How Will You Change Your Spending Habits.?

I wanted to go to Disneyworld-animal kingdom. Out voted again

I'd like to return to DisneyWorld, because our visit was so long ago, and they have expanded and changed many things since.

I started changing mine a little over a year ago. One year ago, I owed almost $40,000 in revolving credit debt and had an outstanding car loan for a car in another country that I didn't use (and that I didn't sell because I was upside down on due to the impulsive and reckless way I bought it). Today, I have $2,000 left to pay in credit card debt and own only one car outright.

My financial strategy used to be "just make more money", I never worried about savings and just always made more money to cover my out of control spending. It worked and I always just made more money, but now I see savings as freedom and debt as a ball and chain, and am very frugal.

It wasn't just the economic landscape that changed my ways, settling down and taking on the responsibility of a family was the big kicker for me, but I was very concerned about relying on economic grown (both personal and macroeconomic) instead of actually having tight control over my own spending.

A penny saved is a penny earned, and I've been living it for the first time in my life and am very close to being 100% free. I moved to Costa Rica to escape the American way, but it took me a couple of years to break free of the real problem: credit and debt.

I'm not letting consumerism be my ball and chain ever again.

In one of the (many!) recent reports on the US financial crisis I heard on Oz radio recently, it was claimed that (on average) each US citizen has something like $17 k credit debt. Does this sound right to you?

Yes, that's about right o personal debt, but the national debt is waaay up there over $80,000.

I'm going to become a meth dealer.... it's recession proof.

our big trip was to watertown , new york , last thursday !
set off after breakfast , received friendly welcome from U.S. customs and immigration officer at the border : "enjoy your shopping ! " .
the salmon run mall in watertown is usually bustling with customers ... it was eerily empty ... like a closed up bowling alley !
picked up some bargains at t.j max and aldi's (we don't have aldi's in canada) ,
had a nice lunch at the cracker barrel and headed home .
a nice day to enjoy the fall colours along the st. lawrence river and do some bargain shopping - a perfect day !
didn't fill up the gastank - gasoline in watertown was about par with what we buy - usually we can save about 50 cents a gallon by filling up stateside , but not this time .
since we purchased only about $100 worth of goods , canadian customs waived us right through <GRIN> .
hbg

Hi ci

I don't know if that was Oz or US dollars (the $17 k credit debt per US citizen quote). If it was Oz dollars (the report being on Oz radio, for an Oz audience ...) the US personal debt situation would be considerably worse!

Our economy needs all the help we can get from our friends up north. Thank you! More Americans are looking at empty cupboards, and it's gonna get lot worse before we see better days.

From creditcards.com:

Crikey! The "average" American! That's scary, ci!

I made the same transition about 30 years ago and never looked back. Good for you.

That's what most Americans don't understand; we've been living on credit to damage our economy; we're all guilty as charged.

When our economy is held up by consumer spending - something like 70% - that trend cannot last forever. People loved having everything today, and our banks said "buy more." Here's a dozen more credit cards you can access for money.

So did our government, ci. Hence the incentive checks from last spring.

WE allowed our government to spend our money, because nobody complained - even after we learned that the Iraq war was costing us $2.7 billion every week. During that same time, the same people said we couldn't afford universal health care, to maintain our infrastructure, and it's okay to bastardize our schools.

No, that's not what I meant. They encouraged US to keep spending as did the banks. Here's some money -- go spend it. It's pervasive and it's got to stop.

instead of ingesting drugs, i will set up a non registered and/or unlicensed market for them.

Since the $17K/American only excludes mortgages, it must include student loans, right? This is really more comparable to a mortgage than it is to revolving debt, and should not be included.

I stopped spending as much a while ago, hoping the wife will come to grips and do the same. Her firm dissolved last week, but her office is moving to another (more solvent) firm, so shouldn't be an issue in the long term -- though she will be losing tens of thousands in bonuses and sick/vacation pay...

my understanding is that it's the average balance on credit cards carried month to month.

I'm guessing no. I know of many folks with at least twice that number, and some with 4 times it. (just in multiple cards) In addition a lot of small businesses are run by using credit card games.

I am not one who rubs elbows anymore with the affluent any longer, so I am guessing there are worse cases.

Credit cards will be the next big crisis, IMHO...