Maybe one of the best New Year’s resolutions we can make is to be happy with what we already have rather than continuing to stay on the consumerist track we’re currently on in this country. The holiday season has us all spending like mad, and really doing a number on our credit cards. When we add this to the occasional (or often) car payment, cell phone bill, or utility bill we put on credit cards, we begin to understand how easy it is to get our heads under water.

There’s a sort of freak out that happens when we check out our online banking, see a number that’s lower than what we anticipated, and decide to start charging a bunch of weird things that we normally wouldn’t for fear that we’ll otherwise wind up in the danger zone. But what we forget about during said freak outs is that charging stuff we normally wouldn’t really puts us in the danger zone. An example: Paying straight up for a gallon of milk costs (more or less) around $3-5 bucks. When you charge that same gallon of milk on your Mastercard, after principal, and even if you’re paying more than your minimum payments, that gallon of milk actually cost you around $7. When we think of it in real terms, we understand the absurdity. The problem is, we’re not thinking in real terms—we’re thinking in terms of the things we want rather than what we need. This creates an added conundrum: we’re suddenly unable to pay for a new pair of eyeglasses even though we have a BMW sitting in the driveway, and we’re sitting on our Ethan Allen couch watching our favorite HBO series. Backwards as it is, it’s what we’ve come to—it’s baked into the American culture.

One of the other major issues we face with credit and/or overspending is medical bills. This may or may not be due to health insurance coverage that doesn’t do for us as much as it should. This often has to do with the fact that younger people don’t prepare for health-related disasters, including cancer, car accidents, a need for occupational therapy, or the type of injury that can’t be cured with typical treatment and may require chiropractic care or something else. Many times, insurance doesn’t cover things like therapy or psychiatric care, and other mental healthcare needs. With Millennials working hard and facing more and more stress, it’s easy for them to get sick more frequently, and this adds up. In addition, young people tend to give themselves a treat when someone else didn’t, for example, getting a great review at work, but without a raise—“Well, no raise… how about a trip to Neiman’s to lift my spirits?” It’s a common reaction to bad news.

So what’s the fix? We have to cut back, we just gotta. Our parents had pension plans and social security. Most of us won’t have pensions, and we’re still unsure about whether or not social security will be there for us. Having a Roth IRA or 401(k) is a smart idea, but if you’re not adding anything to it, or find yourself having to use funds from these sources to get out of debt, now you’re in an even worse scenario: you’re using what should be saved for your old age to pay the interest on a gallon of milk or a lavish shopping spree you really could have gone without.

The fact is, we’ve forgotten how to make ourselves feel better without spending money. Learning how to cope with stress and enjoy life without swiping the plastic might be the best New Year’s resolution we can make this year. Stop spending, and start aggressively paying down debt—future you will thank you.

Please feel free to email Ella Grey at ella.l.gray@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.