Starting the New Year with no credit card debt

[2disneyboys]

congrats ............... we were debt free most of our 25 years of marriage...till i became ill 2 years ago......and now our credit cards are sadly run up................. so one suggestion is to build up your savings if u already havent............... if i had the yr to 2 yr income saved and NOT tied up our money in in retirement and prepaying our mortgage my family wouldnt be in the situation we are in.................. just a word of advice everyone build up your savings while u are working and can............. once AGAIN congrats......i hope to be where u are some day.....might not be for 5 plus years but where this is a will there is a way

This statement is so true... As important as no credit card debt is to dh & I, once we got rid of that, our next focus is savings. We are working towards a year of basic expenses in savings. May seem excessive to some, but I personally know too many people out of work 9, 12,15+ months. We really like Dave ramsey's "steps ". 1. Mini emergency savings acct ($1000) 2 pay off credit card debt 3. 6 month emergency fund... We are on step three but we modified it to 12 months. As the op and others have mentioned, it's hard work to obtain financial freedom. It's a long journey but, in the end, it's worth it!

 

[Disneybuckeye]

Just curious why everyone is so dead set on getting a statement with a zero balance? We put as much as we can on the cards every month to get the points. I then set if up to be paid online the day before it is due. We never pay a cent in interest charges.

Why not keep your money in your account as long as possible earning interest? Why is everyone in a hurry to give it to the credit card companies when it is not even due?

 

[ilovemk76]

Just curious why everyone is so dead set on getting a statement with a zero balance? We put as much as we can on the cards every month to get the points. I then set if up to be paid online the day before it is due. We never pay a cent in interest charges.

Why not keep your money in your account as long as possible earning interest? Why is everyone in a hurry to give it to the credit card companies when it is not even due?

This is exactly what it means to have no CC debt. You pay your bill off each month and do not carry a balance from month to month.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

This is exactly what it means to have no CC debt. You pay your bill off each month and do not carry a balance from month to month.

Yes, I know that. Several people have posted that they put items on the CCs and then pay it off in a day or two so that when they receive their statement it is $0. I am trying figure out why you would do this extra work as well as not hold onto your money as long as possible?

 

[ZoeBell]

Yes, I know that. Several people have posted that they put items on the CCs and then pay it off in a day or two so that when they receive their statement it is $0. I am trying figure out why you would do this extra work as well as not hold onto your money as long as possible?

I do it simply because I have the money in my non-interest collecting checking account and I want to apply it to my bill before I end up spending it on something else.