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A couple of months ago I started reading the Dave Ramsey book, "Total Money Makeover." I think I'm a good money manager already, but I love reading about saving money and wanted to see what he had to say. By the end of the second chapter, without any warning, I jumped up out of my chair, pulled my only credit card out of my wallet, and cut it up! It was a little scary, but I felt like I was in control.

Dave had stories in there of couples who had good jobs, who used credit cards, and even paid them in full each month. One of the stories made a real impression on me because this couple thought they had it all together, and then without warning, the husband lost his job. It had been easy to pay the credit card bill in full with a paycheck coming in, but now they couldn't even make the minimum payment. They were in danger of losing everything. It really hit home.

In the past, when I used my credit card, I knew that I couldn't just go out and charge up to my credit limit of $11,000. I had to stay somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000 to be able to pay it in full when the bill came in. I used this card for everything instead of cash because I earned points from using it. I was okay with that, but hadn't really thought about the dangers of charging that much without having the money to pay it off at the time. Reading this story, though, I decided enough was enough. I cut up the card.

I decided from that point forward I would only use cash. If I could get through that first month where I had to actually pay the credit card bill in full, and also have enough cash to pay for my purchases, it would be a piece of cake going forward.

Here's what I did:

1. I paid off the card. I didn't cancel it. I just cut it up. 2. I called all vendors who charged my credit card automatically (i.e. Netflix and others) and gave them my debit card as my new form of payment. 3. I checked my credit card online about once a week, and if anything trickled in, I went ahead and paid it.

It took a giant leap of faith to cut up that card, but it made so much sense. Not having that card has made me an even better shopper. I know that if I have the money in my account, I can choose to make my purchase, or I can choose to keep the money. Most of the time, just knowing I can afford it makes it less of a temptation to spend the money.

Of course, just spending from your debit card means that you have to have the funds available. You don't want to end up with insufficient fund charges just because you forgot about your Netflix charge! Our checking account is tied to our savings account, and if we ever do have a surprise charge to our account, the bank will transfer the funds automatically. It's a good feature to have, but not one I want to depend on.

We just returned from a trip without using a credit card at all! We had money in the checking account to cover the hotel and rental car, and we used cash for our purchases. It sure is nice to get home and not have to face that credit card bill next month.

Like Dave says, "If you will live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else." Basically, take those baby steps now to eliminate your debt so that one day you will be in such good shape financially that you will be able to enjoy a higher standard of living than you ever thought possible.

I am so in love with this book that I bought extra copies to give as gifts. What better way for that new graduate or newlywed to start out than with this great advice?