molly2004
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 13, 2005
Hi there! How are ya!?
Just a question for you all. Now that we've got our budget sorted out, we want to be sure to stay out of that unholy black hole called debt.
Many budget gurus tell you to use a debit or checkcard from your bank to pay for groceries and other budgeted purchases. I'm looking for a different approach. I am fearful of doing this because we pay for bills out of our checking account. (I only like to keep enough money in there to pay bills with. Anything else goes into long-term savings. ) Paying for groceries and such, which I feel is a variable not a fixed cost, could result in budget overruns. Of course, if you use more than you have money by mistake, the bank won't just deny the purchase. They'll let you go over the limit and charge you for it. That's another rant for another day. I don't want to get a separate checking account because it would be a pain in the booty to keep up with. Don't want to use another cc for obvious reasons (they're going in a sock in the back of the sock drawer).
So I've been pondering whether we should get rechargeable prepaid Visa/MC cards to put these purchases on. That way, I don't have to carry cash, which I think is too risky for a number of reasons. Has anyone done this? Does it work? ANy drawbacks? People here seem to do well with them while on vacation, but I wonder about how well they'd work for every day use as a budget "leash," if you will. Can you get two cards that link to the same account (one for DH and one for me)?
Or do you have a better solution to my predicament?
THanks!
Just a question for you all. Now that we've got our budget sorted out, we want to be sure to stay out of that unholy black hole called debt.
Many budget gurus tell you to use a debit or checkcard from your bank to pay for groceries and other budgeted purchases. I'm looking for a different approach. I am fearful of doing this because we pay for bills out of our checking account. (I only like to keep enough money in there to pay bills with. Anything else goes into long-term savings. ) Paying for groceries and such, which I feel is a variable not a fixed cost, could result in budget overruns. Of course, if you use more than you have money by mistake, the bank won't just deny the purchase. They'll let you go over the limit and charge you for it. That's another rant for another day. I don't want to get a separate checking account because it would be a pain in the booty to keep up with. Don't want to use another cc for obvious reasons (they're going in a sock in the back of the sock drawer).
So I've been pondering whether we should get rechargeable prepaid Visa/MC cards to put these purchases on. That way, I don't have to carry cash, which I think is too risky for a number of reasons. Has anyone done this? Does it work? ANy drawbacks? People here seem to do well with them while on vacation, but I wonder about how well they'd work for every day use as a budget "leash," if you will. Can you get two cards that link to the same account (one for DH and one for me)?
Or do you have a better solution to my predicament?
THanks!