Limit credit card use only to emergencies

Emergencies can be defined as a life and death situation, you might never have to use your credit card except to save a life.

09:00 27 September 2013

Know the difference between real emergencies and mere inconvenience

If you are truly serious in your desire to fix your finances, then you will have to redefine your concept of emergency.  If you consider having nothing new to wear to an important date or being in an “End of Season Sale” without any cash as emergencies, then you may have a long way to go to restricting your credit card use.

See if the following tips can change your perspective in determining real emergencies in regard to card use:

Solving a problem without the credit card

Leave your credit card at home and pretend that you do not have a credit card at all.  If you encounter “emergencies” try to resolve them without using your credit card.  If you are able to triumph over them using alternative solutions, then you can strike them out from your list of emergencies.

Shy away from signing up with every credit card company that offers you a credit card

Owning multiple credit cards may cause a multitude of trouble.  As you increase your credit limit, you also increase the possibility of impulse buying. If you continue to use your credit for less important acquisitions, you may have very little credit balance left come real emergencies.

Set-up an emergency fund from where you can draw payment for emergencies without resorting to credit

Motivate yourself to save up the money which you would have spent to pay your credit card bill for an emergency. Doing this all the time will give you enough cash to use in case a real minor emergency occurs – such as buying a much needed new clothes, car repair, or your child’s emergency school needs, among others.