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These were payments on debts Barbara had incurred over the previous year. Just a single month’s worth—$325—would have been more than enough to buy her son’s clothes; But the money wasn’t available to her; She had to pay it to her creditors. So the pressure Barbara felt—her current need for money—was in fact the direct result Of her previous debting. If she hadn’t debted before, she would have had enough to meet her needs now ~ Like other compulsions, compulsive debting feeds on itself: the more you do it , the more problems that inevitably result; the more problems that result, the more you do it to obtain relief from these new problems.
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Barbara bought $200 worth Of clothes for her son, paying for them with a credit card. Her installment payment on that new debt, the clothes she charged, cost her another $23 per month. That raised the total of her monthly – payments from $325 to $348. As a result, she now had even less discretionary income to spend each. month On her normal expenses. Once again, her available money had diminished, making her life more pressured and difficult.
What happens when Barbara hits the next unexpected expense—an illness requiring a visit to the doctor, a car tire that has to be replaced, an appliance that wears out? She’ll debt again, tolling herself she simply has to. The total amount of her debt will increase again, her monthly payments will rise once more, and her life will become even harder, the pressure greater.
Compulsive debting means nothing more or less than - that you repeatedly incur new debt despite the negative emotional and financial consequences that I follow. Each time, you find a way to justify the new loan or late payment or use of credit, or turn to them in order to obtain relief from pressure you perceive as intolerable. But it doesn’t work. It only gets worse. Types of Debt NEXT
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