Today's rambling: Common Sense
Written on Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 3:22 p.m.
while feeling a bit

It is amazing to me how little common sense my roommate has. Amanda had once heard that the more intelligent you are, the less common sense you have. I think Kristen may be an example of this. Just today, as I was writing out my two bills, I remarked upon the fact that I get fiendish pleasure out of cheating the credit card companies. See, they want you to get behind in your payments, because that means you have to pay more interest. The interest is where they get their money. When I make payments on my credit cards, I never do just the minimum balance unless I am obscenely low on funds. This Visa card that I was suckered into getting (before I started hanging up on telemarketers) has a minimum balance of $10. I've been paying $30 every month, and today marks my last payment. They upped my limit about $200 just because I've been doing so well with payments. That's how I got the stupidly high limit on my main card (the one that's taking care of tuition right now).

So anyway, I was telling Kristen that I liked paying more than the minimum balance on my credit cards because I knew that it was cheating them out of interest money...and she just didn't get it. She was like, "You're cheating them out of money by giving them more money?" and then later, she remarked that she thought credit cards were more trouble than they're worth.

To be honest, that part's true. However, she's taken it so far that she refuses to ever GET a credit card. Therein lies the silly part. "Unfortunately, you have to get credit cards in order to build up good credit," I told her. "That's the only way you'll be able to get mortgages and things later on."

"My professor said the same thing!" she exclaimed, apparently amazed that this could be true. I continued to try explaining things to her, such as how you don't have to charge hundreds of dollars and then pay it off just to get good credit. You could charge 10 or 20 bucks, pay that off immediately, and by doing that all the time you would still build good credit. It doesn't take a lot. But you know how she responded?

"I think I'll just let my dad take care of all that."

Your dad, Kristen, is not going to be able to build up your credit. Well actually, I guess he could. I mean, all she'd have to do is get a card in her name, and then he could be responsible for making the payments on it. But she started talking about how she lets him take care of everything, and it just boggled my mind.

I have to remind myself that she's only 18. Yes, I was paying all my own bills by that time (though admittedly I didn't have too many since I'd just graduated), but I was also lacking in the father department. I didn't have him to rely upon, and Mom's terrible with math and things, so it was either rely upon myself or get into a huge financial mess. So I've become self-dependent. I pay my own bills, I like to think that I'm very responsible when it comes to using my credit card...the only reason my other card has such a high balance is because of the tuition payments (which will hopefully be less come next year). The one thing I can't do on my own are taxes. And actually, I could probably do those if I was shown how to. They taught us once in high school, and I remember asking Dad if I could do my taxes that year, but he wouldn't let me...and I forgot how to do them after that. Mom doesn't know how to do them either, so we take them to one of those professional places. I'd like to learn how to do my own so that we're spared that money.

Anyway, I know this is a wretchedly boring entry. I just can't believe my roommate sometimes. She's constantly amazing me with her naivet�. Once upon a time, I'd vowed to never own a credit card, but they're really not that evil. You just have to think about things before you make purchases with one. Basically, I won't buy something with my card if I know I don't have the money to pay it off later. For me, having a credit card is just an alternative to carrying around exorbitant amounts of money. It's not an excuse to buy things I could never ever afford! :-P Unless, of course, it's needed, hehe...

I'm sure my views about THAT will change as I get older and start living on my own, but at least I'm responsible about things now. I guess it's probably a good thing Kristen doesn't have a credit card right now, since she doesn't even know how to write out checks. Now that is terribly amusing. I'm not quite sure why I find it amusing, I just do. :P

Sarah (or is it Sara? I'm not quite sure) is coming over in a bit so we can study our sorority stuff together, hehe! Bonding amongst the pledges...it's a good thing. And I just sounded like Martha Stewart, so I'd better go cleanse myself now. Au revoir!