Pay Now---Buy Later

What a novel idea: the layaway plan
Used to be that was the wise thing to do. You picked out what you wanted to give someone as a Christmas gift and began to pay on it. The store kept it in a back room for you to retrieve when you finally made the last payment. Of course you got no interest on the money you paid but the upside was that come the day after Christmas you didn't owe anybody anything and look at the interest you saved.
Somewhere along the way Instant Gratification reared its ugly head and we began to feast on credit, taking big bites to help answer the question, "What am I going to give (fill in the blank) for Christmas?" We bought a lot of things hoping that at least one of them would be the right thing but in doing that we ended up with a bellyful of payments that came due in January.
I saw a story the other night that said layaway plans were coming back and that more shoppers were taking advantage of them. Seems like an old/good idea may get another run.
I like it. Seems better than sharing my income with a credit card company.