h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

.....when i buy something on a credit card, that i am paying for it twice.

when the bill comes it's like 'but i paid for that already' which of course i havent.

i try not to use my credit cards, but i do seem to be collecting them. i have visa, master, and about 10 store cards. i think i have bought about 1 thing on most of them, normally the day i got the card becuse there was a 10% discount on said item if you got a card. the visa and master i use every now and again for something so that the bank thinks i need credit and can manage it. i'm a bit worried that if i never use them then when i really need them the bank wont be too happy.

at the moment there is always loads in my current account because i am saving up for college and transfering money to an ISA when there is a sum worth treking to the building society for. hopefully the bank will see this as a sign of me being wealthy and therefore an ideal person to lend a vast some of money to rather than a sign of me being lazy.



I do think though that the debt thing at the moment is getting a bit out of control. i don't think previous generations ever expected to own what the current generation expect to own. in the past the majority of people never expected to own their own house. now everyone wants a house, a car, a three piece suite, a DVD player and TV, a computer with internet access, a fitted kitchen and bathroom and wall to wall carpets before they will even consider moving in somewhere.

personally i don't know where people get the idea that this is ever going to be possible without life threatening debt. i myself, am jhfiafbdf years old, (mid twenties) and i have a good degree from good uni. i have worked for two years and done more study, now i am going back to uni for two more years to get a further degree. (i graduated uni the first time with no debt because i knew i wanted to go back and that i had to be as frugal as poss, and i have saved everything i could from these two years of work)

the result: i cant envisage ever being able to afford a mortgage. ever. i think possibly i might be able to get a car by the time i'm thirty, but it's more likely i'll have to buy one on finance before then so i can get to work. i cant see that i will ever have the money to have children unless a marry someone extremeley rich.

most students graduate the first time with a fairly substantial debt....... i'm actually better off.

it's getting silly.

FABT

Yes the toughest thing about living without debt is going without when you look around and see all the things that other people have. You clearly have the trick of seeing things in shops but not coveting them beyond wisdom. I can do it some times. But it IS tough.

Ben