For those who pay credit cards off each month, how do you do it?

[Lumiere Lover]

We pay on our Disney credit card two or three times a month. We don't charge things we don't have the money for. I put the funds aside in our account until I can pay the bill online (Chase only allows a payment once a week).

 

[rnorwo1]

I put most of my expenses to my credit card for the rewards too, but my trick is to pretend in my budget tracking that I don't.

For example, if I have $50 budgetted for groceries for the month, and spend $20 at the store today, regardless of whether I paid cash or with credit card, I track that amount under groceries in my tracking spreadsheet and know that I have $30 left in the budget.

I think this is definitely what I want to do, will have to just get crazy tight for a month or two to get the money in the budget before I spend it. I may have to attempt no-buy again... I tried it twice and I swear it induced buying sprees!

I only charge what I have the money in the bank to pay for. I use already earned money to pay my CC off with. I wait for the billing date to pay it off.

The way you do it you are buying things today that you have not yet earned the money to pay for.

Yes and no.... I have earned the money, but there is just a huge lapse (4-6 weeks) before I am actually given the check. I guess this is where we got started with the floating period, years ago, and it's been a cycle ever since. I'm also never going over an acceptable spending amount, what can easily be paid, usually with a decent amount left over, from that month's paycheck... which I just happen to get the following week.

But just reading about everyone who has the money beforehand makes me think that way will make me feel so much more secure and will probably help us get more in the savings each month. Thanks for all the advice and info!

 

[rnorwo1]

We pay on our Disney credit card two or three times a month. We don't charge things we don't have the money for. I put the funds aside in our account until I can pay the bill online (Chase only allows a payment once a week).

And Chase is another problem with me paying more frequently, even when I do have the money! For some reason, I can only login to my account occasionally from my home computer. I would say it comes up every 50th attempt or so. I have no problems logging in at work, but I often am so busy I can't take the time to do it. Does anyone else have this problem with Chase? I have a hard time believing it's my computer at home since it will let me login occasionally, but who knows.

 

[dhardawa]

Here is my system. I charge everything and keep the receipts in my walled. Every few days I take the receipts, add them up, and deduct that amount from my check book. Then, I highlight it so it doesn't get lost. When the bill comes, I add up all those highlighted lines, add that amount back into my check register, add all the items that weren't in the check register (phone payment, cable payment, etc.). I then cut a check for the total of the highlighted lines plus the items that weren't in the check register. That covers everything. No surprises that way either.

 

[dzorn]

And Chase is another problem with me paying more frequently, even when I do have the money! For some reason, I can only login to my account occasionally from my home computer. I would say it comes up every 50th attempt or so. I have no problems logging in at work, but I often am so busy I can't take the time to do it. Does anyone else have this problem with Chase? I have a hard time believing it's my computer at home since it will let me login occasionally, but who knows.

Chase allows a payment every 3 days.

Denise in MI

 

[gshanny]

We just write it in the checkbook as if we wrote a check. We just use CC for the check number. I subtract it out just like a check. When the credit card bill comes I go through receipts and toss the ones that showed up and mark them off in the checkbook, just like I would when I balance the account. It helps us to double check that we didn't transpose numbers too. We don't go over what we have this way.
This has helped save money also by not using checks. We usually don't write more than 3-5 actual checks a month.

 

[Swimalie]

Simple I have more in the checking account than I'm charging. I don't budget but I know how much is on the card and pay it when the bill comes in.

 

[wide awake]

I don't see where you have a problem. You're billed for some purchases almost a month after you make them, and you're paying from your check that is for work already completed. If you lost your job tomorrow, you would still get a paycheck for the work you'd already completed, plus the lag time before the first check you got... when you first start working there are usually one or two cks that you miss because you're not in the system. I always pay my cards in full, on the due date. I don't pay attention to what I charge, other than noticing that the balance is usually w/in a certain sum each month, give or take about $100, unless I've had outstanding expenses, for example a vacation or Christmas. For those I plan what I can spend on what I'm likely to have, and don't go over. For example, if I know that on average I will have a $1500/month surplus I plan vacations and Christmas spending to equal about $18,000 for the year. I don't worry about the month to month because we live well below our means.

 

[Brer Shay]

In the past, I had problems with overcharging and paying my minimums on credit cards. Got everything paid off (except the mortgage, which I'm fine with) and was happy with that. However, I started really missing my rewards from the charges. Tried a few things and what works best for me is every week (or more often if I'm charging alot), I add up my receipts, go to the bank and pull the cash out. When the bill comes due, I redeposit the cash and pay it. Tried the writing it out in the checkbook, but that didn't cut it for me. And somehow seeing the cash amount of what I'm charging keeps me more in touch with what I'm actually spending. Works for me.

 

[alice99]

So, trying to break this cycle, I stopped using the card for a month to get "caught up." I have bills that go to the credit card, but I've deducted that money from my checking account to make sure that I don't spend it before I transfer it to the card. But as I look ahead at the rest of the month, we will likely run out of money in the checking account (we have a savings but it's assigned for different things, so I don't want to touch it).

So what would you do? Do you stop spending, b/c you don't have the money in the checking account to cover the charges immediately, or do you go with your plans b/c you'll have the money in just a few weeks and it will not cost anything in interest? I'm not talking about frivolous spending, we're very frugal... but, for example, do I pass up the sale on school clothes now b/c I really should wait two more weeks until I have the cash in hand?

Thanks, I'm curious to see how everyone handles this!

Maybe trying to catch up in one month is too ambitious...... Take 2-3 months, this way you don't have to pay double the bills to catch up.

 

[latinqt]

Please help. What is YNAB?

 

[Vickmeys]

I pay our credit card off weekly. We pay everything that we can with a credit card, then pay it off each week. Love the rewards!

 

[peggster]

We just write it in the checkbook as if we wrote a check. We just use CC for the check number. I subtract it out just like a check. When the credit card bill comes I go through receipts and toss the ones that showed up and mark them off in the checkbook, just like I would when I balance the account. It helps us to double check that we didn't transpose numbers too. We don't go over what we have this way.
This has helped save money also by not using checks. We usually don't write more than 3-5 actual checks a month.

This is what I do, too, and I've done it for years. I have rewards credit cards, so I pay as much as I can with them, and pay the bill in full every month. This method still allows me the benefit of the float.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Please help. What is YNAB?

YNAB = You Need A Budget

We use our credit card for anything we can to earn the rewards. I balance my checkbook everyday and part of that includes reviewing our online credit card statement. Whatever charges posted the previous day I pay and each charge is listed separately in the checkbook register instead of just a lump sum 'credit card payment'. That way I can track detailed spending.

 

[rnorwo1]

Please help. What is YNAB?

It's a budgeting software, You Need A Budget (YNAB). I LOVE it. It helps keep track of every cent spent, you can look at totals for any time period, search for amounts in categories or at particular stores, so much you can do. It's really helped us to start saving more, and stop "pretending" like we have more money than we do!

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I guess I don't really understand the problem. I pay our credit card bill in full when I get the bill. I use our current salary to pay the bill. This doesn't strike me as not living within my means

 

[sk!mom]

I guess I don't really understand the problem. I pay our credit card bill in full when I get the bill. I use our current salary to pay the bill. This doesn't strike me as not living within my means

This is what we do. Our paychecks for the month accumulate and sit in the bank. We charge everything that we can. When the bill comes, we use the accumulated funds to pay. Some months we have charges in excess of our regular pay for vacations or large purchases, that money is transferred from the appropriate savings account to pay that portion of the bill.

 

[rnorwo1]

I guess I don't really understand the problem. I pay our credit card bill in full when I get the bill. I use our current salary to pay the bill. This doesn't strike me as not living within my means

I don't think it's a "problem", I would imagine this is the way most people do it. I'm sure we're living within our means too, otherwise we'd be paying interest and not able to pay it off each month It's just that I couldn't get the YNAB software to work right if I was charging something and didn't have the cash in the checking account at that very moment.

I don't guess any particular way is problematic, as long as you're not incurring interest, but I think it will just make me feel better to start living on last month's income (which is the YNAB philosophy.) But thanks to everyone who suggested taking a few months to get "switched over", that's really the only way to do it for us right now.