But wait, there's more....

The siren song of "free" money can be hard to ignore. No money down financing; six months (or a year! or more!) same-as-cash, 0% interest rates and other calls can lead people down the slippery slope towards disasterous financial circumstances. If you can't quite afford (or can't really afford it at ALL) that car, or computer, or bedroom set, it can be awfully appealing to know you can get it anyway. Sure, it SOUNDS like a great deal...you get your "stuff" when you want it and just pay for it later, sometimes even long after the "stuff" is gone if you carry a credit card balance (How much did you REALLY pay for that steak dinner a year ago? Did you enjoy it enough to still be paying for it?). Being dumb with money can be fun at first...but all too often it comes crashing down around your ears. You thought you could pay for this thing, and that thing, or at least pay the minimum payment, and after all...that's all that's required of you each month, right? Well that's all well and good until even the minimum payments are a stretch....

The average American is thousands of dollars in debt. Does that average American have any idea how long it would take to pay back the balance paying only the minimum payment each month? Does that average American have any idea how much money he would actually spend on that steak dinner, or computer, or bedroom set? Perhaps it would be worth considering requiring a financial course in our high schools? Even one section of a math course?

Have you seen the recent batch of credit card commercials? They're apparently trying to sell us on how cool and fun they are. My husband mocks them when we see them by saing "Credit card debt is FUN!" And that does seem to be the basic message...how great credit cards are and how important they are, and yes even how FUN they are....and let's not forget "priceless." The fact that credit card companies all but beg people (and often people with little to no income...think about how many credit card applications you received in college) to borrow money from them, certainly makes it seem that there's at least a *bit* of a conflict of interest when they then turn around and lobby for stricter bankruptcy laws.

If you'd like to look at something that gives step-by-step plans for getting out of debt, you might want to consider The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey. He has a multi-step plan, beginning with getting current on bills if you're behind, then putting aside an emergency fund (in order to rely on that instead of credit cards, if you need car repairs, or household repairs, etc), then beginning to "snowball" debts (pay off one debt at a time, and with each payoff, add that amount to the next debt). After the debt payoff, there are investment steps.