The Danger Of Rounding Up Your Debts

Rounding up your debts is one of the biggest dangers to your
financial position It’s also one of the easiest ways for your
debts to get out of control
This way of thinking is best summed up by the following comment;
‘I already owe $27500 so what’s another $500 It takes my
debt to a nice round figure $28000′
That’s a dangerous way to think From bitter personal
experience, I know what it’s like You try to limit your debt to
a certain amount, such as perhaps $10000 But that limit comes
and goes Your debt creeps up above that amount But you’re
enjoying yourself, so you carry on spending
You reach $13500, but you don’t want to stop, so you readjust
your ‘limit’, thinking ‘I’ll go up to $20000, but I’m not
going a penny higher’
So you carry on spending and your debts hit the $20000
barrierand then go slightly beyond
Then what happens?
Correct! You increase your self-imposed limit to the next
psychological barrier Perhaps $22000 this time! And then you
carry on spending
Eventually, after many more ‘final’ limits have come and gone,
your debt stands at $27500 And then you see a rather nice 7 day
package holiday advertised as a ’special, once in a lifetime,
never to be repeated’ offer $500 first come, first served!
Your reasoning goes something like this ‘That’s a great
offer I’ve not had a holiday for two years, and I could do with
some sun before the winter sets in I’ve already borrowed quite
a lot But it’s a special offer, and I couldn’t normally afford
that type of holiday I know it’s kind of expensive, but I
already owe $27500, so what’s another $500 It hardly
makes a difference And I’ll worry about paying it back when I
get home’
You’ve reached another of your preset limits But is doesn’t
stop there, oh no After all, what about a new wardrobe of
clothes to take on holiday! And you couldn’t possibly go away
without some spending money You just wouldn’t enjoy yourself
otherwise
And so the $28000 mark is broken Next stop $30000, or will it
be $35000?
But as I said earlier, every extra dollar that you borrow
restricts your freedom even further Every dollar that you owe
will cost perhaps $2 to repay after interest It could take you
half an hour (after tax) to earn that amount
$1 borrowed, half an hour of your precious, non-renewable life
Gone! Never to be replaced! Wasted!
Now half an hour may not seem like much But what if it’s
multiplied by five hundred?
That’s 250 hours of your life That’s almost six full working
weeks!
And once your debt reaches $28000, what is there to stop you
from thinking ‘it’s only another $2000 It will take my debts
to a nice round $30000′ when you see a leather
sofa/laptop/hi-fi that attracts your attention?
Bang goes another 1000 hours of your life That’s another six
months of eight hour shifts to look forward to!
When will it end? When your life runs out of time or the bank
manager says ‘no more’?
Round figures aren’t nice! Especially when it means that
your debts are even bigger than before When you owe money,
every penny counts! I can’t stress how important this is!
This rounding up attitude is very subtle, that’s why it’s so
dangerous It draws you in And the more you owe, the larger
these ‘what’s another [insert sum of money]‘
thoughts become If you owe $9200, what’s another $800 That
takes you to $10000 But if you already owe $92000, this ‘what’s
another’ attitude could cost you $8000 That will take you up to
a nice round $100000
Don’t mentally round up the amount of your borrowing, in order
to justify spending even more Every dollar you owe = less
freedom

Tags | barrier, clothes, financial, holiday, lifetime, limits, offer, package, personal, position, preset, psychological, result, spending, wardrobe