‘I have an image to maintain!’

Once you begin the cycle of keeping up with the Joneses you’ll be hard-pressed to get out of it. The bar will be consistently set higher and higher, and once you begin spending money (on credit) that you don’t have in order to portray an image to impress, you’ll continue spending more (on credit) to maintain that image. Forget the false image you want to portray now, and think of who you really want to be a few years down the line. Having the financial freedom is the first step to creating a genuine you. Debt won’t give you that freedom.