The Truth of Credit

Picture this, you’re sitting at home, comfortably watching football on your 70″ big screen you bought a month earlier on credit. Your children are busy playing PS3 and your wife is at the salon getting her hair done, all of which has been paid for with credit. The only problem with this picture is you live in a crappy apartment with unopened mail on the floor. Then it appears, a huge, smelly, gray, hungry elephant. It’s so big you can’t deny it’s existence. At first you try to move your chair so you can get back to the game but the smell is ridiculous and everywhere you look you see elephant, he takes up the entire room.

Your wife comes home and all she talks about is this gigantic elephant in your home. Your kids think it’s cool to have a elephant to play with but they don’t understand it can crush them in an instant. Your next problem is you have to feed this animal and it’s very expensive. Every month the elephant gets bigger and bigger; shrinking your standard of living.

Then your boss calls you into his office on Friday and you find out you have been laid-off. Your first thoughts are of your wife and kids, then that freaking elephant that’s in your living room. By this time, the animal is so big it’s impossible to get it out of your living room without action. You must finally make something happen.
The TRUTH is the only way to get rid of the elephant (a.k.a. debt) is to remove it in pieces (and no, this is not encouraging animal cruelty, it’s a metaphor). When it comes to debt you don’t want to be forced into action. You may treat it like a pet at first but when it gets in the way of the TV that means it’s time to change your habits. So how big is the elephant in your living room?.