You’ve seen those places. They seem to be everywhere now. “Get $200 Now!”

Unfortunately, I fell into one of those places, and because of that, I’ve become a regular at them, which just proves that I can waste money with the best of them. Everytime I walk into those places, I am wasting between $20 and $30 dollars. That’s not really not that much at any one time, but it’s enough that it adds up very quickly. It’s very easy to become a regular at these places, too. To put it simply, it is way too easy to come out of there with cash in your pocket. Of course, you don’t think about how many times you leave there with less money than you had.


Twice before now, I thought I had gotten out of the paycheck advance cycle. I took the cash to the place to get the final check back, and said to myself that I would never go back there again. Of course, I eventually did, because in the back of my mind, I knew I had an out in case I needed money. Inevitably, I fell into situations where I needed that easy out, and I ended up taking it. The problem is that I tell myself that I will pay it all back right away, so it will just cost me that one time fee, but what I end up doing is re-writing the check everytime, so I’m basically paying another fee to borrow the original amount of money.


Today, I’m breaking free of that. The first step of course is to pay them off. I’m doing this the bad way, I think. I’m letting them cash the checks I wrote them instead of me going there and giving them the money. Maybe if I do this, the next time I want to use the paycheck advance, I’ll think that they might giveme some problems about not coming by the last time. Hopefully that little hesitation will stop me from using those places. My next step is to focus, truly focus, on an emergency fund. I know an emergency fund will help in those need money quick situations, and help me avoid the temptation of the quick money from check cashing services.


So wish me luck, and keep steppin’

Filed under: debt, money, finance