The simplest advice for how to manage a budget and stay out of debt comes from a hilarious skit on Saturday Night Live.
Yes, comedy is a cure-all. Unfortunately the simple lesson taught is one that most people find impossible to follow. Staying within a budget and not buying things you don’t need or can’t afford is harder than logically makes sense. Especially in the last 20 or 30 years when credit cards have become easily accessible to many people. Many kids just graduating high school go off to college and get bombarded with credit card offers when most of them don’t know how to manage their own money.
I got my first credit card when I started college back in 1995. It was a Discover card and I still have and use that card today. Even though I don’t use it for much anymore since I now optimize my card use to get travel rewards, but I use it for subscription things like Netflix. This is good because it keeps that card open and since I have had it opened for 20+ years it helps my credit score since time of open credit is one of the factors that affect your credit score. I’ll discuss credit in a later post.
It is hard to resist the temptation to buy something you want when you have access to easy credit. You convince yourself that you can “afford” it and will pay for it later. But you never know, you may lose your job or get injured and can’t work, etc. Many factors can affect your ability to pay. You should as much as you possible can, be certain you can pay your debts. Be like a Lannister (Game of Thrones) and “always pay your debts”.
I know this is obviously over-simplifying things but I just find this SNL skit super funny. Depending on when in the future you see it, if the link no longer works, just search for “Saturday Night Live Don’t buy stuff you cannot afford”. It has Amy Pohler and Steve Martin acting like the “average” couple that has no clue about finances. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Hopefully this funny video will stick in your mind when you want to impulse buy something you really can’t afford.
(you may get some ads before the video starts) Two links provided, one directly from NBC and one on Vimeo
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dont-buy-stuff/n12020