Charge it.

I can remember when I first got a credit card. It was in college and I was a little low on funds. A friend that I worked with said, "don't you have a credit card for when you get low on money." It was like some little bell went off in my head, wow I can get a credit card. To my friends defense, they were the type of person that probably only used a credit card in emergency situations and paid the balance each month. He probably assumed everyone else did it that way as well. They were wrong.

I can remember the first purchase, and no it wasn't an emergency, well you could call it a fashion emergency I guess. It was a single shirt. A single shirt that probably took me 3 years to pay for even though it had cost less than $50.

This "emergency" spending continued, an item here and there that I really wanted. Eventually, my little credit card was maxed out. After college, it would be a matter of paying down some of the debt just to max it out again. After getting married, Brad and I each had one card and we paid them both off. It was a great feeling.

Unfortunately, with one income and times being a little tighter, we have had to pull the card out from time to time but my habits are a little better. I am sure that I still purchase stuff that we don't really need but that I really want. I wish I had better money management skills.

Maybe if while in college I had looked into Credit counseling I would have formed better habits from the get go. Bills IQ can help get you on track if you fall off as I did.