Budgeting | Confessions | Life | Personal Finance | Article

Increased Cost Of Living Is Causing Me To Have More And More Credit Card Debt

by The Simple Sum | 30 Sep 2024 | 2 mins read

When we think of cost of living, we think about the cost of food, clothing, transport fees, rental or mortgages and also our salaries. I noticed many videos recently interviewing the man on the street on cost of living, asking them what’s their ideal salaries.

I think money is never enough. It is true that if I have more money, I will be more comfortable, but will that really be enough? When I started earning more as I worked longer in my career, I fell under the lifestyle trap. Then it led to me spending more to enjoy the luxuries of life.

Now that everyone is grappling with inflation, our wallets are squeezed, and I feel like I don’t have enough money to sustain the lifestyle I have. So, I turn to borrowing money from banks via credit cards.

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It was not helpful that I was incentivised to sign up for credit cards in this period as well.

Slowly, with the buy now pay later and 0% instalment benefits, it made me think that I could purchase a new fan to replace the one that broke down and many other purchases that felt urgent at that point.

Only recently then I realise that I was unknowingly taking a larger sum from my monthly salary to repay my credit card bills (even with 0% instalment repayment). This caused me to feel the budget cut on my daily expenses and I had to cut down on food to not fall deep into debt.

I have since tried to wait it out whenever there is a need to purchase a new item or from going shopping. Although I know that this cost of living problem should be temporary, there is no way I want to end the year with a huge debt knocking on my door.

This article is part of TSS Confessions, a weekly column where we delve into personal finance topics that are unscripted and genuine real accounts from people.