Credit

I'm thankful for credit.

Credit is a double edged sword.  Without it, I wouldn't have a house, a car, and we probably would have gone hungry back in 2009 when Lance lost his job.  However, it's tricky to not go too far with it.

I remember, the night before Lance lost his former job we were trying to decide if we should go to New York City or not.  No, we didn't have the money... but the flight price was almost too good to turn down!  Almost.  We decided against it.  The next day our lives were turned upside down.

Before that time, we used credit a lot more than we should have.  We had good income, so we knew we could always pay all of our bills.  After that time, we've learned to have the money for things that we want, before we purchase them.  If the money isn't there, we don't go on the trip, or we don't purchase the item.  We racked up a lot of debt while Lance was out of a job, and slowly we've been climbing out of it.

Last week we paid off one of our credit cards!  It's a great feeling, however, then you remember how many other credit cards you have.

Lance got a second job at the Disney store, mostly for fun and for the discount, but the little extra money will help us to continue to pay down our debts while still being able to afford Christmas presents.  His first official night was last night, 6pm to 10pm.  We only have one car, so this means I have to stay up later than I'd like to go pick him up.  But I'm happy to do it.  If he's willing to work on his feet for 12 hours in a day, I can do with one fewer hour of sleep.

I am thankful for our unwise choices in the past that have taught us to be wiser with our time and money.