One reason it’s so hard to get out of debt is because it’s so easy to spend. We may know in the back of our minds that a purchase isn’t a good idea, but in the moment, the negative numbers plaguing your account are easy to ignore.

To help, the Family Credit Counseling Service has two freebies for you at its StopThinkSave site. The first is a totally unfashionable but hard to miss red rubber band bracelet (you know, like the yellow Lance Armstrong ones). The bracelet says: Stop. Think. Save.

The next freebie is a credit card sleeve donning the image of a traffic light set over an ominous stormy sky. “Put me back! Your goals are more important than this!” scolds the little card carrier.

I only wish the agency had let me know about the tools a bit sooner. The site says it takes three to five weeks for delivery, so these puppies might not help you this holiday season.

Then again, you can create your own reminders by tying a red string to your wrist and taping a warning on your credit card.

Better yet, just take the cards out of your wallet if you’re lacking willpower. Willpower is in short supply for many of us this time o’ year.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 5:14 pm and is filed under credit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.