Today credit cards are all the rage. Everyone has one. No one pays cash for anything anymore. Some people don't even carry cash. Charging is the way to go. And the result? A lot of people drowning in credit card debt. The solution? Try using cash for a change.

When you apply for a credit card be sure you read carefully the terms and conditions. You might start out with an amazing rate. But don't miss or payment or make a late payment. You might find that they double or even triple that rate of interest. Purchases made on a credit card that has interest rates nearing 30% are going to cost you a small fortune down the road.

Credit is not all bad. We all need credit at one time or another and you can't establish good credit if you never use credit for anything. If you always pay cash how will creditors know that you are a good risk? So there is a balance to be had.

But that good credit standing can quickly change if you begin to charge more on those credit cards than you can possibly pay back. Interest is tacked on each month that the credit card carries a balance. It may be only a few dollars now, but let the balance linger for a few months and you will see the difference.

Using credit cards for intangible things encourages debt. It is convenient to purchase groceries, gas, pedicures, and other services on a credit card, but in a few weeks there will be nothing to show for it. When the bill comes, the food will have been eaten and the gas gone from the tank.

An emergency card is good to have. It is very useful when the unexpected happens and there is no disposable cash to take care of it. So it is not necessary to ban all credit card use.

So pick the one with the lowest interest rate, pay the others off and cut them up. Close your accounts and don't let the credit card companies talk you out of it. They are the only ones that stand to gain from you having multiple credit cards and mountains of credit card debt.

Before there was plastic, people used to pay with cash. Remember cash? If people didn't have enough money, they waited until they did. We all could take a page from their book. People are too comfortable carrying around a boatload of debt.