Overspending with credit cards has apparently become a serious financial problem. I recently read of a woman who puts her cards in a container of water and freezes them, so they will be available only for emergencies. This strategy is obviously devised for those who have grown up expecting instant gratification but still have an ancient fear of debtor's prison .

The theory is that you will not spontaneously pick up your credit cards, encased in a solid block of ice, and rush out to buy frivolous unneeded things on a whimsical impulse. If you did, you would have a purse full of ice water by the time you got to the mall, your tissues and breath mints would be dissolved, your cell phone would be afloat, and you would have left an embarrassing trail of dribbles behind you.

But what if there were a real emergency? Suppose your spouse calls with an urgent need to use the frozen credit card for a tow truck, a lawyer, or bail bondsman? Do you think they are going to let you into the police station while you are holding an an ice pick or a blowtorch?

Even the ice block, would not stop someone from making an impulsive purchase by telephone. It is possible that card numbers could still be read through clear ice. If the person on the other end of the phone can understand you while your teeth are chattering, and you don't mind a little frostbite on your fingers, this is not a deterrent.

If you really insist on the freezer method, it might be better to put the cards in something opaque like sirloin tips and gravy, Marinara sauce, or chili and beans. You then have to devise a little word association trick to remember which freezer container has the cards. It might be the chili, since credit and chili both start with the same letter... or Marinara sauce since it starts with "m" as in money... or sirloin tips since the article that suggested it was entitled "tips" for saving money.

If this becomes a trend, card companies may have to start printing warnings in teeny-tiny type on the back of cards: "Do not thaw in the oven. Doing so will turn your card into a sculpture resembling a work by Salvador Dali."

"Do not thaw under an electric blanket. Doing so may short out the blanket, and leave an uncomfortable and discommodious wet spot on your mattress.""Do not thaw in the microwave. Doing so may cause the magnetic strip to interact with electronic waves which will destroy your appliance after electronically debiting your account for an amount up to $100,000."

Card companies should realize that persons who need to freeze their credit cards do not have minimum self-control. Cards are way too easy to get. Even children, pets, and automobiles with human sounding names can get them. The applications ask for a name and address .

They have checkboxes marked: "Yes", "Okay", "Si", "Da!", "maybe" , "arf" or "honk", following the question "Do you want a credit card?" They should have one more question: "Do you intend to freeze this credit card?" (Even dogs and vehicles will not do this.) If the answer is affirmative, the company should withdraw the offer in their own interest.

If you freeze your cards, perhaps it would be best for you not to have them at all. In freeing yourself of cardholder responsibilities, you will no longer deal with cashiers who distrustfully imply that your card may have been produced in Italy since it smells suspiciously of Marinara, and it will save you the embarrassment of someday having one of your guests ask, "Hey, what's this credit card doing in my chili dog?"

My credit cards are safely cemented under a brick wall.