We are drowning in debt

Nod said:
The rules are simple:
...
4) If you have not used something for 6 months, you probably are better off selling it.

* The car you need != the car you want
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+1

Did that end of last year, sold a whole lot of (junk) just lying around the house. Makes a big difference and I found it has the physcological effect of not hoarding. We now think twice about buying anything unless we know we will use it regualary - amazing how much less crap we buy
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Consider public transport then like I did (if it is possible). Petrol is not your only expense. I've delayed getting a second car for me to commute to work as it would cost me R5K pm to do so (petrol, parking, insurance, payments, service). I pay R400 per month for my bus ticket (110km round trip each day) and just remind myself that I'm saving R4600pm that I don't have even if I wanted to.

I understand that not everybody has the option of public transport (that is safe, reliable ones) but if you do, then do consider it.
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Unfortunately there is no public transport near where I live and where I study :/ So I really do need a car. If I did have a viable public transport option I'd definitely consider using it!
 
There isn't even a taxi service from where I live to my place of work (not that I would ever consider using a minibus taxi).
 
It all comes down to 1 word: discipline.

I recently acquired a credit card and the only thing that's changed is that I now don't pay EFT fees on the things I buy. I barely use up 1/8th of my credit limit each month and what's used gets paid in full at the end of the month. So the credit card has actually saved me money. If one were weak minded (i.e. the best consumer) then I can see how they would buy everything and justify it by lying to themselves but frankly they deserve it.
 
Discipline and sacrifice.It kills some parents to 'deprive' their kids of that expensive beach holiday.
Its easier just to book it on your credit card and pay it off.
 
The examples given are presumably of people who took on debt before the new laws were in place.

UnUnOctium said:
It all comes down to 1 word: discipline.

I recently acquired a credit card and the only thing that's changed is that I now don't pay EFT fees on the things I buy. I barely use up 1/8th of my credit limit each month and what's used gets paid in full at the end of the month. So the credit card has actually saved me money. If one were weak minded (i.e. the best consumer) then I can see how they would buy everything and justify it by lying to themselves but frankly they deserve it.
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Sometimes we go to the limit on all cards, but just as often not. The primary thing is that it's treated as a convenient way to pay, not a means to borrow money, and thus we never spend what we can't pay when the account is due.

agentrfr said:
Set credit card limit to R50. Overdraft to R100.

You are retarded if you do otherwise.
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No, that only applies to people who can't manage their spending or don't understand that a credit card should be used primarily as a convenient way to pay.
 
Lounger said:
The rate hikes and electricity increases are hitting people hard.
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+1000

We do our budget every month. Our expenses is higher every month. It hurts, and we have cut back on spending and everything. :(
 
The banks have got most people trapped in a vicious cycle of debt. Get out now.
 
Nod said:
4) If you have used something for 6 months, you probably are better off selling it.
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I've found that can backfire. I try to only buy or keep things I know I'll use, but I have made the mistake of getting rid of something thinking I'd not use it again, then having to go buy another one.
 
Voicy said:
We buy things we don't want,
with money we don't have,
to impress people we don't like.
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I am Jack's uncontrollable rage....

Honestly, clinical depression is the variable that tracks most closely with spending
 
I was pondering the same thing today, it makes everything more expensive too. Pay with cash and not credit and prices would not be as inflated.
 
wow, thats quite a scary article. Don't understand how they let people borrow that sort of money on those sort of salaries! Things are expensive, i guess the ease of getting credit cards allow you to put the daily basics on credit, where in the past it was only really the big items (cars and houses) where loans were taken out.

I really hope the people in that article can come right, it can't be easy to live like that.

Interesting stat was 75% of SA salaries go to settling debt, which means most people are living at least one month in arrears and settling it as the salaries come in. After reading this I wonder how there are so many nice cars on the road, and how so many people can afford the coolest phones/tablets/computers around.
 
agree on most posts in this thread!

I have a friend who has been studying for 5-6 years and got his first job recently. His car was stolen last year and the insurance payout wasn't that great. So instead of just getting a 2nd hand car he upgrades to a R150 000 car :eek: His parents are well set and all and paid for the car. But he still has to pay them back. So before he even had a job he is paying off for a car WITHOUT a JOB .WTF. This blows my mind how someone can even think like that. He talks about the warrantee etc but the fact you paying back money you don't have yet scares me.

I was fortunate my parents also bought my first car for me but I paid them back. R35000 I payed back over a year or two. And I'm still driving my lovely Sheety golf for the meantime. I will upgrade for sure to something more safer once I can afford to. But it won't be a brand new car.I'l just get something that has more power and better brakes :D lol.

But yeah I am confuzzled how people drown themselves in ridiculous debt.
 
If you can't afford to buy it with cash then you can't afford it. The only things this doesn't apply to is a house and car.

Switch from a credit card to a cheque card. How can people expect to ever have money if they live off their credit card, get their salary and transfer whatever is left after bills onto their credit card every month.

I stopped using my credit card after I got my bond because this cr@p about needing credit cards and accounts at Edgars etc to get a good credit rating is really just keeping people broke.

Pay off your cards and then if you need something, save up for it.
 
They stole 2 cars from me. 1 was payed of Toyota ... that car had 250k on the clock.. but she was a dream! Other one was 1 more year. I don't care what people think about my cars. I drive 2 cheap cars.. and I can sleep in the evening without worrying.

But 2 cars stolen was a huge setback. Insurance did pay out.. but now new debt etc.Today I try to pay extra into bond (save money).

Living expenses went crazy. Food prices are insane... that is why people are living in debt.
 
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SaladCharger said:
Consumerism, whatever we call it, affects us all to some degree. I blame facebook and the 'keeping up with the joneses' attitude, except the joneses aren't the people next door, they're the people you went to school with. Most of us have to admit that there's fewer things more humiliating than seeing someone you went to school with doing better than you. Especially if you thought that person happened to be a bit of an idiot. We all want to appear successful..
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+1

true that! we always want to *upstage* the class idiot
 
SaladCharger said:
Consumerism, whatever we call it, affects us all to some degree. I blame facebook and the 'keeping up with the joneses' attitude, except the joneses aren't the people next door, they're the people you went to school with.

Most of us have to admit that there's fewer things more humiliating than seeing someone you went to school with doing better than you. Especially if you thought that person happened to be a bit of an idiot. We all want to appear successful.
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Yes in the past stuff bothered me. But you know what.. as soon as you accept there will be richer people/less fortunate .. and stop "competing" life gets better. I'm just happy I have a home, wife +healthy kids etc. If they want to judge because I don't drive a BMW , let them. I give a flying fungus. At least I can sleep in the evening :D. (I can afford it.. but I rather put that money into my bond.. and pay my house off quicker).

I have seen how that attitude "competing with jones" cost people dearly...
 
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