I feel so liberated, not using credit cards anymore

[Disney1fan2002]

I don't think I will ever go back!

Standing in line at Lowe's today, 3 people in front of me, all pulled out a credit card. (yes, I know it could have been a debit card.) standing there, with cash in hand, I just felt relief. Knowing I was no longer adding to the growing balance on my CC.

Then, I go to the bank, to deposit a check, and the lady in front of me was getting a cash advance from her cc. That is when I realized, I never want to be there again!

EDITED TO ADD: before people feel I am passing judgement on those who used their cc, I am NOT. This post is totally 100% about ME and how I feel. Out of the 4 people today using a cc, 3 probably pay their balance off each month. I am not disciplined to do that, so away went the cc.

 

[clarabelle]

Or they could be like me. I use my credit cards like crazy and pay them off every month.
I do it for the points

 

[Beth76]

Or they could be like me. I use my credit cards like crazy and pay them off every month.
I do it for the points

Me too. I rarely have/use cash.

 

[mommaU4]

Yeah for you!!

I doubt I'll ever be there. From reading these threads sometimes I feel like the only person who still uses credit cards and has a mortgage payment! We need another car since right now we only have one, so pretty soon I'll have to add car payment to that list.

My hats off to you!

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I haven't used credit cards since my divorce almost 8 years ago. I am so much better off. I keep one for shopping online but pay it in full when the bill comes in. Thank God mine never got way out of hand when I was married but it did take time to pay off when I got divorced. The only thing I pay interest on is the mortgage. I live on alot less money than most people around me do, and all my bills are paid. What a great feeling!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Or they could be like me. I use my credit cards like crazy and pay them off every month.
I do it for the points

That is me also. I don't carry much cash. We love our Disney visa points!

We never carry a blance, have never paid late fees. Don't spend what you don't have. (the same concept as you are talking about, but don't have to worry about how much you have on you, or it getting stolen or lost as much.)

 

[Cass]

I put everything throuhg CC for the Aeroplan points and pay them off right away... I have travelled free several times to Disney western canada & also booked free hotels

It is like found money

Also, upgrade certificates to Business/first class on occasion and access to the First Class lounge at the airport.

 

[CEDmom]

I'm glad you're getting your finances set and whatever works for you is great. We use credit cards to our advantage (points/delayed pymt etc) and rarely carry a balance. Well, my DH never carries a balance but I occasionally will for a month or so. We just bought $4000 of appliances for our new house from Sears using their credit card. We have the money in the bank to pay now but they offered no interest or payments until 1/07. Offers like that are too good to pass up. We also have enough Starwoods points to stay at the Swan for a week for free.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Yeah for you!!

I doubt I'll ever be there. From reading these threads sometimes I feel like the only person who still uses credit cards and has a mortgage payment! We need another car since right now we only have one, so pretty soon I'll have to add car payment to that list.

My hats off to you!

I didn't think I could do it either, and from some of the posts here, some people feel it is a crime to carry any debt outside a mortgage. Yay for them. I just had to suck up and do it. cc are evil, evil things for people like me who have no self control/discipline. Everytime I pay it iff, I vow to pay it off monthly, but then, some "splurges" get a little too big, and I end up having a balance way out of my reach.

I finally said ENOUGH...and turned them over to DH, who never uses cc, and we have them for emergency, but that will be it.

 

[jgmklmhem]

Or they could be like me. I use my credit cards like crazy and pay them off every month.
I do it for the points

That is us too. I fugure why look a gift horse in the mouth. I paid for all of my DD#2's Christmas on the Disney Rewards. As long as you know don't buy unless the cash is in the bank it makes since. I also make money by keeping most of my money in an ING account and then transferring it over just before I make my payment. That way I am getting interest money and reward money and still don't have the debt.

edit to add: It does take restraint and planning to be able to do it this way. I am an anal Quicken downloader...every night so I know exactly how much I have and how much I owe.

 

[azgal81]

Credit cards are fine if you pay them off every month. If you don't you shouldn't be using them. Good for you to take the right step to not use yours anymore! I just use my disney visa for the reward dollars free money for disney. There's no way I would spend more money then I have so I'm comfortable using my credit card.

 

[MAKmom]

We also stopped using CC for our personal use years ago except for car rentals....no way around that. I do use my check debit card most of the time. I really awnt to do the Disney Reward points but I hate paying bills. I have most of my utilities on automatic withdrawel. I have ADD...I'm very functional but if I hate doing something it is a struggle.

 

[CEDmom]

I didn't think I could do it either, and from some of the posts here, some people feel it is a crime to carry any debt outside a mortgage. Yay for them. I just had to suck up and do it. cc are evil, evil things for people like me who have no self control/discipline. Everytime I pay it iff, I vow to pay it off monthly, but then, some "splurges" get a little too big, and I end up having a balance way out of my reach.

I finally said ENOUGH...and turned them over to DH, who never uses cc, and we have them for emergency, but that will be it.

I don't think it's a crime to carry a balance. Fortunately my DH and I are in a financial position not to have to do that. For me when I was single that wasn't always the case. After paying all the bills there wasn't much left over. Everyone is entitled to have some fun and that's when the credit card came out. It never got out of hand but I did carry a balance. Like I said if life is better for you not using one than that's great.

 

[C.Ann]

Good for you! I'm a big cash fan myself..

 

[mommaU4]

I didn't think I could do it either, and from some of the posts here, some people feel it is a crime to carry any debt outside a mortgage. Yay for them. I just had to suck up and do it. cc are evil, evil things for people like me who have no self control/discipline. Everytime I pay it iff, I vow to pay it off monthly, but then, some "splurges" get a little too big, and I end up having a balance way out of my reach.

I finally said ENOUGH...and turned them over to DH, who never uses cc, and we have them for emergency, but that will be it.

They are evil. Unfortunately in the past they were my only way of getting the things we needed once we paid all our other bills. Four kids, one income, living in Los Angeles area (used to), enough said. But next year the kids will all be in school full time and I can go to work and we can get busy paying those little monsters off. You are an inspiration to me. In fact I am going to go and cut up the two I have now. Maybe one day I can say the same thing you did!

 

[BethR]

Disney1Fan2002,

Congratulations on doing what is liberating to you! We all have to choose our own course and, if this is what makes things right for you - CONGRATULATIONS!




Beth

PS - Do you visit the Budget Board? There are a lot of really smart cookies and a lot of great support over there for those who need some financial "coaching." Stop by and visit us sometime.

 

[Cass]

You should use a CC and pay it off to keep an excellent credit rating.

 

[raammartin]

We have two credit cards, but don't use them. One is interest free for 15 months and it has only our Disney trip rooms on it, but that will be paid off soon soon soon. The other card has nothing on it. We'd LOVE to find a card with perks (points, etc.) and pay everything with it, but I worry at some point we wouldn't be so disciplined to pay it all off when the bill came due. I've heard of people using their cc's for everything and writing out a check to the cc each time they use the cc so that when the bill comes due they just mail the checks in and it's paid off. Does this sound like a good idea? Yes, a lot of checks get written, but...... ?? What are some cc with good benefits (points, etc.)?

 

[luvmy2sams]

We have two credit cards, but don't use them. One is interest free for 15 months and it has only our Disney trip rooms on it, but that will be paid off soon soon soon. The other card has nothing on it. We'd LOVE to find a card with perks (points, etc.) and pay everything with it, but I worry at some point we wouldn't be so disciplined to pay it all off when the bill came due. I've heard of people using their cc's for everything and writing out a check to the cc each time they use the cc so that when the bill comes due they just mail the checks in and it's paid off. Does this sound like a good idea? Yes, a lot of checks get written, but...... ?? What are some cc with good benefits (points, etc.)?

This is similar to what we do. We use the Disney visa to pay for everything we possibly can each month. Any purchase that is made is recorded as a debit that evening in our financial program. When it's time to pay the credit card each month, we send the lump sum in electronically. In the beginning, though, we would send the payments in as soon as they posted to our credit card online. That way we wouldn't be tempted to rationalize and have the balance get too high. Now we're finally disciplined enough to watch every nickel and dime that's being charged.

 

[raammartin]

This is similar to what we do. We use the Disney visa to pay for everything we possibly can each month. Any purchase that is made is recorded as a debit that evening in our financial program. When it's time to pay the credit card each month, we send the lump sum in electronically. In the beginning, though, we would send the payments in as soon as they posted to our credit card online. That way we wouldn't be tempted to rationalize and have the balance get too high. Now we're finally disciplined enough to watch every nickel and dime that's being charged.

That's a great idea. We pay all that we can online so we could just pay each transaction online as it posted. Thanks for the idea - very smart and you don't waste checks! I love these boards!