Cutting up your credit cards is perhaps a bit too finite of a gesture, but in order to get out of debt, you definitely have to cut back if not stop your credit card use. The long-term relationships you have with your credit card companies and the unused credit your cards make available to you are beneficial to your credit score, so do not close your credit card accounts, but do act as if you have closed them.
Determine a healthy amount of money you can afford to spend each week on typical day-to-day costs and carry that amount of cash with you each week. This cash will be what you use for all of your purchases for the week, never touching your credit cards. When you actually see the money that you are spending, instead of just the handy credit card swiping machine, you are much more likely to make wise spending choices. Furthermore, having this limit – remember that amount of cash has to last you the entire week – keeps you from spending more than you can afford and puts a limit on your purchases. When you run out of cash, you stop spending.
Of course, there are purchases, such as online or mail-order buys that have to be done with plastic, but use your debit card, instead of your credit cards. Your debit card can be your emergency backup, too, in case you run out of cash and absolutely cannot go without for some reason. The goal of these changes is to completely cut yourself off from your credit cards. You want to live your life in a way that only decreases the amount of debt on your credit cards and never adds any debt to them.
The best way to make sure you follow through with this change is to take your credit cards out of your wallet. If you do not have your credit cards with you, you cannot use them. Instead of constantly tempting yourself to charge your next purchase, place your credit cards in a safe place that you cannot easily access, such as your safe-deposit box or in the care of a responsible family member.
If you are truly concerned about the temptation your credit cards hold for you, consider getting your credit limits lowered and go ahead and cancel your least favorable accounts. If you have more than a few credit cards, closing some of your credit card accounts is definitely a practical option to avoid temptation. You can even stop most credit card offers from piling up in your mailbox, tempting you to collect one more charging option, by opting out of pre-screened credit card offers online.
Once your credit cards are safely out of reach, do not figure they are incapable of harming you. Stopping your credit card spending is only part of the battle; now you need to concentrate on making your credit cards less harmful to your debt situation while you work to pay off that debt. Lowering your credit card rates is the perfect place to start.
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