keep in mind that even though you are paying with a credit card, you are spending money–Money that you will be expected to pay back. In an ideal world, we would not pay for items with credit cards if we couldn’t afford to pay our monthly payments, but realistically, that is not always the case. People have always and will continue to pay for items with credit that they cannot afford, but there are certain precautions that you can take to make sure that you are doing less damage than you would normally.

• Make sure to look at your statements every month. Take note of where you are spending the most money and what you are purchasing. Look for coupons for the items you find yourself buying repeatedly or do a little hunting around and see if you can find a store where you could buy those items at a lower price.

• Stop buying useless items. Everyone is guilty of doing it, but when you look at your detailed bank statement, you will notice that you spent money on items that you didn’t necessarily need. Expenses that are avoidable off the top are dining bills. While it is a luxury to go out and enjoy a nice dinner with your family, it is a luxury and not a move to make when you are pinching pennies and living off of your credit cards. Other useless items include any upgrades to any household items. If your household items are working, there is no need to upgrade until they aren’t.

• When you do have money coming in, set a certain amount aside each money to pay at least the minimum balance on your credit card.

• And my favorite–Buy in bulk. If you find yourself buying a small bag of frozen chicken nuggets every time you go grocery shopping, look into a Sam’s Club or Costco and buy your chicken nuggets in bulk. It’s cheaper and you won’t have to go out to the store so much, thus saving gas and money.

If you are looking into getting credit cards for any reason, keep in mind that all credit cards are not created equal. When it comes to credit cards, the fine print is what you want to pay attention to–That’s where all of the interest rates are hidden. If you don’t pay attention to the interest rates on your credit cards when looking for a line of credit, it is basically the equivalent of going up to a random guy in a suit on Wall Street and giving him a couple hundred dollars for the hell of it. I don’t know about you, but I am not that generous. There are many different companies offering credit card deals and because of the economy, there are higher chances for great deals that you wouldn’t get any other time but now.

Some people believe that credit cards are sheer evil; that if they don’t have the money to purchase something then they simply won’t purchase it. However, I know as well as anyone else that sometimes you don’t have a choice; sometimes you are forced to live off of the means you have and that includes living off of your credit cards.

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About the Author: Holly Ord

In addition to being the Founder and Editor of Woman Tribune, Holly Ord is a freelance writer, web designer and developer, feminist activist and blogger, and hopeless video game addict. She lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania and has been blogging on liberal politics and gender equality on her personal website, Menstrual Poetry since 2007.

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