Comments on: Get that debt monkey off my back!

By: Eric Watermolen

Eric Watermolen — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:13:06 +0000

Hey Jodi, Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. I could hardly imagine going a year without buying “things.” When we were working our way out of debt, we did take advantage of many free events to keep us busy in the weekends. During the spring and fall around here, there are so many festivals, it’s pretty easy to find free stuff to do. Plus parks and the beach in the summer. We had a great local (small) newspaper that had a section with local events, and they highlighted the free ones. It was a nice resource for finding free events.

I like the idea of a no buy period. After the shopping spree that many call Christmas, we can certainly distort the idea of reasonable.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:22:27 +0000

Eric,

Your blog is really doing well! Congratulations!

I read an interesting book a year or two ago. It is called Not Buying It by Judith Levine. She writes about going a year without spending money on things. I thought her concepts about taking advantage of free entertainment were very interesting. Rather than spending money on movies and concerts she would look for festivals and parks that had no fees associated. Too often it is too easy for us to plunk down cash and expect happiness in return.

One strategy that I have is to institute No Buy periods following periods of frequent purchasing. For example, over the holidays there is much to buy between gifts and food for parties, etc. By the time you do that for a few weeks your perception of what is “reasonable” seems to get very scewed. To compensate, I will not allow myself to buy anything other than gas or groceries for a few weeks to reset my internal shopping threshold.

Thank you for sharing with us!

By: Eric Watermolen

Eric Watermolen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:03:45 +0000

Anastasiya,
Thanks for stopping by. I’m happy to hear that you are getting through life without credit cards. You are 100% correct that life is more fulfilling and happy without debt. It feels great! Thanks for passing the article on to your friends. I’m planning to put together some more articles on debt and finance in the near future passing on some of the things I learned along the way.

By: Anastasiya

Anastasiya — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:10:36 +0000

Thank you for your sincerity in this post. It really helps to see real figures and how people deal with their credit cards debts. I would definitely recommend your article to my friends who have problems with credit cards (and believe me, there are a lot of them).
My husband and I live without credit cards and we refuse to buy anything on credit (thankfully right now our income and our lifestyle allow us to buy everything we want with real money). I encourage all of my friends and relatives to do the same because life without debt is much more fulfilling and happy.
Anastasiya´s last blog ..The Happy Couple Cheat Sheet: 15 Steps to a Balanced and Happy Marriage (Relationship)