Dear Credit Card

Dear Credit Card,

I loved you since the day I met you.

You were all shiny and new and represented such amazing freedom and potential.

You have been with me through the good times and the bad times.

You have been on adventures with me from girl’s nights out to travelling around the world. You have racked up thousands of frequent flyer points.

You have covered me in emergencies, and I have come to rely on you more than I ever realised.

A few months ago I read the Barefoot Investor, and it recommended that I end my relationship with you, to which I was horrified and couldn’t comprehend living without you. Credit Card, I thought that you and I had a healthy relationship. For the last 10 years I have always paid you off before time was due. And I thought we were working in harmony, and that there was no need to give you up.

That was until today. Today I stood in a queue at a bulk supermarket, with a trolley laden full of items.  And a young man approached me to tell me that their credit processing system was not working. Dear Credit card I was let down. I had walked into that bulk supermarket only with you in my pocket as you represented freedom to buy whatever I choose in that supermarket, as you had my back. You had always been there for me, and today I was told that I couldn’t access you. What was I to do without you.

In that moment I looked at my trolley and realised that I had become so dependent on you Credit Card, and so comfortable with you Credit Card, that I hadn’t realised way you impact on my spending habits.  Because in that moment, I no longer had the luxury of having you, and I had to use physical cash or savings – which was a finite amount. And in that moment, I realised that the shopping trolley was full of things I didn’t need.

That was a crappy moment, Credit Card. Because it dawned on me; how often I buy things that I don’t really need. Because I have that seductive relationship with you, that makes me think I can have whatever I want, whenever I want it.

Now I think I have pretty good financial awareness, Credit Card, but I had underestimated your seductive powers. And today I realised that I have a co-dependent relationship with you, and this needs to change.

So, Credit Card, we need to have a chat.

I now see you Credit Card. And I now have a taste of the person I have become due to the relationship with you. I don’t feel like I can just walk away from you today, as I feel like I have just uncovered the tip of the iceberg in regard to my dependency with you. However, now I know and feel what this relationship is, I can’t keep putting my head in the sand. It’s time to put my big girlie pants on, see you for who you are, see me for who I am in this relationship, and it’s time to start to untangle myself.

 My first step is to take off my Credit Card Filter Glasses and understand how much I depended on you, and to address each of those dependencies.  So, this week, I am going to lay you bare Credit Card and I am going to analyse each of the regular payments you are covering for me, and to assess if I really need them, and if I do to find other ways to have those payments covered.

I am thankful to you Credit Card for all this support, fun times, adventures, and emergencies that you have covered. But I now need to learn how to do it on my own.

Follow my journey over the next month as I uncover my co-dependent relationship with my Credit Card and the tools I put in place to create a healthy relationship with credit.

Tina Stewart

Professional Life Coach