Credit Card Debt

"Heyyyy, nice 56" TV! Plasma?! Very nice. Oh, you bought a Playstation 3 AND an XBOX 360 to go with it? Impressive! Aww dayum boy, you even got yourself a 7 piece leather livingroom set to go with it? NIICE. So how'd you score all this nice stuff? ...Oh, you put it on your credit card? Oh, and you'll just make minimum payments on it 'til its paid off?" You're fucking brilliant. So in the end, when you make these minimum payments with those fantastic 17-25% interest rates, you realize that you'll end up paying at least several times the original price for all this fantastic shit you needed to have?

This is the fucking problem with America; we've become a bunch of consumerist pigs that need instant gratification with total disregard for the financial repercussions of our actions. There are so many people out there that feel the need to purchase droves of materialistic crap in order to have some sense of self-worth. And what does all this shit get you? Nothing more than a financial headache when you realize that your credit card is maxed, you have jack shit for savings, and the transmission blows on that nice car that you're also making ungodly payments on.

To summarize how you should make purchases with a credit card, I've created this flow chart to help lend insight into how you should be making credit card purchasing decisions:

Now please note that this chart only applies to credit card purchases. If you have the discretionary funds available either in cash or a bank account, and can afford to make a purchase, by all means go for it! You've earned it. Believe me credit card junkies, there's no better feeling in the world than when you can pay for it upfront and not have to worry about whether or not you can make payments.

Moral of the story? Live within your means and practice some fiscal responsibility. Quit being another statistic on the charts of this country's financial problems.