No More Debting!

Mary Hunt, a financial expert, talks about having the things you love without charging.

"The Smiths and Jones' – buy everything the same, have same income. The Jones' buy everything right now on credit and spend on average $1,200 per year on finance charges. The Smiths' save and have the exact same items, but put the $100 extra that they didn’t spend on finances in a savings account. In 10 years, the Smiths have $21,000 in their savings account!

If you even ever carrying a balance for one month on your credit cards, you are debting. You are spending more than you make because you can't pay it off that month.

Stop debting. No more. Any interest you pay on debt is money lost. Money that could be saved or used for other purposes, like giving.
Find other creative ways to buy things.


• Get one filling done at a time at the dentist.
• Selling something on Craigslist to pay for that Carnival coming up that your family wants to go to.
• Call your bank and setup an automatic debit from your checking account to your savings account of $25 a week. You will have saved $1,300 for Christmas by the time November comes around when you need it.


Make it a challenge, an adventure to figure out how to pay for everything without debting.
It is amazing to me how we don't miss the money when our savings is automatically transferred out to the savings account.

By not debting, you leave room for fun in your life. Sometimes one spouse is the scrimper or penny pincher. It is hard for that spouse to let go and spend money on having fun. It seems wasteful. But when there is no debt, it makes it easier to justify the fun money. Usually the other spouse is more the free spirit. They can easily spend money on presents, trips, and goodies for everyone else. Do some compromising.

Make time each month to sit down with your spouse and talk about the month ahead. The bills, the parties, the savings, the goals and plans you have for your family, and the fun! We don't do this enough. We've been treading water for so long that it is hard to relax and live in the moment. It is hard for me to let go of the control I have over the household finances. I know that the debt is just money, it will be gone eventually. But the time we have now with our children will be gone before we know it. Stop debting and bring some fun back into your life!

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