I too this photo one year ago today and haven’t used a single credit card or other bit of credit (student loans, mortgage payments, and the balance on the cards not withstanding) since. It hasn’t exactly been easy the whole time, but after a full year, it does feel good.
Published by Michael Sauers
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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Has it been an entire year already? I remember all the discussions we had on this topic while we were walking. I am VERY proud of your determination and perseverance.
Wow! I would be interested in what changes you had to make to “how” you did things, like traveling, in order to not use a credit card. For example, paying for flights or hotel rooms. Did you learn things that the rest of us could do?
I must admit, than in 2001 when I did a ton of traveling, I really relied on my debit card (and now I’m realizing that your swore off credit, not debit cards). I find them extremely handy AND they force me to pay attention to what I spend, since the money comes out of my account immediately (or close to it).
You’d be correct in that I didn’t give up my debit card. So, as long as I had money in my checking account I could use a Visa card to pay for things.
Also, I had a BCR credit card so whenever I was on the road all allowed expenses were covered.