Does anyone live without using credit cards?

[Virtucomp]

Since we started using credit cards back in the late 80s we have always used them as cash. We buy the things we need like gas, food and products but then pay them off at the end of the month. We have trained ourselves to control our spending so that we don't run a balance.

We have always used some form of rewards card, Gas, Toys R Us, Disney....

I think we may have paid interest on a purchase twice in 25 years. Its not a matter of having a lot of money its more of living within your means.

When we go on a trip like WDW we budget out how much we need to save for vacation. Then DW starts oversaving to see if we can pay off the card without taking the vacation savings out of the account.
Since the parts of the trip are paid for at different times we usually end up saving more money because we worked harder at putting money in the back than we would normally.

 

[disneymeces]

We are done with credit cards!! They are all paid off and I cut every single one of them up into tiny little pieces. I hate the credit card companies and I am not interested in using them and then paying them off at the end of the month. Dave Ramsey lives without them. We are planning a trip soon and we are not using credit cards. I plan on paying cash for my rooms. We did get a travel money credit card from AAA to use. Has anyone used their debit card for a hotel or car rental?

Not done paying our CC debt, but working on it. I got a debit card from Ing direct, put a lil' bit of money on it and use it when I have to reserve room, or I use it for our room card at disney. We don't like to give out our personal debit card, just in case. We just keep enough on the Ing card to get what we need, keeps us on a budget too.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

not encouraging any one to use a cc. BUT IMHO I think it is wise to have 1 for emergency purposes, unless you can really save well and have enough in your account for such events. BUT, say you are traveling and your car dies and you need a rental car. MOST if not all rental companies require a cc of some sorts.
BTW Congrats on being cc debt free. It is liberating isn't it.!

 

[Ka' eo]

Living in NJ and as a person who enjoys going to Atlantic City, I know the at least a few of the Hotel/Casinos down there WILL NOT accept a debit card at check in for incidental charges. I believe you can choose to put cash on hold for your room (I think it is something like $300 a night) if you don't have a credit card, but they absolutely will not take a debit anymore because of the issues with holds.

Just the thought of gambling using CC is

I do however agree that having credit cards for travel is essential.

We have many cards that sit in our home safe. We use several for rewards and travel. We are disciplined about never carrying a balance and have earned thousands for our Disney trips. Our Disney Visa has an insane APR so we wouldn't even be tempted to carry a balance.

We earn free shipping and GC from our LLBean.

We are also trying Discover for their cashback rewards. We'll see how that goes.

However, if we ever carried a balance, all these would be worthless.

I see nothing but benefits from being disciplined and keeping a few cards for travel and emergencies.

Finally, I do not like traveling with cash. I also really like the ability to have an instant accounting of what I spend. Our quicken is attached to our CC and our bank account. So we are able to have automatic analysis of everything we spend.

 

[secretpantssam]

I don't think I would ever get rid of all my credit cards all together. I like to use my credit card for online purchases, just in case god forbid my information is compromised, I don't want them to clear out my checking account. I also like to have it in case of emergencies...like if I need a car repair or an appliance went down that is going to cost more than I would like to clear out of my checking account. That way I can still buy it and pay it off over 2 months if I need to. But I also pay off my balance almost every month, so I don't accrue much interest.

 

[bgenew1]

My question is for those who use yours for everything all month, groceries etc. Do you keep track of that in your check register like it was a debit transaction and then when the bill comes add it up to match and then pay it off? I would love to earn more Disney Rewards and have thought about doing this but wasn't sure how to go about it.

 

[ssawka]

I love our CC. We have the AAA credit card and pay it off every month. We get either 1% or 2% back on every purchase as AAA gift cards. We put everything on it and pay it back at the end of the month. Last year we also put our replacement windows on them. Saved me $500 on WDW tickets this year!

We used to do the Debit card thing, but I don't think we spent any less then. Also you might want to check with your bank. I'm not sure what your responsability is if your number is compromised. I know with CCs, it is usually $50.

 

[ssawka]

My question is for those who use yours for everything all month, groceries etc. Do you keep track of that in your check register like it was a debit transaction and then when the bill comes add it up to match and then pay it off? I would love to earn more Disney Rewards and have thought about doing this but wasn't sure how to go about it.

We don't really track it that closely. We will check over the bill at the end of the month to make sure there are no erroneous charges, but our bill is roughly the same each month, and we know we have enough "buffer" cash to cover it.

 

[hinodis]

I called the Ritz and they said I can just pay for the room at checkin and give them my Debit card and ask them not to swipe it, that I will be paying for incidentals at checkout, OR give them $200 per night we will be there and at check out they will return any cash that was not used. Either way will work fine for me. Now I am going to call the car company and get specifics on the hold they will be placing. To me it is worth it to be rid of the CC. We carried balances for soooooo many years! We worked very hard to get rid of them, so we are choosing to be rid of them completely with NO temptation to use one for a good long while.

 

[DISdreamin']

When we go on a trip like WDW we budget out how much we need to save for vacation. Then DW starts oversaving to see if we can pay off the card without taking the vacation savings out of the account.

This is exactly what I do. We have a vacation account that money is direct-deposited into each paycheck, but I like to see if we can cash-flow our vacation, even though the money is sitting in savings for it - if I can, we can just push the vacation $ over into true savings. I did this with our Disney vacation last year, also - had the 0% interest and just left the money in our vaca account and paid off the trip in full without ever actually dipping into the vaction funds or paying interest.

It's nice, though, to have that vacation money sitting there when, for example, plan tix get really cheap - I bought RT airfare for 4 from our small city to out west for $197 each late last summer. We hadn't planned to buy them until closer to our vacation, but since the cheapest I had EVER seen them before was $300 RT, I was able to snag them and know the money was already there to pay for them without dipping into our true savings!

 

[Shreggor]

Instant gratification is not always the great evil people make it out to be. For example, if you see a rare, fantastic deal on a big ticket item (electronics, vacations etc.) with cc’s you can jump on that deal and even if it takes you a few months to pay it off, assuming you have good credit, the interest might still be cheaper than waiting till you have the cash (when the item is at full price again).

I find this works out well a lot with Disney vacations when people are planning to use their tax refund for a vacation. Go to WDW January when it’s cheap. Use a cc. Pay the cc off in April (when WDW is NOT cheap) with your tax refund.

Yeah, you’ll pay a small amount in interest over the months but no where near as much as the difference between value season and peak season. I suppose if your credit was horrible you might pay the same as the difference, but if that’s the case, you probably aren’t very intelligent in your use of credit and probably shouldn’t be going to WDW until you get that squared away.

I’ve done this before and really see nothing wrong with it. IMO, it would be downright stupid to wait til the cash is in hand and pay double for the same trip.

Credit cards are not the problem, people who don't know how to stay within their reasonable limits are the problem.

 

[DISdreamin']

I’ve done this before and really see nothing wrong with it. IMO, it would be downright stupid to wait til the cash is in hand and pay double for the same trip.

IMHO, this is a counting chickens before they're hatched sitch. I don't spend ANYTHING promised to me until I have the cash in hand. Nope, not gonna do it. So if I have the CASH sitting in my vacation account, I don't mind charging my trip, but I'm not going to count on a tax return (wanna know how different ours was this year with no change in deductions, etc?!) and spend money I don't yet have!

 

[Jill2150]

I use my Discover card purely to get cash back rewards, but I pay it online as soon as i have a balance. That way interest never accrues. Other then that, only debit cards, and cash. It feels great!

 

[bonoriffic]

My question is for those who use yours for everything all month, groceries etc. Do you keep track of that in your check register like it was a debit transaction and then when the bill comes add it up to match and then pay it off? I would love to earn more Disney Rewards and have thought about doing this but wasn't sure how to go about it.

The easiest way to do this is with money software. (Having a wife who is an accountant also helps) This also means you will have to spend a few minutes almost every day using your money software. The vast majority of free stuff out there is fine for sticking to budgets, but is reactionary. It auto pulls your transactions as they clear at the bank/credit card company and matches it against your predetermined budgets. That is great for people who can't balance a checkbook or want to have a general idea of how much money do they have to spend this month. I don't recommend using the free stuff when you start doing everything with a credit card.

When your every purchase is with a credit card, and your spouse is also making purchases each day, you have two options to keep everything in order and control.

#1 Have a lot of money in the bank to cover what you are doing. Just assume you weren't overcharged and settle up each month knowing that unless you bought a boat, you will have more than enough to cover your spending.

#2 Use money software that allows you to enter transactions as they happen, not after they clear. Not only are your checking account transactions logged, but your credit card purchases are line item entered too. This eliminates mint.com and most of the free web based stuff out there. You need to know where you stand today, not where you stood 4 days ago. Knowing the bank balance is like knowing the weather yesterday. It doesn't help you today. The ability to enter future transactions is the key.

We used to love Microsoft Money but that got killed off this year and the only other consumer level software that meets our needs is Quicken. (And it is awful compared to Money)

You also probably need to go a step further than just keeping careful record of your transactions. The secret is adding future transactions. Our next several paychecks are "in the system" as well as mortgage payment, utilities, everything. Not just the bill due in 2 weeks, but the one we will be paying in 2 months. The concept of balancing your checkbook and sticking to a budget is reactionary, you are making adjustments after it has happened. I think most people aren't aware of how their purchases will impact your cash flow in 2 months, and that is when you get in a jam and suddenly credit card payments aren't paid in full because you forgot your twice a year car insurance payment was coming up and the dishwasher broke. I know where I stand today, and can easily see what a $500 purchase next month will do to us 4 months from now.

 

[punkin]

My question is for those who use yours for everything all month, groceries etc. Do you keep track of that in your check register like it was a debit transaction and then when the bill comes add it up to match and then pay it off? I would love to earn more Disney Rewards and have thought about doing this but wasn't sure how to go about it.

I have a budget on Quicken and after I get home from the supermarket for example, I will input my receipts into my CC account on Quicken and it will track for me. It is also cross referenced with my grocery budget (don't ask me how it's set up-that's what DH is for). So even before I get my bill, I know how much it is for and what category the money was spent on. Then I just pay it online.

 

[hinodis]

IMHO, this is a counting chickens before they're hatched sitch. I don't spend ANYTHING promised to me until I have the cash in hand. Nope, not gonna do it. So if I have the CASH sitting in my vacation account, I don't mind charging my trip, but I'm not going to count on a tax return (wanna know how different ours was this year with no change in deductions, etc?!) and spend money I don't yet have!

I agree with you 100% I have learned too many lessons the hard way with money. What if you have an emergency and you need the tax refund? The CC will NOT be paid off. It happened to us....thinking oh we can just pay it off when....Sometimes life just dosn't work the way you thought it would. My no CC trip is to celebrate the one year mark when my oncologist said, "you don't have cancer" When I was soooo sick I was on my laptop planning my trip I knew I would one day be healthy enough take. We have the money and we are going first class all the way! Ritz Carlton club level and on the beach!!

 

[punkin]

You also probably need to go a step further than just keeping careful record of your transactions. The secret is adding future transactions. Our next several paychecks are "in the system" as well as mortgage payment, utilities, everything. Not just the bill due in 2 weeks, but the one we will be paying in 2 months. The concept of balancing your checkbook and sticking to a budget is reactionary, you are making adjustments after it has happened. I think most people aren't aware of how their purchases will impact your cash flow in 2 months, and that is when you get in a jam and suddenly credit card payments aren't paid in full because you forgot your twice a year car insurance payment was coming up and the dishwasher broke. I know where I stand today, and can easily see what a $500 purchase next month will do to us 4 months from now.

This is really important so I wanted to echo this wonderful advice. I have all recurring transactions automatically accounted for in Quicken. My mortgage will not change for the next 4 years and it will always be due on the same date. It is therefore budgeted out for that long, the same with insurance and car payments.

Every dollar has to be accounted for. That way you will never overspend.

 

[bonoriffic]

This is really important so I wanted to echo this wonderful advice. I have all recurring transactions automatically accounted for in Quicken. My mortgage will not change for the next 4 years and it will always be due on the same date. It is therefore budgeted out for that long, the same with insurance and car payments.

Every dollar has to be accounted for. That way you will never overspend.

I didn't want my post to be too huge and seem preachy, and there are certainly plenty of ways to track finances other than the method it seems you and I both employ. It also isn't for everyone. It can be confusing at first especially if you enter transactions that won't take place for months. Not just have them auto scheduled to remind you to pay these items, but add them into your register as though they are paid. But I think the payoff is huge in terms of understanding your true financial health. There is just a learning curve to the software that might scare some off. (As well as initial cost to buy)

Mint.com is great if you hate balancing your checkbook, frequently forget to enter things, and just want to keep to a basic budget and not deal with the day to day hassle of entering things into a computer.

 

[blanq]

not encouraging any one to use a cc. BUT IMHO I think it is wise to have 1 for emergency purposes, unless you can really save well and have enough in your account for such events. BUT, say you are traveling and your car dies and you need a rental car. MOST if not all rental companies require a cc of some sorts.
BTW Congrats on being cc debt free. It is liberating isn't it.!

ITA that having one for emergency purposes is a good idea. I just came back from a cruise this week. If I had a horrible accident while in a foreign port and had to be airlifted back to the US, I would have been totally sunk without my credit card. My family has not had credit card debt for many years, but we do use our card every month, and pay it in full when the bill comes, for the wonderful rewards we get. Our debit card is tied to our checking account, and we never keep huge amounts of money in there, as we use our checking accounts for normal bill paying and living expenses. I have access to a large amount of cash, but not via my debit card. My credit card could come in handy if I have an emergency requiring more cash than I have in my checking account, absent me needing to have to contact my bank and deal with transferring money in the midst of that emergency. Then when my emergency is over, I can transfer cash into my checking account to pay the credit card bill when it comes due.

 

[punkin]

I didn't want my post to be too huge and seem preachy, and there are certainly plenty of ways to track finances other than the method it seems you and I both employ. It also isn't for everyone.

You are right, of course. There are many ways of keeping track of finances. My mother did everything in her head and a manually balanced checkbook. BTW, she also used credit cards and they were always paid off.