JohnRunchey.com

Imagine you are running a race. The competitors in this race are you, and one other person. This is a race without a finish line - it just goes on, day after day after day. Somewhat like that Sisyphus guy from Greek mythology who was forced to roll the same boulder up a hill each day for eternity. 
 
This is an odd race - the follower will occasionally manage to catch up to the leader, but will never pass him. The leader, conversely, will sometimes fall back to even with the follower, but then will inevitably pull ahead again. 
 
This goes on, and on, and on. 
 
Imagine you are the follower - wouldn't it be discouraging to be continually catching up, only to fall behind again? You'd spend most of your time feeling you were losing, running in desperation, broken up with the occasional feelings of hope when you'd catch the leader. You'd feel hopelessness since you were always playing catch-up.
 
How about being the leader? Here you'd spend most of your time feeling like you were ahead, like you were winning, with only occasional feelings of concern when you dropped back to even with your pursuer. You'd feel hopeful since you were in the lead.
 
Now consider two philosophies of bill payment. 
 
Wizard Will believes in 'using other people's money' to get ahead. If he can pay something off over time, he does. Will puts as many of his monthly purchases on a credit card as possible, so he 'has use of the credit card money free for a month'. When Will's son needs braces, Wizard WIll accepts the 12-month zero percent payment plan. After all, this keeps Will's money working for him. After all, Will is a Wizard.
 
Speedy Sue, in contrast, pays her expenses off up front. She diverts money into savings accounts each month, in preparation for both expected and unexpected expenses. When her daughter needs braces, Speedy Sue pays for them immediately, no monthly payments required, because she has prepared for this expense many months ago. Speedy Sue uses a debit card rather than a credit card, so she is sure to only spend what she can currently cover. 
 
I was a Wizard WIll for many years. Over time though, I've transitioned to being a Speedy Sue, getting ahead of my bills and expenses, paying on the front end, rather than re-paying on the back end. 
 
I was the follower, now I'm the leader. And the feeling of being ahead of the game is just as I imagine it would be if I were the leader in that endless race.
 
The interesting thing is, the monthly outlay of cash is probably close to the same in both situations; you are either paying things off with x dollars per month, or saving x dollars per month in anticipation of expenses. But psychologically, being ahead of the expenses feels far more positive. 
 
I've always thought the credit card 'use someone else's money for a month' argument was complete crap anyway. Are you only going to have expenses in one month? Of course not. Each month you have groceries, eating out, the cable bill, all the other miscellaneous expenses. So maybe in the first month of living on your own you had use of the credit card money free for 1 month - after that, each month you have nearly the same chunk of cash flowing out of your life. How is this different than paying this amount each month without a credit card? As I said, complete crap.
 
So I'll choose to be the leader guy in that race. On top of my expenses, preparing for them, rather than reacting to them. Life is good.