Where Credit's Due

Just last year I managed to finally rid myself of my credit card debt. It was a great feeling to finally do it. It kind of reminded me of the Simpsons episode when Homer was finally out of debt and was able to become a pin monkey. (Some dream of being a pin monkey, others dream of not working at all.) I never had much debt to begin with, but I did allow it to build up to around $1200 of debt by the end of my road trip last summer. After a few months of what would have otherwise been savings (and thus perhaps allowed me a few more months of not working at the present time), I managed to pay it off and keep it down to a reasonable level each month so as to not allow it to begin growing again.

The theory of credit cards is one based on convenience—then again, isn’t the entire economy and every one of its products sold?—and it’s a convenience I have grown to despise. In presenting the illusion of offering the American Dream (which is, has been and always will be the dream of something for nothing), credit cards have seen the total American consumer debt reach $2.2 trillion in 2005 [1]. Incredibly humorous when one considers how collectively eager our nation is to describe itself as free and yet finds itself so enslaved to debt; terribly sad when one realizes our biggest, most firmly defended and easily the most widely practiced freedom is the freedom to buy whatever we wish. Perhaps less debt and more freedom from it?


Rent is always the first bill I make sure to pay each month. What would the point of paying my phone bill be if I had no roof to use it under? And, as of now, I have enough to pay rent for next month.

But still not knowing what my status is as far as having an income any time in the immediate future has lead me to crack and begin, reluctantly, using my credit card lately. The possibility of going hungry has a way of weakening the stubborn foundations of theories and beliefs. (But only in humans. Other animals have the wisdom to just make sure they're not hungry, period.) And so it is only in times like these my disdain grows to a tolerable level in the name of just getting by.

Thus, over the last week I’ve mismanaged to spend $60.69 on my credit card. Other than the 40 chicken nuggets I bought at McDonald’s with the hope of showing that one can eat 40 in one sitting (I failed miserably, but even entertainment, if done cautiously, must sometimes be paid for) and the Jim’s Steak Out I knew I’d inevitably buy that was purchased Friday night, my purchases have been for food, laundry detergent, and my first gas purchase of the year for being able to borrow my cousin’s car. Added to the $130 that was already on my card for the bike I bought a couple of months ago, I am now looking at $180 of credit card debt. It’s more than I had planned on having, but still not so much that I can’t plan on immediately paying it off just as soon as the work starts coming in.

And then I can reestablish my disdain for credit cards. But for now, at least I’m still eating.

[1]http://www.creditcards.com/statistics/credit-card-industry-facts-and-personal-debt-statistics.php