I'm truly not trying to judge. But, I honestly don't understand how people have reached a point where they're carrying lots of credit card debt. Sometimes I feel like my parents were way ahead of their time when they raised me and my sister. We were told never to carry a credit card balance - ever. No matter what. They'd say "Always spend less than you make." Even having a car payment was unacceptable. "If you want a car, save the money, then buy one that you can afford." So we worked our tails off - I got my first job at 14.
And please don't think I am well off and trying to be preachy. It isn't the case. We did not have much money growing up, and I have faced enormous hardships in my life before reaching my current happy middle-class existence.
I left an abusive marriage when I was 21 and still in college. The judge ordered that I pay alimony TO my ex, plus I had to buy him out of his share of our house. At the time I made about $11K a year at my one part-time job. Our mortgage alone, plus my payments to him, was over $18K/year.
So I worked three different minimum-wage jobs (simultaneously) plus was a full-time student. In college Mon/Wed/Fri, worked in a hardware store Tues/Thurs/Sun during the day, worked at a record store at night 5 days a week, and I cleaned offices during the day on Saturdays. Those were some of the most difficult years of my life because I spent nearly every waking minute working. There was no going out with friends, no restaurants, no movies, no cable, and usually mac & cheese for dinner (I was NOT a good couponer back then, unfortunately.) But I was able to keep my house and pay off my ex. Everything was budgeted down to the penny and I still never bought something that I couldn't pay for at the end of the month.
I too am puzzled why you would not want to pay for the things you've purchased. I would be wracked with enormous amounts of guilt (plus, even as an adult, I'd be faced with the wrath of mom and dad
