by Tricia
I still have one card that we use for online purchases and some subscription payments. I have also used it for some larger purchases like tires for our car. This card is to almost always have a zero balance. I charge what I need to charge and then turn around within a few days (after the charge is posted) and pay it right off. I don’t even wait for the statement. I have a rule that if I can’t turn around and pay for something immediately, it doesn’t go on the card. Case closed…no questions asked.
Having that control of our spending was always a problem. We’d purchase something on our credit cards thinking we would have money later to pay it off. Well, the money never came and the balance would sit on the card. We’d charge more, thinking again we could pay it off. Again, we were wrong. Before you know it, you have a nice balance on the card and there’s no way that you could pay off the card in one swoop (less a windfall, of course).
The card that I am using for our purchases has a cash back program and I have to say that I love it! I recently earned $20. Instead of me paying that particular credit card company finance charges, it is paying me for using their card. In my opinion, this is how credit cards are supposed to work!