Living without credit cards today is a very brave thing to do. You need them for everything from checking into a hotel room to shopping on line and everything inbetween. With the cards comes the temptation, and with the temptation comes high interest rates and charges that add up so fast. Fortunately there are alternatives: the debit card and the bopo card. They both use your own cash, but in different ways.

Debit cards: This is the plastic card without the interest. The upside to this is "No debt" You get to shop like a diva, flashing the plastic and carrying nothing but glossy store bags. Buying online without having to print out that "pay me later" form and all you are paying is the actual price not the 14,15 ot 17 percent extra it will cost you by the time you add on the interest charges. This means you are living within your means - there is no overspending when it's coming straight out of your account. The bonus is you think twice or thrice about those impulse purchases...they don't seem as vital when you're actually paying for them! Try it I did, it's the strangest feeling when you know it's your own money paying for it. A big wake up experience.

Now for the downside: Well, its simple you need to have enough cash in your account to cover your purchases. This is both an upside and a downside. It curbs your spending sprees,and it stops you spending! The money you save on interest charges can be popped into savings or spent on something else.

Bopo cards: Bopo is a prepaid Visa card. Put simply, you load it up with cash and then off you go. With a traditional credit card your balance goes up as you shop - on this one, the balance goes down! Another bonus is there are no annual or monthly fees. The upside: You get a fully fledged Visa card with all the conveniences and wide acceptance that goes with that - without a credit limit. Because it's prepaid, the bopo dosen't need to be attached to a bank account, you add cash via the website or at designated 'top up' locations. You keep track of your cash by putting what you can afford to spend on the card and keeping the rent money separate. The bopo can store $1000 at a time or add $2000 over a 30-day period. A 100-point identification check will get you a storage limit of $25,000 - all you need is the cash to fill it.

The downside: Again,it's that you need to have the money to spend it. If you are planning a holiday, it's terrific and a safe way to carry money overseas. You get access to the Visa network of ATMs and outlets. No more worring about traveller's cheques and foreign exchanges - and if your card is stolen the thieves don't gain access to your entire bank account as they would with a debit card. If you link your card to other family memembers they can even transfer money to you via SMS or the bopo website in case of emergency.

You must think I'm a genius! No - I Love the sound of all this - just have to find the cash money first! This is one way to really curb your spending once and for all. I got straight on to it and as I said earlier in the piece, it's the weirdest feeling spending my own money - wish I had of done this years ago - only they didn't have these facilities. Now they have I hope to stay out of debt and stop paying all those expensive charges. I was a shopoholic - now I think twice!

I found all this info on my favourite ebook superstore cbdeluxe - you can too. Goodluck!