Wishful Homesteader

leaving the credit cards at home

From Cindy's porch...

Leaving the Credit Card(s) at Home.

During the month of April, we have been trying to see "How Low Can We
Go?" The objective is to spend as little money as possible. We've put
our credits cards on holiday and we are blowing the dust off our
savings account….

Huh? You haven't put your credit cards on holidays? They're still in
your wallet? And you can't remember the last time you made a deposit
into your savings account? Hmmmmmm…. No problem.

Let's deal with the credit cards. They are one of the most ingenious
tools ever created for BUYing stuff and more stuff (and they come in
all colors, but I haven't found pink yet). You can BUY things for the
home, for the kids, the pets and for yourself. When you get hungry,
you can BUY lunch at the local restaurant, and then when you are worn
out from all that BUYing, you can use the same credit card and hop
into an exotic spa and order yourself a massage and fancy toenail
painting session.

You can do all this and NEVER see a dime!

But gosh, it is going to cost you much, much more than a dime!

It's scary how dependent we have become on those little pieces of
plastic. We "need" them to establish a credit rating. At colleges and
universities, signing up "new blood" is big business. Both the campus
bookstore and the campus pub accept credit cards. Then, when we get
married, the credit card pays for the dress, the tux, the reception,
the gifts, the decorations, and whatever else the bridal magazines
said were "must-haves" for the perfect wedding. I just read today,
that the average wedding costs $36,000. When we have children, those
credit cards BUY our nurseries, the kid diapers, the kid food, the
kid clothes, the kid toys, and then more diapers and more food. The
diapers eventually disappear, but the food requirements just keep on
going up up up! I don't think we can BUY a home with a credit card
(yet), but we can certainly BUY everything we need for the home using
a credit card. Then there is all the fun stuff in life; entertaining,
going out for supper, vacations, new clothes, new shoes, the new pet
and all its must-haves, the new car, the new plasma flat screen TV
(we are definitely procrastinating on that thing LOL), and everything
we BUY for everyone else that gets wrapped up in paper, tissues, and
a bow and paid for by – you guessed it – the handy credit card. Whew!

And if one credit card isn't enough to do a ton of damage, we are
offered two, three, four, and sometimes even five new credits cards a
WEEK. Yick! No, thank-you.

The credit card companies make everything seem cheap and easy with
the concepts of low introductory interest rates and the ever-
popular "minimum payment." As further enticement, they even offer
you "cash back", points, and rebates when you use the card. I wonder
if more people know how many "points" they accumulated versus how
much savings they have accumulated.

It is time to leave the credit card(s) at home. Consider it a trial
run for the rest of April and the month of May.

YIKES! I would rather leave my husband at home (just kidding). But we
have become so accustomed to the "convenience" of having a credit
card, that we just can't imagine not having it with us at all times.

What are some of the risks we take when we leave the card at home?
1) I might run out of gas.
2) I might need to pick up supper on the way home.
3) There might be an emergency.
4) I might not have enough cash in our wallets to pay for it.
5) I might spot a great sale (now we are getting someplace LOL).

What are some of the good things that begin to happen when you leave
the card at home?
1) We check the gas gauge before we leave the home. If it looks
like it will need a fill, we either grab an extra $30.00 or we leave
the car at home and choose to walk or take the bike.

2) We plan our suppers before we leave home. We SHOP at home
FIRST to use up the foods we have already paid for. Some of us even
dig out that old Crock-pot and we set up supper in the morning so it
is ready for us when we get home in the evening. Fast food from a
slow pot LOL!

3) We carry a few extra dollars in case of an emergency (that's
the "Ten-Ten Rule" – more about that next week).

4) We get really good at approximating what the total will be at
the checkout (very important at the grocery store). We average up the
price on each item so that we know there will be enough cash in our
wallets to pay for the bill. And, if the total does come in higher
than we can pay cash for, we take a look at the long line waiting
behind us and say, "I will probably never see these people again."
Then we pull a couple items from what we purchased and we get them
deducted from the total. No big deal. No embarrassment. This has
happened to me several times and it doesn't bother one little bit!

When we walk out of that store, we will OWN everything that is in our
cart.

When the others that were behind us walk out of that store, there is
a good chance that they will still be paying (much more) for their
items long after they finished eating them or enjoying them!

5) As for that great sale? We look long and hard whether or not
the item is worth spending cash for. If it is not worth spending cash
for, it is certainly not worth going into debt for. It is amazing how
many fewer IMPULSE (I Must Purchase Use-Less Stuff Everyday) buys you
make when it costs real money and not plastic money. The exception to
this is shopping at garage sales. LOL.

So how are we going to leave these credit cards at home? I have heard
everything from freezing the cards into a huge block of ice to
cutting them up and scattering the pieces. Both of them seem too
complicated to me. The only credit cards I cut up are the ones that
are completely paid off and have been cancelled. These are typically
the department store or specialized store credit cards. They usually
came with an original offer to save 10% when you signed up. Now they
are simply temptation in your wallet. Get them out of your wallet.
Put them on vacation.

I can't imagine what it takes to chop a credit card out of a hunk of
ice. LOL. I can picture me missing the ice and hitting the credit
card (or worse yet, my thumb). I can picture my husband leaving the
block out on the countertop – for a few hours.

Me, I keep it simple. I put the credit card on holidays. I simply put
it into my desk drawer. Every once in awhile I take a peak at it to
ensure it is still enjoying itself. If you have more than one credit
card, put them all in. They can have a party!

Leaving the credit card in your desk does not hurt your credit
rating. It simply forces you to rediscover your money. It does not
stop you from BUYing the things that you want and need, but I assure
you, it will make you think twice about deciding whether that thing
in your shopping cart is really something you want or need.

Leaving your credit card at home is the difference between OWNING
what you buy and OWING on what you buy. One simple letter – the
letter "N" for "No, thank-you."

Put those cards on holiday. Mine are busy sun-tanning between the
paper clips and the hole-punch!

Take care of you,
Cindy

PS: I know some of you use your credit card for your purchases and
then you pay off the entire amount each month. You like the
convenience of seeing what you bought itemized on the credit card
bill. This is what we do. And this is good! However, try putting your
credit cards on vacation and switching to cash for a month or so
(just as a trial). You are still going to be amazed at how much more
thought you put into BUYing stuff when you use paper money and coins.
My favorite example is going to the movies. When we take our family
to the movies and I insert the credit card into the automatic ticket
dispenser, I only flinch a little when I see the total ($42.75) flash
by on the screen. And then, when we load up on popcorn, pop, tacos
with cheese sauce (my husband's favorite) and a chocolate bar (for
me), I kind of only hold my breath for a couple seconds as I sign the
credit card bill ($28.50). But gosh, if someone tells me that I have
to spend $71.25 in cash to see a movie, you can bet your britches
that I will be waiting until the movie comes out in DVD and I will be
digging out the air popper from the bottom kitchen cabinet! (It's
been a long time since we have gone to a big-screen movie LOL.)

Leave the credit cards at home – it doesn't cost a dime!

I use cash

03:45 PM, Saturday, April 5, 2008 .. Posted by TheGoodLife

Yep I have plastic bags sorted for cash,

Yesterday I went to the market, checked I had my purse even,

But when I got to market I realised I hadn't brought any cash - it was still at home.

Oh well we had a nice drive to the next town, stopped at quilt shops first (eeek my weakness) and then brought fruit & veges at road side - that took my eftpost.

Still can't believe I left with no cash - and to think I even checked I had my purse

Love Leanne - who thinks credit cards are such a mugs game.