One of the great western habits I inherited after living in the US for 15 years, is the use of the credit card for everything, and then just paying a single bill (the credit card) every month. If you do it properly, it can really increase the quality of your life - rewards, points, etc. - and it can also be very, very dangerous for the undisciplined and income-averse ..
For those I know, including myself and my partner, the habit to strive for is spending less, and I agree that credit can be a useful tool if used wisely, but never really know when life can throw a curve ball. For now, we use credit cards, but manage to eliminate our debt by paying everything soon after incurring debt. Call it using debt for leverage I suppose. For any big purchase (which is rare), we aim to use credit when no interest penalties are present and pay off before any are incurred. A small house, inexpensive vehicles, and thrifty habits even with the use of credit cards allowed us to save quite a bit in contrast to those heavily in debt with terrible credit, but it is still a gamble. I don't blame others for having debt. There are many reasons for this. Without any major life events this system works for us...until perhaps it doesn't.
The #1 rule is, stay cash-positive: don't spend more than you've got in the bank to cover the bills, but be willing to defer the payment and continue income in the interim, because .. after all .. nothing feels better than having all bills paid and still having a net positive every month, to save away ..
By income-averse, I mean those who are averse to generating the incoming required to pay the current bills, and alas this is a subtle but simple difference between solvency and debt. I never really carried much debt, between payments.
But I sure did borrow a lot, to cover my monthly budget.
