Credit Card Trap

At some point in your life you get to know what a credit card is. And it's a happy time because you can spend the money that you actually don't have. And what about paying back? Yeah, sure... some time later. That's what you first think when you get a brand new credit card with your name on it. 

Of course you already have a to-buy list with all the urgent stuff you need to buy right now. This extremely important and necessary 10th kitchen combiner with that cute yellow button or the 20th pair of shoes that will match that gorgeous dress that you are going to buy as well. And you can really buy it, because you have a magic card.

So the purchases are done, you feel yourself inspired and happy because now you have so much new stuff. But the month comes to its end and you receive a notice saying that you need to kind of pay everything back or you will get this fee, then that fee and some other fee as well. Hmm.. so soon? Yeah, times goes extremely fast. 

This is a mind trick that banks use to make us think that when we get a new credit card we get a financial freedom. It's nice to think so but it's not really a true reality.

I got in the same trap as well and found this experience very useful. But actually for it to be useful you'd better learn the lesson as soon as possible or you will get too deep into debt. Credit cards make us buy what we actually can't afford but want very much.  So you start thinking that having a credit card with $1000 credit limit on it means that you have this $1000 that you of course can't wait to spend. And then you find yourself with a huge debt that is hard to pay back.

The more credit cards you have, the less actual money is really left. Every month a generous portion of your poor paycheck you are going to spend on paying off your credit card debt. And as a result you are left with very little actual money. 

So what to do here? You might try to get another just one last credit card to help you somehow get better in this situation. But actually it's just like adding more logs to fire- it's gonna burn more and longer. The best solution here is to establish a strict budget and to cut spendings on fun and restaurants. Another way is to find some extra job or work overtime to get rid of the overwhelming debt. 

But the best thing here is just to try not to get into that trap and be aware of how much money you really have and how much imaginary money you have. Do not think that you can get some easy money or get something for free. There is nothing for free when it comes to banks.