Please consider adding this video you your site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fi0okku_X4

Suffice it to say I live overseas, and planned a trip to visit a girl. (In my experience the most expensive spending category by far.) When I ran into numerous problems, instead of postponing or canceling the trip, I used credit (and the last six months of savings) to solve them. I’m still surveying the damage, but it has probably set me back six months.

I can’t say I regret it, because it was a great trip, solidifying the relationship with possibly my future wife, and some things are worth nearly any expense. Nonetheless it has certainly renewed (and required) my dedication to sound finances.

The point of all of this was to give you an appreciation of where I’m at, and my response to your post. The idea of cutting up my credit cards is not new, but I’ve never seriously considered doing it, since I’d prefer to focus on controlling my behavior, not eliminating options. But I’m willing to consider nearly anything at this point, and the idea really gave me a rush of excitement… could I really do it? Under what circumstances will I end up regretting this?

I’ll save you the suspense and let you know I compromised. I did not cut them up, but I did take some advice I read a while back, and my cards are currently in my freezer being frozen in a block of ice. If I want to use them again, that will certainly cause me to pause and be sure of what I’m doing.

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