Why do I have credit cards? I used to own two Mastercards, one of which gives me the opportunity to earn miles because I love to travel. My mastercard has now earned me enough miles to fly me to Europe via Northwest. Since I am paying for an annual membership for my second card which is also a mastercard, I decided to discontinue it and applied for a Visa card which gave me a free gift certificate of roundtrip domestic travel via Asian spirit. This Visa card also waives the annual membership fee if you meet the minimum amount charged to the card. What do I charge with my credit cards? Almost everything that I have to pay cash for anyway: groceries, fuel, tuition fees, pre-need premiums, school and office supplies. If I can swipe it with my card, I will... for the points. I just have one rule for all my credit card swipes --- I pay everything in full at the end of the month.
How do I keep track of my credit card expenses? I always keep all receipts. I have a separate envelope for my cash receipts and another envelope for my credit card receipts. I set aside my cash payment for the credit card even before the monthly bill comes in. As soon as I have put aside cash for a particular transaction, I write "ok" on the credit card receipt. This way I am able to monitor which receipts have been "funded" with and which are still due. All the credit card cash payments are then deposited to a checking account. The money in that checking account is considered "spent". So when the bill comes in at the end of the month, there is a standby fund in the checking account which I just conveniently transfer for the payment of my credit card bill. No matter how huge the amount is, I know there is fund for that because I keep track of the receipts and have "okayed" these with the cash payment.
So what is the important lesson here? When you swipe your credit card, make sure you have the equivalent cash to pay for that particular transaction and set that cash aside immediately to a checking account. At the end of the month, all the receipts will have that "ok" sign on it and you can pay all your transactions with peace of mind. This way you do not get into huge credit card debts because of the interests incurred by unpaid transactions. At the same time, you are able to benefit from the freebies that your card is offering you.
How do I keep track of my credit card expenses? I always keep all receipts. I have a separate envelope for my cash receipts and another envelope for my credit card receipts. I set aside my cash payment for the credit card even before the monthly bill comes in. As soon as I have put aside cash for a particular transaction, I write "ok" on the credit card receipt. This way I am able to monitor which receipts have been "funded" with and which are still due. All the credit card cash payments are then deposited to a checking account. The money in that checking account is considered "spent". So when the bill comes in at the end of the month, there is a standby fund in the checking account which I just conveniently transfer for the payment of my credit card bill. No matter how huge the amount is, I know there is fund for that because I keep track of the receipts and have "okayed" these with the cash payment.
So what is the important lesson here? When you swipe your credit card, make sure you have the equivalent cash to pay for that particular transaction and set that cash aside immediately to a checking account. At the end of the month, all the receipts will have that "ok" sign on it and you can pay all your transactions with peace of mind. This way you do not get into huge credit card debts because of the interests incurred by unpaid transactions. At the same time, you are able to benefit from the freebies that your card is offering you.
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