This is a huge topic and so there is a (1) after the title and there will be other posts to follow. First I'm going to tell you of the pitfalls and advantages of credit cards. The first thing you need to know is that the people who give you credit cards or store cards are not thinking of you, they want to make money and to do that they need yours. They don't care if you get into financial difficulties, just as long as they can keep you spending the money you haven't got. You have to realize that everything you want to buy will have to be paid for sooner or later. If you are a Canny Granny like me you use you card as a convenient way to pay without carrying money around and then you make sure that you can pay off the card at the end of the month thus avoiding interest. Then if you do have an unavoidable large bill you can spread the payments for say three months and only pay a little interest before getting back to the canny plan. The way to keep away from the debt spiral is to really think about what you need, food, warm clothes( but not lots of them, after all you can only wear some many outfits and your wardrobe will only take so many.) When you have worked out the things you need you can then work out what you want to spend the rest of your money on. This advice is perhaps suitable for fairly well off youngsters but I will write for those of you on limited income later, I have not forgotten you even if many have. So what money is left? Whatever it is you now need to think what else you want. Obviously a yacht in Bermuda is out of the question. Have pipe dreams about what you want by all means but then come down to earth and prioritize. I will give you an example from my life. This time last year I wanted very much to go to Russia. So I didn't take out a loan, I looked at my outgoings and found I could economize by cutting my heating down a little, mostly buying charity shop clothes, and not going out for meals or coffee so often. Also my hairdrier stopped working but I didn't replace it, instead I dry my hair under the bathroom fan heater. If you want a thing badly enough you can get around the problem. Yes I did go to Russia this past July and it was well worth all the effort I had to put in. You can read about my trip on my other blog Preaching with a Purpose.Well I think that is enough for tonight.
It was time for me to stop chattering on, thinking I knew so much and could teach the World how to believe. Just like everyone else I have had a time of thinking things through. Suddenly the world changed over night and we were left alone with our own thoughts. What IS the meaning of life? What really matters to me? How important is family? How important are friends and those people who are more than acquaintances? Can I live without them? I'm beginning to realize how isolated I had become. Most of my meals were alone, that is before Covid. We crazily live our lives in isolation and find that this means throwing away so much good food because you can't eat a whole cauliflower on your own before it's too far gone. A tin of baked beans is too much for one and you don't fancy sardines on toast two days running. Life is built around being together, even if it's only two of you. You don't have to live in the same house, you can share with a neighbo...
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