What you want

Sometimes we focus on the wrong things. It is not entirely our fault, the world tells us what is important and we believe them. There is a new Master Card commercial that shows a woman getting a pedicure, then new shoes and a dress to go with it. Could you imagine? Suddenly a thirty dollar purchase becomes three hundred? Master Card is sneaky! They say you are free to buy what you want when you want it. They just don't tell you how you are going to pay it off! If we keep living this way, we are going to run into disaster.

We already are there. I know people in my affluent suburb are living on the street, while others are maxed out in their credit to get that new hot car, hot purse, hot whatever. There has to be a better way to live.

There is, and here is my personal goal for this year: get out of debt. I admit that I took a vacation when I could not afford it, and I am paying for it in low monthly installments while Master Card makes money. I went out to dinner a few times when I couldn't really afford to (okay, lots and lots of times). Also, I never had an emergency buffer account. I need one of those. When I say I need that, I do not mean want, I mean need. Too many times I have relied on Master Card to bail me out. No more will money be my master.

What is in your wallet? Something you can use to help you achieve your goals, or something you are serving like a master until you have it all paid off?