by Hope
I am finding myself tempted to spend more often now that I have money in the bank. With a comfortable savings account and most bills on auto-draft, my financial life feels safe right now. A very new feeling for me.
And I find myself tempted to spend money without any forethought and without a budget line item. This is especially tempting with my credit card in hand.
But I’ve also found the solution…leave the credit card behind.
I can’t take credit for figuring out that this works for me. I accidentally left my credit card at a restaurant in Atlanta the last time I had to go to the city for work. Instead of going back to get the card I ordered a new one. It took over a week for the new one to get here.
During that time, I had to really think through every purchase. Was it in my budget? Was it budgeted for now? Because every purchase was coming directly out of my cash account.
It was a really good lesson for me. Really, really good.
Long term application
I’m trying to figure out how to apply this lesson for more long term affects.
I’m thinking that when I am home, most of the time, I do not carry my credit card in my wallet or purse. That will make me continue to double think any purchase. I don’t like using my debit card, in general, or accessing my cash account. It just makes me nervous. This will make me plan for purchases or at least think about them a bit longer.
Not to mention, I hate leaving my house most of the time, so having to go home to get a payment method will be a deterrent in and of itself. Can anyone else relate to that?
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
I don’t know who needs to hear this. But I’ve come across several people in my life who didn’t know and then have paid the price.
Don’t use a debit card for your daily expenses! Don’t swipe it anywhere for purchases or use the number online. If a scammer gets your debit card they are pulling actual money from your checking account. It is a long painful process to get it back from your bank (if you even get it back!) and while they are investigating the money is not available. Credit cards are preferred due to fraud. If a scammer gets your CC number and uses it. The CC company immediately gives you the money back while they do their investigation.
100% agree. And I tell my kids the same. We all share access to a credit card and they are encouraged to use it and pay it immediately.
Protecting cash accounts is a lesson I had to learn the hard way.
I knew someone that had to totally rework their life after amassing a huge cc debt. They didn’t have a budget and no spending control, so that’s what happened.