Cutting Up Plastic

Yesterday I finally made a decision to eliminate some of the plastic in my life. There is way too much plastic; some of it is Little Tyke Toys (Nicole has an orphanage you know, and as such has several cribs, high chairs and changing tables to care for them).

But then there is the other kind of plastic, as in credit card plastic.

It just gets me into trouble. I can keep my spending under control, what I can't seem to do is keep my son's spending under wraps. OK, so the next logical question is why does he end up with my credit card in his possession? (And I will admit that this has happened more than once.)

The last time I gave him the card to use it was when Howie and I were dashing off on vacation and Matt was in town and was going to need to drive my mom, who remained in PA, back to New York City. So since I didn't have cash, I gave him the card with specific instructions authorizing gas and a Hoagie at Subway.

Then he went to music show in Philly with his brother, missed his ride home and had forgotten to take the card out of his wallet and leave it on the kitchen island as I had requested. I don't believe it was malicious, just forgetful. But too easy to use when life threw some curve balls his way.

I didn't like the balance due.

So I cut three cards up, leaving me with one card and a debit card. No more cards to lend out. Too bad, so sad.

The next logical question is why I have so many credit cards in the first place, and the answer to that question is because I like incentives and rewards. So all of the cards I use have rewards, Delta, US Air and United. Oh, and then LL Bean. But I don't need all of them, or all the rewards they carry. Half the time when I try to book a trip using miles (especially on US Air) I can't. So why bother?

So I got on the phone to cancel the card. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to cancel a credit card. I'm sure these guys must get paid a bonus if you call to cancel and somehow they manage to convince you to change your mind. The person was doing a great job...I had to say no how many times...but I did prevail.

And then don't you know the next day we checked into a Hyatt in Philadelphia and there was the sign right in front of me that invited me to pay with my Master Card (now chopped in pieces) and receive 2500 bonus points. I love bonus points and free airline tickets. But yet I don't need them and didn't allow them to hold me captive to keeping more plastic than I need.

The question is do I need any credit cards? Unfortunately there are situations that really mandate the use of plastic. And I like the convenience of having certain monthly charges billed directly. So I keep it, but one is enough, probably in many ways one too many.

I attended a wonderful workshop last week at the Mennonite Church USA Convention on the Power of Enough.

I suspect that is my new mantra. May I live with simplicity and enough, so that what is excess may be shared.

Peace.