Managing Credit Cards

[Paige]

How do those of you who use credit cards all the time, manage knowing your balance and remembering to pay it off? I have been worried about how much we use our debit card and obviously miss out on a lot of rewards, so how do your organize that? How do you avoid opening your statement and not being shocked at the amount you owe?

[iris lilies]

How do those of you who use credit cards all the time, manage knowing your balance and remembering to pay it off? I have been worried about how much we use our debit card and obviously miss out on a lot of rewards, so how do your organize that? How do you avoid opening your statement and not being shocked at the amount you owe?

You (the generic you) need to open your statement. If you and me are shocked by our statement then we need to do something about those balances.

I spoke earlier of my charge card last month. I thought I hadn't spent much money and figured it would be one of the lowest bills of the year. Surprise! It was the highest bill of the year. ugh. Statements are good things, they state facts. If facts upset us we need to change our course in life , embrace the facts, eschew the "shock" and fear.

[ToomuchStuff]

I use a program called Gnucash to track all my expenses. My cc is used mostly for work, but those receipts are kept together and then it is easy to know my balance. (paid off every month and I don't use or sign up for rewards, it is just a motivation to carry a balance in my mind).


Remembering to pay it off is easy. It is done in a weeks time of receiving it. I don't jack around and lose bills, as I did that years ago, during a real tough time.

[RoseFI]

This is one area where I manage to keep it pretty simple, as I'm not actually that good with timely payment of bills and credit cards are too important to leave to my usual vagaries! I don't rely on the statements at all (though I get and file them.) I try to only use one ccard, and I don't worry about points -- they usually just earn you cheap Chinese junk anyway.

Like ToomuchStuff, I use software to track (AccountEdge Basic) - and I try to enter my cc receipts, as well as my debit receipts, on a regular basis (notice I said TRY.) So I always can see the running balance of all my accounts when I open up the program's account list. There are usually some automatic payments that I miss, but they are always small (my Skype credit refills at $10 a pop whenever it runs out.) The big stuff I make sure gets in there! I usually go online with the cc site to double check balances twice a month, just to make sure 1) I haven't lost/forgot some big receipt, 2) No one has stolen my cc data and gone on a spree, 3) I've made a payment around mid-cycle instead of waiting until the last minute. (For me it's less worrisome by scheduling auto-payments for at least the minimum payment as early as possible, and then you can go in and manually pay off the balance when it works with your cashflow.) Hope some of that helps you, Paige!

[rosarugosa]

I just write it down in the same little notebook where I keep my other budget-related information. When I come home with a credit card receipt, I update the total owed on that cc before I file the receipt away.

[catherine]

I use YNAB (YouNeedABudget) and I simply enter the transactions as they are made into their proper budget categories.

When the credit card payment is made, it's entered as a money transfer, not an expenditure.

It's the only way I can do it so I can keep tabs on my budget on a day-to-day basis

Of course, you don't need to purchase budgeting software for this method (you have to buy YNAB)--like the other posters, you can use a free online tool, or just make one up yourself in Excel or on paper.

[razz]

I had two CC and decided to stick with one and put a limit on that so pay it off every month easily.
May I suggest that you look at the CC's differently? You are taking out a loan every time you use them. Is the purchase worth the loan along with the high interest rate? Would it be better to wait until you can pay cash? Some manage to get the rewards but they simply are not worth the hassle to me as I find other ways to earn untaxed money that make me happier.

[Paige]

There are times I feel more comfortable using a credit card to avoid fraud, etc. I also just heard that I shouldn't be using my debit card at the gas pumps anymore, even though I always say it is credit to avoid putting in my PIN #. Anyway, just knowing how much I have charged and keeping track is hard. I am not naturally organized so I need to find a system that I can also synch with my husband. Thanks for the ideas. I'll take more!

[Birdie]

I have a financial notebook where I log things like credit card charges. I keep a page with a running tally for each card and pay them every week or two. I never wait for the statement, but do reconcile with the statement every month. I keep track of my checkbook in the same notebook. I never switched to online tracking because I've been using paper for 40+ years.

[SteveinMN]

We also use financial software (See Finance, for Macintosh). Our statements are delivered electronically once a month, but we also can log on to the card issuer's Web site to see where we are at any point during the month. We do tend to use our cards for convenience but we always expect to be able to pay them off every month unless there was a very large charge (for example, a big car repair) which we may choose to push another month for cash-flow reasons. The bottom line on the statements is hardly ever a surprise.

[ETA] Between DW and me, we have only three credit cards. But having more cards would only take more time, not necessarily more money.