How to Get the Stuff You Want With No Money

So there you are. Another hard day at work and you’re greeted in the living room with a stained, torn, broken-down couch. What a way to unwind with the spoils of victory on the job, right?

As ugly and unpleasant as the furniture is, you tell yourself you’ll soldier on with it anyway. After all, a new one will cost a lot of money–money that you don’t have–and you want to gain a little more financial ground before you tie yourself down with debt. That’s sound thinking, and there are a lot of people who could have benefitted from seeing it your way.

But what if there was a middle ground, a place where you didn’t have to pay huge sums of interest but also didn’t have to sit around with a broken spring poking you in the back?

It turns out, there is exactly such a thing. Many retailers now have arrangements with financial institutions for low- or zero-interest payment plans for major purchases.

New Deals All The Time

Last winter’s ice storm has you a little concerned that a repeat performance could cost you another refrigerator full of food and leave your pipes on the verge of freezing. You are thinking seriously about a generator to provide backup power, but the price tag looks pretty severe.

If you’re planning ahead to deal with this winter weather headache, you’ll have time to catch a great deal before this fall’s first frost. When you follow Crest Financial, you’ll see periodic updates with new offers on financing. And by periodic, we mean very frequent. Bide your time through the summer, and when the right offer comes up, pull the trigger. Then let Mother Nature deal you her worst.

Saving Two Ways

These options work just like saving up for something–in reverse. Instead of putting aside, say, $60 a month for five years and then making the purchase, you make the purchase first and then commit the $60 for 60 months. This gives you two big advantages: First, you can have what you need now, and second, it helps you avoid the inevitable price increases on the goods you want.

Want to see this in black and white? Write down the price you paid for that new living room, and check the updated price in five years when it’s paid off. The difference is what you’ve saved by using zero-interest financing instead of saving up. Throw in the interest you’ve saved and that couch is going to feel awfully comfortable.

Built-In Responsibility

There are lots of credit cards out there that offer zero-interest deals. You may have letters in your mailbox today from some of them. But the catch is that it is still a regular credit card. You can also buy gasoline, flowers, coffee, and TV cable with it. In short, it’s a tempting item that could backfire. And to make matters worse, when you add to the balance after making a zero-interest purchase, your payments apply to that purchase first, so the interest on the other purchases just keeps on growing.

Store accounts can’t be used elsewhere, just the store where you made the purchase. While you may stop in and grab a lamp someday, you won’t be tempted to abuse the card–because you can’t.

Credit Growth

One of the best things you can do for your credit score is to make payments on time and quickly eliminate a balance. It demonstrates that you have a reliable source of income and that you will be responsible for your financial commitments.

This is another way that a store financing deal is better than saving up. It’s nice to pay cash for something, but it does nothing for your credit rating. Getting a financing deal and staying current on it will give you the credit improvements you’ll need in order to finance a vehicle or house someday.

Getting ahead financially centers on learning to distinguish between wants and needs, and then distinguishing good ways to pay from bad ways to pay. Don’t ever assume that something you truly need is out of reach. There are always options out there to get you what you need without breaking your bank.