Remember getting that first credit card? It would be used strictly for emergencies. None of those ever really popped up, and you got a letter in the mail last month saying that you credit limit just doubled. All of a sudden temptations start to resemble emergencies.

Getting a pair of shoes, going out to dinner, going to a concert or buying a CD all of a sudden become easier and easier. This is free money! I can buy anything I want, without waiting and only have a small monthly payment. Perfect.

It is perfect until you run some numbers. That dinner you ate last year and charged has been paid for many times over. A balance of $1,000 at 18% would take 153 months to pay off, if you made the minimum payments, and you would have paid $1,115.41 in interest alone. That is enough money to buy everything that you charged twice. (Money for Tomorrow)

Credit cards sound pretty dumb now, don’t they? The solution is a savings account. If you open a savings account and start saving, you will no longer need a credit card. Simply put $20-$50 a pay period into your savings account the day you get paid. You probably will not even notice it gone. This will give you anywhere between $480 and $1,200 after a year.

An amount this small is not going to rocket you to early retirement, but it will replace your credit cards (aka the devil). Each year this amount is going to rise, just like your credit limit. You can put in more money if you choose to increase your balance at a faster pace.

How does a savings account replace my credit cards? Good question. Many people have what they call an “emergency” savings account. An account to be used for emergencies, just like that credit card you got in the mail. The difference is the interest actually works in your favor as opposed to being against you. Many of these accounts even have debit cards for convenience.

Create your own emergency account and cut up your credit cards!