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Getting my new credit card served to underscore how I feel about credit cards: extremely wary and nervous.

Afterall, I remember just how long it took me to get out of credit card debt. I remember the frequent backsliding I did. I remember the July without air conditioning, and the driving my car in only 1st & 2nd gears because I finally decided that the answer to an “emergency” wasn’t borrowing money.

Intellectually I know that getting this particular credit card is a good idea. It will save me hundreds of dollars a year in currency conversion fees. I feel better using a credit card for transactions like this instead of using my debit card. But I still have a tight feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about the card. It makes my 2nd credit card, but it will mostly sit filed away since I’ll only be using it for very specific things. I use my American Express all the time, but I’m still not used to that either, which I think is a good thing. This way, every swipe of the card reminds me of the route I never want to go down again. I guess this is one way to use credit responsibly.

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