Personal Finance and Credit

Directed by P.J. Hogan
Released in 2009 

Confessions of a Shopaholic is the perfect example of a woman with no sense of how to handle money. Rebecca Bloomwood, played by Isla Fisher, is a young girl living in New York. She knows everything there is to know about fashion and expresses that in her clothes. Her appearance shows a fashionable, happy woman living the dream in New York City, but she is really thousands of dollars in debt and working for a finance magazine. In this movie, she learns to overcome the temptation of credit cards and finds a little love through the process. Aspects and lessons she learned are:

Credit Cards are Not Free

Credit cards are like debit cards but you spend other people's money instead of your own. In the movie, Rebecca used her credit cards every time she shopped. She never paid attention to the price of an item or stopped to think about if she had enough money to pay for it. Because of this, she would get bills at the end of every month saying the money she owed. She realizes she cannot pay the bills but continues to shop with her credit cards anyway. She does this because it seems like everything is free because she has not actually paid for the item yet. She is supposed to pay at the end of every month until it is paid off. To avoid being in this situation, you can pay with a debit card instead. Every time you buy something new, the money is directly taken out of your bank account. You can also buy only the things you can afford or have an emergency fund. In addition to struggling with this, she struggled with paying her bills on time.

Pay your Bills on Time

As an adult, every month you have bills to pay. Some are electricity, rent, and in Rebecca's case, credit card bills. In the movie, there is a scene where Rebecca and her best friend are going through all her bills and seeing what she owes. The bills added up to thousands of dollars due. Rebecca tends to hide all of her bills and out of depression goes to buy more. This just keeps adding bills to her hidden pile. This is an example of what you should NEVER do.  You have to pay your bills on time because all late bills affect your credit score. You can make a budget to help you pay your bills on time. If you can outline a budget showing how much of your paycheck to put towards all your bills, you will not forget to pay them. This is help you keep a good credit score. Along with learning these aspects of credit, Rebecca learns lessons on finance.

How to Use Credit Cards Wisely

If you have a credit card, you do not use it to pay for everything. Rebecca did not know this. She used her credit card to pay for everything she bought. This is the main reason she went into debt. One way to use credit cards wisely is to limit the number of credit cards you have. Rebecca had seven credit cards! She could pay with a different one every time. You can also write all of your purchases down to keep up with what you spend. If Rebecca would have done this, she may not have ended up at rock bottom. Rebecca learned this lesson the hard way just like she did with using her paycheck. 

How to Use your Income? 

You should know what your take home pay is every month. Based on your income, you should make a budget. The budget should include your monthly bills, necessities, savings, and so on. Everyone budget looks different. Rebecca did not have a budget. Because of this, she would spend her paycheck on clothes and jewelry instead of on electricity and water. She would do this every month, and the bills just keep piling up. Rebecca learns this lesson along with many others throughout the movie.