How do you manage your money?

[ksix]

Are you a "buy now--charge--pay later" sort of person, or "buy what you can afford, in cash, or will be able to pay off before the credit card bill comes" or simply "pay cash, and that's all there is to it"?

[Trina]

yeah, it's very very bad... but we've been charging EVERYTHING to the credit card! We have our entire wedding on the credit card right now... We're paying over $200 per month in finance charges alone. But hey... nothing we can do about it right now. :(

[giddy]

I voted cash only. I've never had a credit card and never want one. We are still paying off Jason's debts from before we got together, so no more!

_________
Nicole.

[heiny]

I unfortunately had to vote... Buy now and pay the cc off later!!! My husband is the absolute worst about this.... I have had almost all of our cc paid off, and then he will buy something big on them again... It is really becoming anoying!!!

[suzieq728]

:rolleyes: Oh boy...
I am a buy now and pay "whenever" type of person. But, Doug took all the credit cards away from me, so now, if I dont have the cash I just cant have it! :mad: ....
I know he is doing the right thing, but it really pisses me off...

[meliz]

Sadly, we use our cc's too damned much. The nice people and MC and VISA keep upping our limits! So kind of them. We try not to use the things often, but little purchases add up. Everytime we go to the States I use my card, and I am always shocked at the bill (with the exchange n' all.) We're both equally as bad when it comes to CCs, too, which makes us a bad shopping combo.

[ksix]

I was a "cash only" person. If I couldn't pay for it, I didn't need it...but now that we're living on just one income (which is about to change, thank goodness!) we've started to rely on cc too much...far too much. It kills me to write a check to Discover and half of it is just interest.

[Christmas Bride]

I used to just charge it, and pay later...and that explains why I'm in credit card debt!!! But, now...since I've learned that credit cards are evil...LOL...I mostly just buy if I can pay cash or use a check!

[Margarita]

We use our credit card quite a bit for *necessity* purchases. We have a United Mileage Plus Visa and get 1 mile for each dollar we spend, so we buy groceries, gas, dinners out, etc on it. But we *always* pay it off completely. Those finance charges are killer, and we don't want to go there! Sometimes it hurts to pay the Visa bill, but only because I wish our expenses were lower!

[andrea]

this topic makes me so mad.....

I voted cash only :vent: :mad:


but we did just go out and buy a kick ass new motorcycle...

yes another one..... now we own three and a truck we are making payments on YUCK

[honeybunny]

Sorry guys, I was a finance major and just can't take those hefty finance charges. I voted buy now if we've got the cash or can pay off the bill this month. Our debt includes my car (will be paid off in 2 yrs) and a soon-to-be home mortgage (to be paid off in approximately 30 yrs :eek: ).

[Csara]

Like Margarita, we use our credit cards a lot because we get frequent flyer miles but we always pay off the entire bill when we get it. The only debt we have is our mortgage, which is actually a good thing because it keeps your credit rating high if you pay it off on time every month.

[Neneuu]

I'm a charge now only if we can pay it off at the end of the month kinda girl... but we have tons of debt and I don't even know how it happened... OH YEAH - the wedding, boy hindsight says... totally NOT worth this debt... but anyway, We also have tons of school loans and my car.

Man, what happened!!!!:eek:

[sunsetgal]

neneuu -- your wedding wasn't worth it ??? :( i hope that isn't TOTALLY true.

i always pay off my credit card at the end of the month, which sometimes REALLY sucks. but, i just can't face the finance charges. and i've found that i've been charging a lot more to my credits cards lately because i get marriott points. i've GOT to stop that -- i don't realize how much i spend until it get my bills. yikes!

my fiancé has a LOT of credit card debt, so i'm trying to help him pay that off (and his school loan). not much extra play money, i'm afraid.

[jessica]

All I can say is that I was very fortunate to be financially independent at a very young age and was somehow able to learn the lesson that:

Credit Cards are the DEVIL!!

I paid off my fiance's credit card debt and am almost done paying off his car. I paid for my college in cash so I don't have loans. Our debt is our house, but my real estate friend says its more an investment instead of a debt. So, I guess it doesn't feel like a debt like a credit card feels.

When I use credit cards I pay the balance off very quickly and that means sometimes paying $500 a month. If you pay the minimum payment, it takes approximately 10 years to pay of a debt of only a few thousand. I really don't want to pay off movies and food and clothes that long. The average American credit card debt is $8,000 per person!.

I know that people are different in how they view credit and how they view what is necessary. Sometimes the hardest thing to change is your perspective.

[Neneuu]

Sunsetgal - Let me rephrase;)... I loved my wedding, but there were a lot of other ways I could of done it and been just as happy... CHEAPER ways! But hindsight is always 20/20!!! These credit cards are no joke now!!!

[angelrenee]

I had to vote buy only if we can pay cash or pay off this month. In fact, we lean mostly towards the cash option. I've learned the hard way what it means to be in debt up to your ears. We're making bills just fine, but it's pretty depressing every month not to have a lot left over to play with.

Current debt = $16000 credit cards, House, 2 cars, 2 student loans

[Neneuu]

Hi angelrenee! Welcome to the board. We are almost in the same boat debtwise... but like someone else said on this board... think of your house as an investment! It'll give back in the long run!!! ( I know that doesn't help at the end of the month when there's no more money... but hey we gotta look at the silver lining!!!;) )

[sunsetgal]

for me, using credit cards and using check cards are one in the same because i DO pay off my credit card bill every month, regardless of how high it is. i like getting points by using my credit card, so this is usually the way i go (plus i earn interest on my savings, so if i can postpone paying for something for a few weeks, i can generally earn a little more interest).

however, i do notice that i tend to spend a little more when i put everything on credit cards. but i keep EVERY receipt until i get my statement and i always verify that my bills are correct (this has saved me a few times from unknown charges). this helps me really pay attention to how much i spend on frivilous stuff, and then the next month i'm usually a lot more aware of what i spend.

[Neneuu]

You are so good Sunsetgal! I am not charging until I get my cards paid off--- ARGH! Wedding DEBT!!!!:(

[Csara]

How long do people usually stay in debt after the wedding?

[andrea]

Originally posted by Csara
How long do people usually stay in debt after the wedding?

good question... i would like to know that. Also do you go out of your budget for your wedding?

[Neneuu]

Ok, hmmm...

My wedding was Aug. 3, 2002 and I spent (shh, don't tell anyone) approximately $24K (by accident), and I plan to hopefully have it paid off no later than November 2003. By the way - the $24K includes rings, honeymoon, everything...

So, my plan - I have about $8000 (half on two credit cards) left to pay, I am transfering the balances to a new 0%APR credit card and if I pay about $730 a month for 11 months I should have it paid off... Sad, I know...:( So I guess I'd say to pay off a wedding would take a year and 2 months.:rolleyes:

Please send donations! :p

[Csara]

Wow, I think it's great that you can pay off all that debt in a little over a year!! Good job! :clap:

[Neneuu]

:thumb2: Thank you vedy much! I'ma tryin'!!

Originally posted by Loveshack
Also do you go out of your budget for your wedding?

My original budget was $10K, so my answer would be yes to that question... lol:)

[bethee]

We're about to mostly get out of debt due to selling my house. I'll pay off all my debt and some of his, and be able to put some $$ down on a new car.

Before this, we were in HUGE debt. Our only choice was to pay things with cash, becuase all the cards were maxed.

We'll never be in this position again. :)

[andrea]

wow you guys are doing so great getting out of debt... some help this way please LOL

[jessica]

Neneuu - you are doing a fabulous job!! I can totally relate to paying a lot on those credit cards!! But just be so happy that you aren't paying the minimum like a lot of folks I know.

As for us ...

Our original budget for our wedding for everything was $6,000. :p We knew people that had a fabulous wedding with 300 guests and a honeymoon to England for 2 weeks ... and that's how much they spent. However - they were given a timeshare in England as a gift, they bought simple bands for their wedding rings (no diamonds, etc), no flowers, simple dress, no bridal party, on and on ... a wonderful wedding - but we ended up wanting some of the things our friends went without.

From what I did carefully add up and estimate, for everything (wedding, honeymoon, rings, BM dresses, GM tuxedos, etc) we spent around $12,000. Our parents were oringinally not going to help at all, but in the end we paid for maybe half of the wedding ourselves. But it was broken up all last year so most of what went on the credit cards was the honeymoon and the last payment to our venue. I didn't have a florist and our DJ was a friend's son ... so those things helped out a lot. We also had a brunch which was a pretty cheap menu. And, our rings cost about $900 total for his and mine.

We ended up with about $2000 on our credit cards which (thanks to profit sharing at work) will be paid off this month. Then - I can FINALLY buy a car (mine has 150,000 miles on it and I've had it since I was 16 :eek: ).

I'm sick of paying around $1,000 a month towards credit cards! I can't wait to just have a car payment!!

[Karen1323]

Well most of the stuff on my credit cards are from the wedding, and I didn't have that money up front, so cresit cards it was. I am hopefully going to have them all paid off in 3 months!

[SJTaylor]

I'm unfortunately one of the buy now pay the cc later and now I'm paying for it. All my taxes this year are going to pay on my Credit cards. I'm in the process of paying them off and cutting them up. Then it's cash for me. :)

[Ellyanne777]

we don't charge anything we use cash!

[angelrenee]

We've finally converted to cash only, no credit cards. That happened a few months ago. Now to killing those cards dead!

[HeidiJ]

We are so far in debt that the rule in our house now is "NO MORE DEBT!!" If we don't have cash, we don't buy it. period! Once things are under control, we may make it buy now, if we have the cash or can pay it off at the end of the month, but for now we aren't using ANY credit.