TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
Even before I had ever heard of Dave Ramsey, I have been generally against credit cards. Oh, sure, I've always had one (or more) active at all times, but I treat them with considerable caution and use them very sparingly, if at all. I haven't carried a balance in years, and I always felt this was a crucial step in staying out of financial hot water.
Over the last I-don't-know-how-many years, I've used cash almost exclusively everywhere I go... just to make sure I don't get entangled in paying interest. This causes a few of my co-workers to frequently tease me. "Why don't you ever use a credit card?" they would say when we go out to dinner after work. "You could be getting free points/money back/other random reward!" I constantly rebuffed them, saying I didn't think the risks were worth it.
Back in June, I finally gave in. I did a little comparison research, then decided to apply for a CapOne cash rewards card. They approved me immediately, and I received the card a few days later. I made sure to completely pay off my old America First card (as usual), and then began using the new CapOne one.
Over the last few years, I have developed a solid track record of saving money and investing. Whenever you seek out any sort of book/article/video about getting your finances in order, Step One is always the same: sit down and track/write out all your expenses. Step Two tells you to look for areas where you can conserve/cut back, and Step Three is to then start saving money. I always skip steps one and two. In fact, throughout my entire adult life I have never written down or tracked my basic monthly expenses--I simply estimated what I thought I was spending and moved on.
As I was looking at the CapOne web site and phone app, I saw that it neatly itemized all my spending by date, store, and amount spent. It suddenly dawned on me: this could be a simple way to very accurately track my spending. With that in mind, I decided to forget all about carrying cash--I began using my CapOne card for everything. Buying a dollar fountain drink at a convenience store? (swipe) Buying a couple 10-cent bolts from the bulk aisle at Ace Hardware? (swipe) No expense was too small to charge, I decided.
I had to wait until August to have an entire calendar month to look back upon and analyze my spending, but here we are. As I added up all my general grocery spending and also all my fast food & restaurant spending for July, I was amazed to see that I spent less than I had always assumed I did. My total "grocery" bill (which covers all Wal-Mart shopping and thus includes many non-food items) came to $187, while my restraurant/fast food/drinks tally came up to only $154. In the past, I blindly estimated these monthy costs at $250 and $300 each, respectively. Wow. Was July an anomaly? Or have I been grossly overestimating my expenses all this time?
I guess I'll wait to see how August turns out.
Over the last I-don't-know-how-many years, I've used cash almost exclusively everywhere I go... just to make sure I don't get entangled in paying interest. This causes a few of my co-workers to frequently tease me. "Why don't you ever use a credit card?" they would say when we go out to dinner after work. "You could be getting free points/money back/other random reward!" I constantly rebuffed them, saying I didn't think the risks were worth it.
Back in June, I finally gave in. I did a little comparison research, then decided to apply for a CapOne cash rewards card. They approved me immediately, and I received the card a few days later. I made sure to completely pay off my old America First card (as usual), and then began using the new CapOne one.
Over the last few years, I have developed a solid track record of saving money and investing. Whenever you seek out any sort of book/article/video about getting your finances in order, Step One is always the same: sit down and track/write out all your expenses. Step Two tells you to look for areas where you can conserve/cut back, and Step Three is to then start saving money. I always skip steps one and two. In fact, throughout my entire adult life I have never written down or tracked my basic monthly expenses--I simply estimated what I thought I was spending and moved on.
As I was looking at the CapOne web site and phone app, I saw that it neatly itemized all my spending by date, store, and amount spent. It suddenly dawned on me: this could be a simple way to very accurately track my spending. With that in mind, I decided to forget all about carrying cash--I began using my CapOne card for everything. Buying a dollar fountain drink at a convenience store? (swipe) Buying a couple 10-cent bolts from the bulk aisle at Ace Hardware? (swipe) No expense was too small to charge, I decided.
I had to wait until August to have an entire calendar month to look back upon and analyze my spending, but here we are. As I added up all my general grocery spending and also all my fast food & restaurant spending for July, I was amazed to see that I spent less than I had always assumed I did. My total "grocery" bill (which covers all Wal-Mart shopping and thus includes many non-food items) came to $187, while my restraurant/fast food/drinks tally came up to only $154. In the past, I blindly estimated these monthy costs at $250 and $300 each, respectively. Wow. Was July an anomaly? Or have I been grossly overestimating my expenses all this time?
I guess I'll wait to see how August turns out.
