Is credit always the evil the debt gurus seem to think it is? I don’t believe so. Ryan at Millionaire Money Habits, wrote a great post yesterday about how he gets hundreds of dollars each year in “free” money by using his cash-back credit card for every expense. That’s one way to use credit and make it work for you.

When you get advice not to have credit cards, it assumes a lack of discipline. For lots of people, that is how they got into debt, but it doesn’t mean they can’t learn good habits and discipline.  The same people that give advice to clip coupons in order to save 25 pence here, 50 cents there, would deny you the free cash back - not just now, but forever. It keeps you focussed on small change, so that’s what you get, small change. We call that penny-wise, pound-foolish. I’m sure there’s a dollar equivalent.

Before I started this post, I went for a walk and sat in the warm spring sunshine in my favourite place. It’s a small pool where a river babbles over a weir before entering the lake. I call this pool the Abundance Pond because when I sit by it in beautiful surroundings and listen to the water and the birds singing, I feel and see true abundance.

Today, I thought about credit and debt. Credit only becomes debt when you can’t pay it off. I use credit all the time and I used to be in debt. Same cards, different cash flow. I got into debt so that I could follow my dreams, start my own business and do it my way. I didn’t want business loans because I was doing something new and I didn’t want a bank poking their nose into my business, so I used credit cards till I made money. Lots of credit on lots of cards. It took me 3 years to pay it all off. But now I have my company, I live in a beautiful place and I drive an eco-friendly car I love; then I had no business, lived in a slum and drove an 18 year old car that polluted the planet. I have more to give others and I have been able to offer employment to people. So today, by the abundance pond, I gave thanks for my credit cards.

A thing is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.

Picture credit free digital photos.net