WILL THAT BE CASH OR CREDIT CARD?

Without my laptop again for almost two weeks—this time, HP main office had to borrow it to verify my complaints—I was back to resorting to the newspapers when keeping abreast with some current events.

What got me excited one day last week was coming across a print ad in the Philippine Inquirer featuring Canon’s EOS digital camera

There’s a project I’ve relegated to the backburner due to my lack of a better camera to work with. The Canon SLR film camera I've been using no longer seems to cut the grade. It's cumbersome, too. The film has to be developed and the prints scanned; whereas with a digital camera, all I have to do is hook it up to my laptop and the pictures are ready to be tweaked and published. And now that this Canon EOS 5D is available locally for purchase, acquiring one may finally breathe life into this project.

Adhering to a personal rule of thumb, especially with high-priced acquisitions, I started looking around for an Item I own with similar value as this Canon digital camera. Also, it has to be something I haven’t used in at least a year. The intention is to liquidate it in order to raise the cash for this new camera.

Surely, I could just use my credit card and rush off to a nearest Canon retailer; however, I strictly use the only credit card I have for emergencies, and pay off the entire balance when the bill comes.

You see, I’ve learned the hard way (while living in New York) how a piece of plastic could lead to spontaneous shopping sprees and constant insignificant partying. I was young and frivolous then. And may I add, not expecting to live beyond 30 and therefore, didn’t have to worry about any outstanding debts. Oh my, was I wrong!

But carrying a substantial personal debt has always been deeply entrenched into the American psyche. In a recent New York Times article alone, The American Way of Debt, author Jackson Lears claims “The fattest nation on earth is also the greediest consumer of global resources and now is borrowing more than ever to satisfy its appetites.” He then goes on to illustrate the large core of truth in his indictment.

Actually, to agree with him, I need not go any farther from my own family circle to exemplify his argument.

Just the other day, while speaking to one of my brothers over the phone, I was astonished to hear the dilemma his eldest son had gone through recently. Not satisfied with their beautiful home in a tree-lined street in Teaneck, New Jersey, his son decided to buy a much bigger house with a sprawling lawn. Not only is the new house an extra sixty miles farther away from Manhattan where he commutes to work everyday, he now has to pay an additional $200 a month for someone to clean and maintain his lawn.

Supposedly, the most troubling aspect was his making the purchase for a new house without the current one having been sold beforehand. But then again, how could he sell it without having a new house to move into; a catch-22 scenario, indeed. So, for four months, he was paying off two hefty mortgages and had to borrow money from his parents to pull it through. Thus, my nephew was no longer representing the glamorous ethos of self-gratification, but instead personifying a middle-class American homeowner seriously burdened by both his possessions and obligations.

American Consumer Credit Counseling figures also attest to the country’s alarming trend of consumers owing soaring debts and having no savings to speak of. And that many are filing for bankruptcy at record rates. Unarguably, Americans are indeed bathing in red ink; as consumers their combined credit totals to an astronomical $1.7 trillion.

Personally, it took some years for me to correct the course of my financial affairs. I even sought professional guidance to help me with devising sensible budgeting and saving schemes, as well as making more clarified distinctions between personal desires and needs.

One of the many lessons I’ve learned and have been applying since then is first disposing off an item I already own prior to making a new purchase. For example, before buying a new necktie, I must first eliminate one from my tie rack. As for taming my urge for instant gratification, I would save for those things I want instead of buying them immediately with a credit card.

When I purchased my laptop and upgraded my Nokia 3310 to a 6630, I sold some jewelry beforehand. When the credit card bills arrived, I had the cash to pay off entirely the total amount due. I don’t particularly like wearing or collecting jewelry, but have received some as gifts from my family through the years; which they’d rather give me instead of gift certificates that expire or tend to be forgotten.

By the way, I once won from a drunken bet a vintage watch. I find it ostentatious and therefore, would rarely wear it. I handed it over to my nephew the other day to have it cleaned by a professional. I also asked him to take it to a watch dealer in Glorietta for appraisal. If sold, I might just be able to afford that Canon digital camera and some of its nifty accessories. Hmm, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.