[changed4life]

I'm just wondering...
Sometimes I read the signatures you ladies put regarding the amounts of your cc debt. Some are quite high...in the tens of thousands or many, many thousands at least.

I think the most cc debt my husband and I had at one time was maybe $2,500 on one card in our 19 years of marriage, and believe me, I didn't even like being a slave to that amount.

When you look back, do you remember what you spent the money on? Was it vacations and big ticket items or just too much swiping for unnecessary frivilities?

 

[bumplett]

When you look back, do you remember what you spent the money on? Was it vacations and big ticket items or just too much swiping for unnecessary frivilities?

wow - I hope you didn't mean this to sound as snide as it implied - if not, my apologies, but when I read it, even I was offended (and I don't have any high cc debt)

why would anyone's cc debt have to fit within "big ticket", "vacation" or "frivilous" definitions??

Why wouldn't one assume that it was medical? or dental? or hard times paying the utilities??

 

[angeljzmom]

My credit card debt is from 4 years of no child support. I had to put food on the table, gas in the car and clothes for the children. Thankfully now I get a cs check most months now so I don't have to use my cc's.

 

[SDMom]

I didn't post my cc debt because it's so high....ours is due to dh being unemployed for 18 months and we depended on them to put food on the table, gas and sometimes rent.

I'm not proud of it, but you have to do what you need to do. We were able to consolidate at a rather low interest rate and it should be paid off in 3 1/2 years (I hope).

Things are better now, he has a job and we are in a house now, but we do have that debt....it's not fun, but what else does one do?

 

[changed4life]

Dear Bumplett,
My question was definitely not meant to offend.

I noticed that on this site, many, many people are quite frank, upfront and honest about their situation and I also see many polls posted to either gain information or help others.

I'm surprised you took it personal. It was just a way to see what makes us get to that place. If you felt uncomfortable answering my question by posting any personal information, you could have just bypassed my post. In my opinion, you were snide, not me.

My apologies.

 

[Denvergirlie]

OP lacked a lot of tact in asking of the question in the way it was posed.

But no, my debt did not come from vacations and big ticket items or just too much swiping for unnecessary frivilities.... it came from rent, groceries, gas and clothing for work from the thrift store.

 

[SAHMINKY]

I don't have a lot of credit card debt...but I was a little put off by the question myself! I don't think it is good to just assume everyone get in their situation because of bad decisions. Sometimes it's not our fault...

That being said, our credit card debt came from traveling around trying to diagnose my son's illness.

 

[Missy]

the question stung a bit here too. Even if i don't think that was the intent.

my most recent debt was accrued by three, count em, three funerals.

We do what we gotta do. of course i had some friviolous spending here and there. But the bulk of it was death related.

 

[mommymath]

OP: "Was it vacations and big ticket items or just too much swiping for unnecessary frivilities?"

Gee, I'm usually laid back, but that was not tactful. Yup, unnecessary frivolities like paying for an entire furnace system repair because it went kaput this summer when DH and I had very little income. We are both university professors and are not paid twelve months out of the year -- if we don't find grants, we don't get summer pay.

 

[bumplett]

Dear Bumplett,
I'm surprised you took it personal. It was just a way to see what makes us get to that place. If you felt uncomfortable answering my question by posting any personal information, you could have just bypassed my post. In my opinion, you were snide, not me.

My apologies.

Oh, I'm not too uncomfortable to answer - as I said, I personally do not have any high cc debt - but that wasn't my point. The way in which you posed the question was very offensive. It's hard to bypass something that's bound to cause harm - if anything, I was hoping you may rephrase before it offended others as well -

It was not my intention to be snide - only honest. Sometimes the two travel hand in hand I suppose -

:blind:

 

[starsapphire]

I only have about $1100 charged on my cc, the majority of it was much needed work clothing which I intended paying off w/in 2 months, then DH had to have surgery and I didn't want to pay it all off after that until I knew how our cash flow was going to be. The rest of it was health care related items and a few Xmas gifts. I'll have it all paid off by the end of March.

 

[changed4life]

I will humble mysef again and apologize because I have absolutely no problem with it.

It's pretty hurtful to have others put salt in my wound even after the apology was delivered. It's as if I was repeatedly kicked while I was down. Seems to me, forgiveness was a little lacking.

Perhaps a few of you should remember a time when your words lacked a long, hard look at what you've said or wrote to others. I'm only guilty of a quick post that should have delivered more thought; plus human error. I'm sorry.

Enough said.

Many blessings to you all as you travel on your road to frugality.

 

[Missy]

It's easy for things to be said with one intent, and to be read as another. It's easy, especially on message boards, for the intent to be lost, simply because so much of our language is done face to face, where we can in a sense "Read" each other's faces, to know no harm was meant.

it's a two way street. And where some felt pinched by the remark (yes, myself included), you also seem to feel pinched by the replies. Again, i am sure the intent wasn't meant that way.

apart from that, replies have been made to your question in itself. And I do think it's an interesting topic.

 

[FrugalMomof3]

I think I owe like $2300 right now in CC debt and it was because of unexpected expenses that my EF didnt cover such as medical bills, care repair, etc...

I agree though that many who do have CC debt dont necessarily have it because of "frivilous" spending but because of unexpected expenses such as loss of employment, car expenses, lack of money, etc...

 

[Kitten20]

Eh, I don't mind saying that most of our CC debt is from doing stupid. :yucky: Right now, we owe about $2,000 which includes a flat screen TV and the rest is mostly small stuff here and there, which adds up. There is one car repair on them as well.

 

[sugarbaby]

We learned in our younger days credit cards are not your friend! IMO! We paid ours off & go cash only...it gets tight sometimes but we find it's easier to not overspend if you don't use "the card" .

 

[Squirt]

I think the OP contained an honest question, and I also believe quite strongly that MOST people's credit card debt comes from living above their means. Another thing I think is that one of the reasons the people here didn't rack up their debt in such a fashion is because those who have are still out there spending. Life and situations have knocked a lot of us down, and these forums are a natural place for someone to go who is honestly trying to make it.

My debt? All frivolous.


Just kidding. I think it's a mix of things, but many stupid choices. I include giving money I don't have (my credit) to friends in order for them to replace a gas line in the middle of winter as a stupid choice. I didn't have the money and I knew I wasn't going to get it back. There's tires for my car on there, and other car work. Then I traded the same car in and took $1000 of my credit to put down on my truck... There is also a monitor for my computer when my 9 year-old crt died. I could try to justify all of it, but I suppose if I used my head, I wouldn't have had the debt. Any of it.

It's not a matter of laying down the credit card because I needed something, it was a matter of not providing for these situations beforehand. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[ms. frugal kugel]

As for us, our debt has a varied history...

First of all, my husband insists on charging gas for some reason. He'll drive all over eyeballing the prices, but then he won't go to a place if he "has to get out and talk to someone." I don't know if its some deal where he doesn't want to leave the kids in the car....now I'm just speculating while I should be asking.

Then there's me, miss innocent. Now I don't carry a card, but I do keep one that is cut in half for "emergencies" like plane tickets and stupid online deals. I even convinced my daughters' dentist to take it once. I've been a lot better since joining the village, but still, I should just toss it all together.

But most purchases have been legit emergencies, like heating oil prices that we couldn't afford, and tires that became bald after our car was a victim of a hit and run that messed up the alignment. We're now working on getting an EF so we'll be ready when "it" happens again. We used to save $$ for a house, but now that we have one, we have many more "emergencies".

Then there's the misc. catagory, like work related "equipment" for musician husband, and "entertainment" budget for me, academic budget. It's all absurd.

I think that making changes, once a person has begun using credit, is a learning process. After 2 refi's, we've learned finally that we can't be trusted with credit cards. I gave DH this speech years ago and he pulled the hurt feelings/ye of litte faith thing on me, but this time it aint working! The stress is killing me and juggling numbers in my head all day is not what I was put on this earth to do, I'm sure.

 

[pkellyc]

In my opinion you can ask away but I really don't think it's anyones business. For those who do have debt what does it matter to me other than being really nosy.
It doesn't make any difference how it got there. Most of the people here are trying to get rid of it, doing a good job of it, and are here for support.
CC debt can happen to anyone.
By the way, just in case your thinking that I have tons of it, think again, my cards are paid in full every month. But that doesn't mean that it will never happen to me. Uncontrolled emergencies can happen to anyone.

 

[changed4life]

In my opinion you can ask away but I really don't think it's anyones business. For those who do have debt what does it matter to me other than being really nosy.
It doesn't make any difference how it got there. Most of the people here are trying to get rid of it, doing a good job of it, and are here for support.
CC debt can happen to anyone.
By the way, just in case your thinking that I have tons of it, think again, my cards are paid in full every month. But that doesn't mean that it will never happen to me. Uncontrolled emergencies can happen to anyone.

~My question wasn't asked to be nosey. I was trying to gain information for the teenage moms I counsel. This site offers so much insight I thought I could offer something to help them.
~By the way - I'm not interested in you or your personal finances. I have my own to take care of.