The Joy and Freedom of Cutting Up Your Credit Cards

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"Hey, Mom! I got a credit card so that I can build credit. This is going to be a smart move towards my future – a good credit score will mean a nice mortgage and better loan rates!"

"Son, take the credit card and lock it up. Don’t carry it around with you. Only use it for emergencies."

"Aw, I won’t use it. What am I going to buy for $1,000, anyway?"

Then I go bowling and I’m out of cash. "I’ll just put thirteen bucks on the card, who’s that gonna hurt?" Flash forward 5 years: I racked up about $3,000 in credit card debt, got a second job to pay it off, and now I sit with another $8,000 in credit card debt after that.

No matter what I’ve done over the last five years, I’ve constantly succumbed to the lure of the credit card. The problem is, when I see that I have $200 "available" on my card, my mind instantly thinks of stuff I can buy for $200. The first key in getting out of debt is to understand that this is not "available" money; every dollar you put on a credit card is money you have to pay back or creditors will start hunting you down.

In my case, both of my cards, on separate occasions, sent me letters saying they were going to triple my interest rates if I didn’t stop using the card and close it down. Not being able to afford the interest and the payments that were going to come along with them, I had no choice but to close them down. If I used my card even once, they would retroactively charge me for the higher interest rate and I would be screwed.

Each time this happened, I took my cards out of their well-worn spots in my wallet, grabbed a scissors, and split them in half. I keep the pieces in a filing cabinet to remind myself of the pain that these cards have caused me.

How did I survive? I wasn’t making enough to cover my bills. I figured I’d starve, since I wouldn’t be able to put groceries on my credit cards anymore. Here’s what happened:

1. I prioritized my spending. This, for me, meant getting on a budget, but suddenly, I started working on the Four Walls. I had to make sure I understood where my money needed to go, first and foremost.
2. I made some sacrifices. I thought I wasn’t spending on myself, but sure enough, I found little bits and pieces throughout my typical month where I was wasting money. Reigning in this spending allowed me to cover the usual bills that I was using my credit card to pay for.
3. The bleeding stopped. It may not be much, but now I can see some progress made on my accounts. Each card has a few hundred dollars “available", and without the cards, I have no desire to use that "money".
4. I slapped together an emergency fund. To pay for the little emergencies that come my way, I now have some money in the bank to pay for them, should they occur.
5. I went out less. This doesn’t mean my life is somehow less fun. It just means that I’m being responsible with the money I do have, and I make it count when I go out and pay for stuff with cash. I find other ways to bond with my friends, besides going to the bar and opening a tab on the card.

In short, I feel liberated. In the short-term, yeah: things suck a little. But I don’t feel chained to these cards anymore. Cut the cards and cut your chains. Think you "need" them? Think again. Your financial situation is not unique, and other people are dealing with it better than you are. Suck it up and cut ‘em up!