Are your rewards really rewarding or are you just in a vicious cycle of spending?

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You hit the stores in search of that something special that you’ve always had to have or you just can’t live without, you search high and low for that most important possession. You spot it on a shelf tucked way inside behind other merchandise. You grab it and you can hardly believe your eyes; it’s in pristine condition what a bargain.

You’re so excited you can hardly contain yourself you rush to the checkout lane and whip out your old faithful wallet. Nothing to choose from except the old plastic credit card or some tattered cash tucked behind the flap. You decide on the plastic it’s smooth, colorful, and thrifty; it show class, grace and social affluence.

Your turn is up you make the purchase you’re so amazingly excited as you whisk away from the store with your new trinket in hand. You have just the place to put it right next to your other trinket you bought last week when you did that cool little thing at the office. You know just like the other items you had to have just because you wanted them.

You arrive at home and stare with curiosity and wonder as you place your nifty new purchase on the shelf with the others. It adds such new charm, and beauty to your collection. The way it reflects of the glass lit shelving is almost hypnotizing to look at and watch. Your content and feel as if you performed the greatest deed for mankind by making that purchase.

Your bills come in the mail as they always do and the first thing that you open is that credit card bill, your eyes almost pop out of your head as the astronomical interest rates seems to have eaten up all of your last payment and the reduction in principle was reversed due to other charges, taxes, and late penalties. You notice that you’re over the limit and your latest purchases aren’t even on that statement.

You begin to panic and feel a bit stressed that you overdrew the account. You’re not so happy with the purchase you made; you might even resent the purchase a little bit. You know this passes with time yet the debt continues to grow. Soon it consumes your entire life until you feel so overwhelmed that you can hardly even think about it without feeling like an anxiety attack is coming over you. You feel all knotted up and fearful of what might happen next.

The only people that call you are bill collectors and your debt providers to remind you that you are late on your obligations. You feel as if there is no way out a dark cloud is coming over you. Your reward purchase seems like a bad habit that you can’t break. You’re starting to realize that you have a spending problem.

You look for ways to stop the cycle but your relentlessness weakens with every failed attempt. Not to worry though, millions of people are walking the same path every day. Stuck in a cycle of social acceptance of “it is how it is”. People are being misled into this type of behavior; it’s easy to have an instant gratification mentality with the advancement of our instant access society.

People want it all and the want it now, you need to realize the problems and head it straight on face to face. Money spending can be very much a disease that ruins your life, health and wealth with no second thought; in a blink of an eye everything changes.

Don’t become a victim know the warning signs and seek out assistance if you can’t make the corrections on your own. First take a close look at your house are you cluttered or over stocked with items of clothing, collectables, shoes, tools or other items? Secondly take a look at your financial statements (profit and loss statement, balance sheet, expense report) to see what your financial net worth looks like.

With no second guessing you’ll soon be able to have a clear view of your entire situation. You’ll know if your rewards are reward to you or just rewarding to your creditor’s benefit. All of the frequent flier miles, rewards from Visa, Master Card, Discover Card and American Express are all designed to get you spending.

Rewarding yourself is for good behavior, once a month after achieving all of your contributions toward your future plans, current expenses all paid, unnecessary spending cut from your budget, as well as new profitable investments researched and purchased. Then and only then will you have the ability to consciously accept a reward for great or exceptional behavior. Until then it’s not rewarding to make purchases just for the sake of spending. It’s downright unrewarding and unsettling to our core when we do things of this nature.

We are just conditioned to think its normal everyday activities to be like this. No one has to live in debt over load or seek shelter from the weight of their financial burden. Seek knowledge and a plan to uncover your full financial potential. Stop the blatant disruption of the course of evolution by aligning yourself with the correct actions you are achieving for. Stop living for the moment if your not prepared to stay ahead of the curve and prepare for tomorrow. You’ll wind up six feet under a stack of bills waiting for every last breath to be sucked out of your life. Instead run the race, win the championship and earn the rewarding, respectfulness you deserve by taking control of your money habits today.

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