Life without credit

Many of us have gotten past the credit boom of the 80's-90's-00's, and have lives that extend back to before "ordinary folks" even HAD credit routinely extended to them.

This is more of an exercise for people who still use credit. I am NOT talking about those of us who charge something, and then pay it all off ASAP, in one check to the credit card company.

How would your life change if you had NO credit to use.

Where would you live? Would you rent? Buy?
What would your entertainment options be?
How often would you go to the mall/Target/Walmart/KMart?
Would you cut your own hair? Buy second-hand instead of new?
What would you choose for meals?

Even if you do not use a credit card at the grocery store, credit use affects what you can buy, because as interest rates rise people end up spending more of their disposable income for debt-servicing.

Most people's monthly bills are pretty much the same to start with:

rent/mortgage
transportation (includes car payments & fuel)
electricity
gas (heating/cooking/gas dryer)
water
trash
phone

Necessities we all should have:

insurance
long-term savings
emergency savings

Then we come to the discretionary expenses:

phone (over & above the basic land-line flat-rate above)
food (a necessity, but we at least have flexibility there)
cable/satellite/internet
clothing
gifts
entertainment
vacations
self-provided health care expenses

I have a feeling that a reason why our economy is still in the doldrums, is because more and more people are afraid of using credit, and a good many "services" our economy has to offer are too pricey for people to routinely pay cash for.

The only money we actually have is what we take home, and as it shrinks or is needed to pay for essentials, there is less and less for the extras.

Buying mostly second-hand

Credit card for convenience only -pay off monthly

Paid off car loans as soon as we saved enough money

Paid off one student loan from savings - one to go

Supporting 6 people here

What has made it possible was that we inherited our home. Without this we would be sunk and never have been able to afford a house in our town.

By the time I rebuilt it to the point that I could get a credit card, I realized what a trap they are and don't have any still.

I have a handy Visa card for emergencies and own my car. Later this year I'm planning to buy a newish used car (the one I've really been wanting" but I'm paying cash from my divorce settlement.

What do those have to do with credit?

The first entry does since you need credit for a mortgage. But the rest of them do not require credit, and availability of credit shouldn't change your answers.

If it makes sense to cut your own hair when you don't have a Visa, why change it because you've got some plastic in your wallet?

when people are desperately paying creditors, their available cash gets pinched, so other areas of their lives get minimized.
There is only so much money available in households, and oftentimes people use the credit cards to cover the "missing" money in their family, which only adds to the problem.

When people pay off credit cards/go bankrupt, they often find out that they suddenly have enough money to live on, and the payments to all those creditors were the difference.

My friend who declared bankruptcy a while back (before Bush changed it), said that once she no longer used credit, she actually had enough money to live on, and since she was paying cash, she really paid attention to what she spent.

because credit cards got me into a deep financial hole. I am now debt free and have no credit cards. The way I look at is that if I cannot afford to pay cash for something I want, I just don't buy it. At this time, I am financially secure and I plan to stay that way without credit cards.

As for how I do it:

I rent in an apartment complex surrounded by...let's say, criminal elements and rednecks. Hey, it's Indiana, what'cha expect? :)
My entertainment is a movie at a theatre about once every 3 months, movies on Netflix, going out to eat at cheap restaurants (~10/meal) once every 2 weeks, and MMORPG games ($15/month, one game).
I go to WalMart to shop for groceries once every 2 weeks, and Walgreens for my prescriptions once a month. I seldom go to the mall any other time. No money, and no real need even when I do have money. Christmastime is an exception of course.
I get my hair cut at Great Clips, or my stepsister is a cosmetologist if I want something unique done.
Meals are pretty easy actually. I only eat twice per day at a maximum, so I do a lot of toast/peanut butter (natural with the oil on top), CoCo Wheats, oatmeal, and some cereals (I'm fond of Panda Puffs). Dinners are an eclectic mix of Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, American Ham&Cheese, Italian ravioli, and Russian potato plates depending on my mood and the day of the week.

All bills are paid via check.

Savings? What's that? I put some money aside for a vacation I want to take one day.

And vacations. I've taken one vacation in my entire adult life, as I near 40. I would like to have another before I die, so that gives me maybe 8 years or so to finish saving up for it. I want to go to China and see the WoLong Panda Preserve.

Where would you live? somewhere with one or two buddies as room mates

Would you rent? rent (no credit means no mortgage right?)
What would your entertainment options be? mountain biking, video games, smoking weed, barbeques,

How often would you go to the mall/Target/Walmart/KMart? never, never do anyways
Would you cut your own hair? havent cut my hair in about 2 years

Buy second-hand instead of new? already do
What would you choose for meals? food, the kind you cook, rice, noodles, eggs, fruit veggies, flour and sugar to make cakes. juice and soy milk, cereal, yoghurt, (some fruit and veggies comes from my own garden)

cash for vacation can be hustled by doing tax free work on the weekend once in a while or selling a bit of cannabis here and there