You've Got to Cut it, Cut It Good

And there you have it. The card that I have talked about more than once; the one that I was afraid to cut up. It's done. I did it. This morning at work (which is why the picture is crappy, I took it on my phone).

What finally pushed me over the edge? I was tired of my WILDLY fluctuating balance. I'm tired of having to hide it from myself and my inability to just say no to things that I want but can't afford. Plus, I accidentally picked the wrong checking account to pay my bill online which created a huge mess of bounced check fees, overdraft fees, and getting locked out of the "bill pay" section on the Citi Card website.

And, as an aside, if you bounce a check while trying to pay your account online, Citi won't let you make another payment online for up to 6 MONTHS after the fact (I found this out, finally, after 3 different calls to customer service). Thank the Lord that I talked to a lovely girl the last time I called got to explain the fact that it was a mistake on my part and she got my account reactivated.

But after the whole mess I took a step back, looked at the crazy balance that I now have on my card as a result of a car repair + the damage that I've done as a result of a freshly doubled credit limit and thought to myself "enough is enough". So I cut it up. And even though I'm a little sad that I won't have it around to charge groceries too on those months when I run out of money, I know that my E-Fund was set up for just those kinds of months and that I will be ok. And I'm fine with the fact that this piece of plastic is no longer weighing heavily on my mind.

I'm also pretty excited about the fact that I am no longer enabling myself. There will be no more impulse yarn/fabric/book/dog toys/gift purchases made unless I have the cash for it sitting around in my checking account.

Here's hoping that it stays empty.