The constraints of credit purchases

I have always been clear that credit purchases can be a trap, usually when we take the account of all payments we realize that we pay for something at almost twice what it actually cost. But what if they start selling you the idea that you will take advantage of offers by paying for the items you want at a good price and also on credit.

For some time now it has become very normal in my country to make purchases on credit without additional costs, in fact there are several applications on the cell phone that make it very easy, I think this is quite useful for when you do not have full money at a specific time and need to buy something urgently, but it can also become a trap because having the ability to buy anything whenever you want even without money gets you into too much debt.

In my case, it recently got to a point where I wouldn't go into a store if I didn't have this credit payment facility for Apps, and sometimes just for the sheer joy of it, not because I really needed something. And although I'm not a person who buys too many things, there was one or two "useful" purchases that became a biweekly expense, which ended up being a burden.

So reflecting a bit on this I came to the conclusion that while it is an advantage to have this app for any emergency, it can also be a little dangerous if you do not control yourself. I have seen how people who earn money that goes entirely to make payments for purchases they made on credit, and the other things that need to buy a month that go with our normal needs? Well, they are sacrificed a little.

This is where minimalism comes into my life, which I could say saved me from making a couple of bad decisions. Thinking beyond the marketing and the possibility of having something at the moment if I actually pay for it completely, is a captivating idea that honestly can easily convince us, but in my case I have set myself the goal, one in which I must be fully aware of asking myself certain series of questions before making a purchase.

Do I really need what I'm going to buy? Do I have a place at home to keep it? And if I do need it, can I save money to buy it another time in cash at a lower price? Almost always the answer to the first two questions is a resounding no, this has protected me from having so many debts that personally generate too much stress and anxiety. And exposing yourself to something that makes you feel that way should never be an option. It seems to me that provoking yourself emotional or even physical discomfort by not buying what you need to spend your money is unreasonable.

I am not saying that it is something simple, for me the idea of buying what I want even without having the money is new to me because a few years ago there were no options like this where I live, plus I have discovered myself sometimes thinking that this is a way to simplify my life. So as I have a kind of internal struggle between what I know I should do and the idea that I was sold of this app, then in order to protect myself, I decided to delete it.

Together with my husband we decided that this is never going to be the first option and neither the second, however he has the app downloaded on his phone in case of any emergency, but it is necessary for me to have it, we can always resort to his, in case we really need it. Unfortunately in life there will always be ideas like these that make us believe that make us life a little easier, just enough to investigate a little more to realize that in reality it is not true.

For example, we noticed that supermarkets that have adopted this form of payment, raised their prices by at least 20%, and although inflation in the country makes this an almost imperceptible change, when you are aware of your expenses, not to put unnecessary burdens and to simplify your life, you do notice it. So, no matter how easy they have made it for me, I prefer "the difficult" as long as I keep calm and without anxieties.