What's an acceptable amount of debt?

[piffle]

Just from another thread, I was just curious to see differing views on what debt means to most people and what it means to others.
Fir instance if you're asset rich :ie: good equity and little borrowed debt but with a massive mortage is that more ideal, than a smaller mortgage, less equity but more short term debt - credit cards, store cards
Do people pay off cards every month?
Personally I have one credit card that dp has nothing to do with, I regularly F* it up and over spend but claw it back over a few months, this is how I am. I am SAHM but keep all of dd's DLa and child tax credits/child benefit but do all the household spending.
DP pays everything every month, he would rather use his o/d than have credit card interest charged.
I am fascinated truly as he thinks I am abnormal and a spendthrift and I think he is too rigid and boring about money!
I know some people are not comfy talking about this, I'm not wanting to know exact details, just more of a money pysche thing ya know
In other words he's abnormal not me right

eaney your friends do sound excessively anal.
But is it really that strange to only buy something if you have savings for it? I'd say that's what I do. But then I am lucky to have a well paid job and no difficulty accruing surplus - although otoh I do know people who earn as much or more than me who have no difficulty accumulating debt!
piffle if you have savings as well I don't think I'd describe what you do as being 'in debt' - just slightly undisciplined

It's not that strange to wait for your savings to build to buy things afterall this is what our parents probably did. It's all about balance. My DP's father wouldn't get a mortgage back in the 70's cos he didn't want to be in debt. He is now living in rented accomadation.

My friends won't buy a bigger home cos it would mean they would have to borrow more money. In their world they would rather downsize and have a smaller mortgage or zero mortgage than invest and upsize. I think some people have an irational fear of debt. Personally I would rather have some debt and live a little and enjoy life.

My father died recently and boy did he work hard and he never owed anyone anything. He borrowed money from his mother to buy his home and insisted on paying her back over 10 years. I found out from my aunt that my grandmother used to cry at how little my paretns had. When he died he had a small amount of money in the bank and when I thought of this money it used to make me cry cos it symbolised everything he was about work hard, not buy anything unless you could afford anything (we had very very little) and work some more. We never had a holiday.

Phew now I know where my atitudes about debt come from.

It wasn't quite like that though, when dp and I met he did bail me out to the tune of £5k - to help me pay my mortgage.
I sold my house and put my equity into his flat which we then sold in order to buy this house together.
The money he used to help me out was what he had saved for a new motorbike this was 2001 btw, so he had waited a long time and I could not really form a serious opposition as he had wanted it for so long.
I make it sound worse than it actually was, I guess