I earn a modest income, but I maintain a credit card for emergencies, holding a reasonable amount of cash in South Africa, you're asking to get gutted, so I choose to be gutted by 1000 cuts via the bank instead.

I do withdraw cash directly from my credit card though so I try to keep that transaction footprint on credit cards small, and only when no option is available like an online purchase. Then I get all these credit card points which I never use so I just give them to family and get the cash or bitcoin for it.

I ensure I clearly my balance within 55 days to avoid paying any interest and would never spend more than I could replace within a month/2 months if something crazy happened like a major repair.

I don't have any loans of any kind, I think debt is part of the game, and can be useful, there have been times I've used my credit card to purchase bitcoin because I knew I could repay it pretty easily and not need to sell the BTC so that one worked out.

It's a slippery slope, though, the bank is constantly pestering me to increase my limits and giving me better rates so I can end up hanging myself.