The "pay-nothing-now" poor

"I call them the pay-nothing-now poor -- couples who have wanted everything now. Retailers have created this new breed of poor. People who have overextended themselves to buy a new home and then signed up to all these contracts to get the furniture, the television and cable. Suddenly there is a quarter-percent rise in interest rates and/or a hike in petrol prices and of course, it's a disaster. We never heard of borrowing money from the bank to pay for wine or to get our hair done in the 1970s. That would have been absolute nonsense, but that's what we are doing now through all these credit cards." (Source)

I have one credit card that is used for everything. I have always thought - contrary to conventional wisdom - that I could best track my expenditures by using a credit card, since my cash seems to disappear into thin air. However, this month, I have done a terrible job of this.

My statement total is astronomical, and going through the line items, about 30% of the charges so far were extraneous. It seems I've been indulging in some retail therapy. (Eek! I'm more a product of commercialism than I'd thought!) Luckily, I'm not in as bad shape as I had first imagined either. Since I started Xmas shopping early, it's time to start using the Gift Fund like I should have been all along!