Financial Freedom

Friends, I have a confession.

Ever since my eighteenth birthday, I have had a credit card balance.  I am ashamed!  For eight years, I have carried a balance.  Some months it has been a low balance; the majority of them have carried a larger balance.

It’s sickening to think how much money has been spent on interest alone.  When I first signed up for the credit card, I intended to buy something just so I could pay it off and start building credit.  But one thing always leads to another and… what started as a good way to build credit became the bane of my existence.  If I’m counting correctly, it’s been 96 months of constant credit card payments.

Well, friends.  Not any more.

It’s taken a little fancy footwork with my finances, but at long last I have paid off my credit card bill.  Now, my only debt consists of student loans (and frankly, I’m proud of those).

I wish I could give you a more substantial reflection here on the nature of financial servitude and the all-too-common spiraling destruction of personal finances, but I think it’s enough to simply proclaim my freedom from the credit card.  Freedom.  It feels good.

Am I cutting up my plastic?  No.  I’m too much of a pragmatist.  Should any major expense come up, my checking account just isn’t equipped to handle it. So I’ll keep that credit card in case of emergency (now with the knowledge that “wanting a new computer” does not equal “emergency”).

Instead, when I open up my wallet and I see that little sliver of plastic shining back at me, I will breathe a sigh of relief.

After 96 months, I don’t have a credit card payment anymore.

(PS- I forgot to mention that I haven’t put anything new on this credit card in three years.  Three years, people.  That’s a long time to be paying for stuff.)