managing cards and spending

[MovingForward_2012]

If you are a pretty conservative person and only charge gas, groceries, periodic restaurant food, and bills on your credit cards with a soft limit that you set that leaves income left over for non chargeable bills and a certain amount for savings each month, it can be easily managed without a spreadsheet. Doesn't seem that way...maybe a little dangerous when reading it on paper but it works. Even though I mostly use credit (98% of the time), I still only charge what I have cash for. When it is time for new furniture, Christmas, or whatever is not a large recurring charge, I transfer over savings for that month and charge it as a lump sum. I even buy clothes in bulk as a lump sum when needed. Then I go back to the regular routine of paying recurring expenses and replenishing savings, and then a few months later, I buy something else in bulk and repeat. It has worked really well for me even when I was living on cash only. I have been doing this since 2007 without a problem.

[vanillabean]

If you use a spreadsheet for your household finances, simply update the current credit card balances every some days. Don't wait for the statements. The critical part at any given time is when the checking may be near zero.

[Dustink]

I just spend lots of money on my credit cards and hope I can pay it back. Someday I will get more organized and start saving more money.

[beb86]

I have found that Mint works really well since I have all my accounts linked; checking, CCs, mortgage, 401k, assets. Not to mention the budget feature that will pull from your checking AND CCs if you want. It has helped a lot and put things in perspective.

[Revelate]

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@beb86 wrote:

I have found that Mint works really well since I have all my accounts linked; checking, CCs, mortgage, 401k, assets. Not to mention the budget feature that will pull from your checking AND CCs if you want. It has helped a lot and put things in perspective.

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I pretty much do similar with the USAA account finances interface.  I'm not an impulse buyer of any sort and my behavior hasn't changed with credit cards to any noticiable degree as I used the debit card pretty much the same way; however, once a month I'll check my funds in vs. out and if there's a major discrepancy (like the shoes I bought at xmas) I'll go track it down.

If I ever have more complicated finances, I may switch to a spreadsheet if numbers aren't coming out right but for now with pretty much everything tracked through my accounts, it's sufficient just to use the online tools.

[beb86]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@beb86 wrote:

I have found that Mint works really well since I have all my accounts linked; checking, CCs, mortgage, 401k, assets. Not to mention the budget feature that will pull from your checking AND CCs if you want. It has helped a lot and put things in perspective.

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I pretty much do similar with the USAA account finances interface.  I'm not an impulse buyer of any sort and my behavior hasn't changed with credit cards to any noticiable degree as I used the debit card pretty much the same way; however, once a month I'll check my funds in vs. out and if there's a major discrepancy (like the shoes I bought at xmas) I'll go track it down.

If I ever have more complicated finances, I may switch to a spreadsheet if numbers aren't coming out right but for now with pretty much everything tracked through my accounts, it's sufficient just to use the online tools.

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One big negative about Mint is that the do not support GE...but I dont think any third party supports GE right now.

[jsickz32]

I pay off my cards weekly because i dont like seeing big balances...

[sakhalin070]

Starting this year, I am recording ALL my spendings on Excel.  This includes me handing cash over to someone, or even using a gift certificate.  I've only done this for 20 days, but I've noticed that I've definitely slashed A LOT of unnecessary spendng now that I've been recording all my purchases.  Like others, I've divided it into categories and color coded my spreadsheet.  I have four columns: Date, Establishment, Location, Category, $ Total, and Payment Type.

I check all my accounts online at least once a day.  If I'm really bored at have time, I'll check it maybe 3 times a day.  I check my AMEX, Discover, Citi, and my two Checking accounts regularly.  I check my BoA credit card (which is sock drawered) maybe once a week just to make sure there are no charges on it, jsut in case I am the victim of fraud.  But I have an account alert setup to email me if a charge is posted on that credit card, but I check it once in awhile anyways because I am OCD lol.

I haven't tried out Mint yet.  I am very intrigued; I'll check it out!

[ceemee2203]

Also, don't forget to return stuff. People often buy things and say they can always return them, but they never do. If you're not using it, send it back. That's why I don't shop anywhere that doesn't have a good return policy. It's ok to give in to an impulse every once in a while, but it's also ok to send it back.

[nishant1]

No amount of software tools or any apps will be helpful if you plan reducing spending after you spend money.

The way to reduce spending is before spending the money. For current month spending, ask yourself a question, is this absolutely essential? If yes, spend it. If not, hold it till the end of the month

For luxury, spend only that amount left over from last month budget and stretch current month till end of the month.

That way I donot need to feel miserable while being frugal.

I have dozen of cards for rewards and sign up bonus. The income accumulated from these higher number of card rewards takes care of all my Black Friday to Xmas shopping