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No credit card rule works for American family

Aug 28, 2008 by FN's Shar Bareng

creditcard.jpgHere's proof that you can save more when you do away with credit cards: one family managed to do it for a month.

Marissa and Philip Farhat broke their plastic habit when Good Morning America challenged them to live without their cards for 30 days. They cut up eight of their nine cards and left one frozen in case of emergency, then simply used cash for all their purchases. It wasn't easy at first, since they were forced to shop with whatever amount they had in cash. Consequently, they cut on luxuries and focused their spending on groceries and other necessities instead.

They sat down after the testing period and found that their spending decreased by at least 24 percent from the previous month.

"I think once we sat down and looked over what we saved this month, we realized how much we were spending and how much we could do without," Marissa said. "I actually didn't spend as much as I normally do."

The upshot, of course, was how they decided to permanently ditch their cards. "We don't need it anymore," Marissa said.

Can you quit your plastic habit as the Farhats did?

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