Living debt free, it's a challenge.

[Echo2002]

Several months ago I paid off all of my debt and then bought a house. I managed to stay debt free while moving into the house, not buying a bunch of furniture and waiting until I have the cash to buy what I needed. I'm struggling to not start buying stuff I want, even though I don't have the cash on hand. I do still have a 0% interest credit card, I keep rationalizing big purchases because I wouldn't be paying interest on it, it would just be sitting on the card until I pay it off.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you resist temptation?

Also, what percentage of your income do you save per month? I hear 15% - 20% is a good number. I'm paranoid because I maybe losing some money per month after switching shifts at work, I will no longer be working every weekend for extra pay. This will cut into my savings.

Yes, I know I'm not technically debt free since I have the house, but I'm free of all unnecessary debt (in my opinion).

[applepansy]

Its very hard to resist temptation. There are so many wonderful things that would make life easier. simpler, funner, nicer,.... insert whatever fits ..... if we just had them now.

How do I resist? My husband and I have been in the debt trap. Its too hard to get out of to ever want to get into it again. So for me... been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and got the migraine...not going back to that expensive and sometimes dishonest circus. In fact, I'm still sort of at the back entrance trying to pay off medical expenses and they aren't nice clowns either.

Rarely are large purchases pain (oops freudian typo - gonna leave it) paid off before the 0% interest card starts gathering interest like a high powered magnet. Unless you are very disciplined and will have the money in the next six months, don't do it. Credit cards are a trap. The people behind the trap are not always honest or nice once you owe them money. In fact, if you're going to have the money in six months... WAIT!

I think its great you have your home. SAVE SAVE SAVE...then purchase. Super seriously and speaking from the voice of experience, you'll be happy you did. Another benefit is that you're purchasing from a power position. Retailers have to pay credit card companies for the privilege of taking your credit card. Cash speaks volumes. You can often negotiate a discount when paying case. I got a discount a few weeks ago: on sale dresser marked $229. Sales clerk: "You're paying cash? I can get that marked down to $179." I didn't even have to ask. :)

My biggest issue are the impulse buys at the grocery or fabric, craft and yarn stores. I have to mentally put on my super power tunnel vision glasses before entering the grocery store. The fabric and yarn stores I avoid if at all possible.... I have a stash already!!!

[pam]

I was debt free up until a year ago and yikes..some huge medical bills came in that are taking me FOREVER to pay off now.

It was such an awesome feeling too. I would love to get back to that again. I personally don't own a credit card and that's the way I like it. My house is paid for so it's not like I'm going to make that major purchase any time soon if ever. *knock on wood*

[Echo2002]

I actually do have the money to buy the item I'm looking to buy, I'm just trying to decide if I want to be smart and put the money into my emergency fund which I'm still trying to build up or if I want to give in to instant gratification, haha.

I always make a list before I go to the grocery store, so I'm usually able to stick to my list pretty well. I also recently started using coupons and buying most of my items from sales ads, which saves me money.

Fortunately I'm not much of a clothes shopper, I still have clothing from high school that I wear from time to time, haha.

[pam]

At least you can still fit into the clothes from high school. lol

[applepansy]

At least you can still fit into the clothes from high school. lol

hear! hear!

[Saldrin]

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you resist temptation?

Give your self a plasectomy and cut up the card :) Sorry I listen to way to much Dave Ramsey.

[skippy740]

The problem isn't the 0%. That's a great rate.

The problem America has today is that they don't earn enough on their SAVINGS to have it stay rewarding.

If you made 15% on your SAVINGS (not investments, but savings) and you could spend at a 6% rate, you'd be doing FINE. You would feel rewarded for saving!

This is one of the reasons why it's hard for Americans to save.

Never, never, NEVER use a borrowing rate as a justification to buy something. That's the same logic as saying "Well, it's tax deductible... so I'll do it."

If that's the extent of your analysis, then you need help. (Unless you're in the top tax bracket of 35%, 100% - 35% for taxes = 65% wasted, right? If taxes was your ONLY reason for doing something?)

You need to INTERNALIZE the consequences of your purchases before you do them.

If you're planning to buy a new, high-end computer system for $2,000 @ 0%. Now you have a $200 payment to make on that card to pay it off within a year.

You now have a burden of debt, a payment you had BETTER make on time with NO billpay glitches that can cause you to LOSE that 0%, and possibly the feeling that the computer is now outdated and that you "cheated on yourself and your plan".

Is it worth it?

Well, that's easy to say when you read it on a computer screen. That's like saying that it's worth it to cheat on your diet.

The problem is when you're in the "heat of the moment". What decisions will you make?

[Backroads]

I'm actually pretty good about not buying things.

However, I am in debt.

I never quite got to the savings I wanted before emergencies happened, so stuff had to be put on credit cards. And they were reasonable necessary things: car repair, medical bills, etc. Top that off with my car payment and student loans and, well, it's a bit of debt.

Before I lost my teaching contract, I was doing great. There was a little bit of debt, but it was under control, I was paying way beyond the minimum and doing the snowball thing and things were looking good.

When I lost my teaching contract, I took a job that pays $1200 a month and barely makes ends meet. I get by, but only being able to pay the minimum on everything pretty much made the debt explode.

Last week we were goofing around watching the old SNL skit about debt. SNL Skit: Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford - The Consumerist

[Echo2002]

At least you can still fit into the clothes from high school. lol

haha, mostly just the shirts since I was not well endowed.

[Echo2002]

It would probably smart on my part to just keep dumping money into my emergency fund before I buy any big ticket items. I'm just impatient.

Skippy, your right, if we were able to earn a good interest rate on our savings more people would probably be saving money. I have a Money Market account where I keep my emergency fund, but it only earns maybe 1.3% annually.

[MorningStar]

Do you have Freecycle in your area? You would be surprised what nice things people want to give away. Also check Craigslist. Sometimes people are moving and need to get rid of things quickly.

When you're in debt, you become a slave to it. Don't tell yourself you can pay off later what you want to buy today. You never know what's going to happen with your finances. We had medical bills, car repairs, and gas on our credit card. The cost was so high and my husband's company was sending him so far without gas reimbursement, we were spending about $800 a month on gas. It was either stay home and not get paid at all or put the gas on the credit card. Meanwhile, he started looking for a new job, but it didn't take long at all for the debt to pile up. His next job paid $4 an hour lower, but at least it wasn't unemployment. We have been struggling to pay off our $10,000 of debt and have it down to $5,800. One of us needed to bring in extra income, so I started teaching piano. That has been a huge blessing because I love it and it makes a lot more than a part-time job would for my husband. He had suggested it, but he would never be home and it still wouldn't cover our needs. Even if we had no debt right now, paying our bills would be a challenge, so teaching piano has taken that weight off and helped us pay more towards the credit card. Painful though because if we hadn't gotten into debt, we could be putting in something in savings to get a house.

We wanted to get a new TV this week when ours died, but instead we accepted an older model from a friend who just wanted to get rid of hers. Does it look as cool? No. But why blow $400 or more on something that serves the same function as something free? Maybe tell yourself when you save x amount, you can reward yourself with some kind of luxury, but if you spend knowing your income is about to drop, you will be kicking yourself later if it gets even worse in some way. My brother-in-law jokes about what this year's $3,000 repair will be on the house because so far, it has happened every year.

[I_Am_Seeker]

I can't get a decent education without getting into debt, I wish I could, but I can't.

[Guest MyLordJebus]

Do you know where I could get free anal sepositories. I am in desperate need of them and the expense is ridiculous. I also need eco friendly ones because I want to pay low without killing God's creatures.

[applepansy]

Morningstar has a good suggestion: Freecycle.com I found it online here in Utah and told my newly married daughter who just moved to AZ. She was able to pick up a nice sofa for their apartment for free. They are slowly furnishing their apartment and its not costing anything except transporting whatever they are getting.

I_Am_Seeker: The GAs have said its not a completely bad thing to go in debt for education. I personally would just be careful about how you go about it. Again...my daughter took out a student loan even though she could pay for that year's tuition in cash. Then she used the money to pay for a lap top. Did she NEED the laptop? No, but it did make school easier. But now...she's struggling to pay that off and sees that it really wasn't a good idea.

I think following the GAs advice about debt and being prudent and realistic about needs and wants are important steps.

[Echo2002]

The cost of a higher education is getting ridiculous in this country and it keeps going up every year. I think we should go back to the days of apprentices, you "work" for someone for a year or two learning the trade without being paid. This probably wouldn't work in the medical field, but it could work in other fields.

Does anyone have any suggestions for good books about investing money? I have several of Dave Ramsey's books. I don't want to get into real estate, so I'm not interested in that kind of investing.

I will check out freecycle.com.

[Backroads]

I remember listening to an Ezra Taft Benson devotional from the 70s in which he made it quite clear that we should NOT go into debt for education or accept financial aid, but just work as long as we needed.

Considering the situation today, I believe in most minds that advice has changed. Don't get me wrong, if you have the money/ability to work for enough money at the time, that is a great option. But school being the cost it is, such an idea is out of reach for most people.