Credit cards or food bank?

So this week is one of those weeks where living without consumer credit forces lifestyle changes.  I had a minor car repair, and had almost no pizza deliveries last week, so this week I totally ran out of cash.    I have just enough gas money to get to work, but like most people I had to take the money out of grocery budget.  Oh if only landlords and insurance companies were as elastic as our stomachs.

So today I went to a food bank, Men United for God on wyandotte.  I got some fresh peppers and tomatoes, bread, canned vegetables, juice and pasta.  I'm very thankful that our community has this kind of help.  During my time volunteering at a food bank I felt the joy of helping others, and today I felt the joy of being helped.

I know there is a culture of shame in our society about taking handouts, but for me the real shame is using credit cards to make ends meet.  I know so many people who month after month dig themselves a deeper debt grave.  Economic realities are so hard to see in this lifestyle, there are many blurred lines between wants, needs, what is affordable and what is not.  This week, I could not afford to drive to work and eat.  If i bought groceries on credit card, I still could not afford to eat, but would have the illusion that I did. 

If you do have credit cards, I encourage you to max them out and never pay it back.  Its best to take as much money as you can from the sharks, while you have the opportunity.  When you need financial help, turn to the community for true help, please do not turn to consumer credit to exchange help for financial slavery.

My most reliable phone friends: the harassing collectors of the predatory lenders

I almost feel like I have no friends and no one ever calls me, but I can always count on Adam from ARO Credit recovery, Bill from CBL Collections, the sweet anonymous woman who leaves me recorded messages every day asking to quickly return the call to her 877 number, and the 10 or so other creditors who call to talk with me everyday. I try to have a meaningful relationship with these people but they can't seem to let go of a grudge. Theyre the kind of friends who are always going on about me owing them this or that.
I didn't end up in this situation because of irresponsibility. I didn't shy away from social obligations, I consciously turned my back on the entire consumer credit system after my house value crashed and I was unable to sell it for more than I owed. I had already given the mortgager (RBC) $22,000 in interest alone, and I was tired of giving all my money away to a bunch of fat cats. Instead of selling at a loss, I told the bank to take the damn house and since my credit would be ruined anyway, I also walked away from all my credit cards, furnace loan, utility accounts, and a $3000 municipal tax bill. My goal was to negate any profit my creditors made off me in interest and generally thwart them in anyway.
That was two years ago, and since they've been paying poor suckers to call me everyday, further increasing the cost of their loans to me, and they will never see a dime. Living off cash is liberating but precarious. But I've never regretted this because having to live within your means brings interesting challenges to an otherwise humdrum life of work and consumption. And some months I'm really low on cash, having less than $10 in your bank account never feels good. But now zero is actually zero, and when I do get paid the money is ALL mine. I was forced to develop the skills of forethought and preparation, because mastercard aint gonna bail me out no more.