Cash, credit , or combination?

[Jeff_G]

I think I need to look into Dave Ramsey. Do you suppose I could find those books/DVD's at the library?

Yes library and there is loads of information on his web site.

Also Cash doesnt always mean currancy, a debit card works also, but you still will spend more with the debit card vs cash, but less then credit cards...

The biggest thing is to sit down and create a written budget of every single dollar for the month before the month begins. Tell your money what you want it to do, rather then find out what it did on its own… You would be amazed what you can do when you set goals, think about life with no car payments, no mortgage payment, owing nothing to no one….

 

[weHEARTmickey]

I think I need to look into Dave Ramsey. Do you suppose I could find those books/DVD's at the library?

Probably! Try to find a "Financial Peace University" class being offered. Our church provided it (and it was open to ANYone who wanted to come.) You might be able to find info on his website. Dave Ramsey doesn't make sense to a lot of people, but it DEFINTELY made sense to us. OT & sorry to the OP for this: We bought our house 3.5 yrs ago & we hope to have it paid off within 3 years. Both of our cars are paid off, & we don't have ANY credit card bills. We don't go out to eat very much & we don't spend tons of "extra money" on useless things. We DO vacation several times a year, we DO give more than 10% to our church, and we give to several other charities as well. The cash/envelope system definitely helped us get our finances on track!

 

[minnie1928]

I'm one of the oddballs that spends more with cash than a CC. Every month we take out $200 in cash. Largely my DH uses it for lunches and when he travels on business (a lot). However, occasionally I'll take a $20 and put it in my purse. If I know it's there, then I feel it's ok to stop at starbucks...I have cash! Or, I can stop and get a quick bite to eat while out running around...because I have cash! I'm very anal about tracking every cent of our credit card purchases, but I don't do this with cash purchases. So, for me the cash has already been spent once I cash the check. However, credit card purchases create an additional outflow in the future which I try to avoid.

So, with the exception of the $200, we pay everything either via direct debit to our checking account (mortgage, utilitlies, etc.) or with a credit card. We carry no balances, pay no interest, and earn hundreds of dollars per year in rewards.

 

[marie1203]

We use credit cards and debits cards. I make a budget each month and we stick to it no matter what we are paying with. There are a few of our bills that we can't pay with credit cards so we use a debit card for that. Other than that we put everything else on credit cards and pay it full at the end of each month. We love the rewards. And in the past 3 years only once we paid interest on because we were out of the country couldn't get to a computer to make the payment online. To us it's been so worth it over the years we had collected a lot of money in rewards. I hate using cash because it is dirty and I hate having change. Most of it gets lost or falls.

 

[rubato]

CCs for everything, even a car once.

I don't buy things I can't afford. I couldn't stick to a cash only budget, even at the grocery store. If something's on sale, I'll buy 100 of them. That shouldn't come out of my weekly budget.

 

[QVCshopper]

The biggest thing is to sit down and create a written budget of every single dollar for the month before the month begins. Tell your money what you want it to do, rather then find out what it did on its own… You would be amazed what you can do when you set goals, think about life with no car payments, no mortgage payment, owing nothing to no one….

I agree, but you can accomplish these same things by using credit cards. I really don't think it's credit vs. cash. It's about personal discipline and being honest with yourself and not wanting everything. Be happy and thankful for what you have. Show respect to yourself.

We don't have a mortgage or car payments and don't owe money to anyone (except for real estate taxes and such). While it's great, we are thinking about moving to a better school district, which means a smaller mortgage again. But what good is money if you can't use it to get what you need and want? For me, I want a good education and safety for my kids. We also have a large retirement savings, about double what my parents have...

 

[ceemys]

Congrats! That's quite an accomplishment

Thanks!! It's hard, but definitely makes me feel better knowing that I am doing the right thing.

 

[SeansMom]

Yes library and there is loads of information on his web site.

Also Cash doesnt always mean currancy, a debit card works also, but you still will spend more with the debit card vs cash, but less then credit cards...

The biggest thing is to sit down and create a written budget of every single dollar for the month before the month begins. Tell your money what you want it to do, rather then find out what it did on its own… You would be amazed what you can do when you set goals, think about life with no car payments, no mortgage payment, owing nothing to no one….

I would be THRILLED to be completely out of debt, and am fairly driven to be so. I'll check out the library and see what I can find.

Probably! Try to find a "Financial Peace University" class being offered. Our church provided it (and it was open to ANYone who wanted to come.) You might be able to find info on his website. Dave Ramsey doesn't make sense to a lot of people, but it DEFINTELY made sense to us. OT & sorry to the OP for this: We bought our house 3.5 yrs ago & we hope to have it paid off within 3 years. Both of our cars are paid off, & we don't have ANY credit card bills. We don't go out to eat very much & we don't spend tons of "extra money" on useless things. We DO vacation several times a year, we DO give more than 10% to our church, and we give to several other charities as well. The cash/envelope system definitely helped us get our finances on track!

I'll look for that on the website, but it doesn't seem as we get much action as far as conferences go here, we're very rural.

CCs for everything, even a car once.

I don't buy things I can't afford. I couldn't stick to a cash only budget, even at the grocery store. If something's on sale, I'll buy 100 of them. That shouldn't come out of my weekly budget.

I just had this vision of 100's of boxes of Kleenex and Tampons stacked up in your closet. Just my twisted sense of humor I guess.