@Mise, not sure if you were responding to my posts? If so, I have a wife and 3 kids, so I need to balance the budget, but I have limited time. Plus, I don't really CARE where I spend that weekly $80, I know it mostly goes to food, so, for me (ymmv) its easier to do 1 weekly transaction and be done with it.
Cash
- Thread starter joycem10
- Start date
Mise
isle of lucy
@Shane & Edward: I see, I guess it's different for different people. I like having a hundred things on my statement instead of just "£20 from a cash point in Camden" etc. I see now why you'd want fewer items though. Different strokes!
I recently signed up for the Bank of America "Keep the Change" thingamabob, so I have an incentive to use the debit card. (They round up to the nearest $ of every transaction and put that in your savings, and at the end of the year they match it up to $250, and every year thereafter they match it up to 5%.)
I also now use this Mint website, which is pretty awesome as before my account balancing was basically all in my head. Great for lazy folks such as myself as they basically do everything for you by linking directly up to your online accounts. I especially like the little pie charts tracking where I am spending, etc.
I also now use this Mint website, which is pretty awesome as before my account balancing was basically all in my head. Great for lazy folks such as myself as they basically do everything for you by linking directly up to your online accounts. I especially like the little pie charts tracking where I am spending, etc.
Hsinchu
Prince
Bank of America started charging me 9 bucks a month and didn't offer me any other options. I closed my account. I know how to keep my own change, anyhow.
By the way, BoA's calculations for the KTC program are based on the online price of their own merchandise, which is hyperinflated if you compare to any common retailer. But, I'd be curious to see the actual numeric benefit. For me, I "store the fat" with Wells Fargo. I transfer over greater than 80% of my "spending money" to a savings account so I can't buy anything. I know for sure that it adds up because I can't count it on two hands.
Yes, I voted for Cash, but in hindsight, I should probably have voted for saving.
By the way, BoA's calculations for the KTC program are based on the online price of their own merchandise, which is hyperinflated if you compare to any common retailer. But, I'd be curious to see the actual numeric benefit. For me, I "store the fat" with Wells Fargo. I transfer over greater than 80% of my "spending money" to a savings account so I can't buy anything. I know for sure that it adds up because I can't count it on two hands.
Yes, I voted for Cash, but in hindsight, I should probably have voted for saving.
Uhhh they do what? I made sure to read all the fine print and it didn't say anything about any of that. (And it's free). Why would they need to look up any prices, all they do is round up to the nearest dollar?
I'd say I probably get an average of about $1 to $2 a day, depending on what I buy (I buy lunch every work day, it is a huge moneysuck but I am lazy). This goes in on top of the $25/month that I have to transfer in order to maintain free checking and free savings account. My BofA savings is not even really my real savings account anyway, it's just kind of a little extra on the side and a residue of my ancient college checking account. The matching funds they put in at the end of the year is free $$$ anyway and it encourages me to save a couple extra bucks, and the money all goes into my main higher yield savings account after it accumulates a little bit since BofA's free savings interest rate is like .0000000000000000001%. I was skeptical of it as well at first (and they are kind of deceptive in their marketing, they make it sounds like they give you the extra change) but it seems fairly win-win to me.
I'd say I probably get an average of about $1 to $2 a day, depending on what I buy (I buy lunch every work day, it is a huge moneysuck but I am lazy). This goes in on top of the $25/month that I have to transfer in order to maintain free checking and free savings account. My BofA savings is not even really my real savings account anyway, it's just kind of a little extra on the side and a residue of my ancient college checking account. The matching funds they put in at the end of the year is free $$$ anyway and it encourages me to save a couple extra bucks, and the money all goes into my main higher yield savings account after it accumulates a little bit since BofA's free savings interest rate is like .0000000000000000001%. I was skeptical of it as well at first (and they are kind of deceptive in their marketing, they make it sounds like they give you the extra change) but it seems fairly win-win to me.
illram, while I don't have BoA, I remember the ads for "Keep the Change". What appealed to me was that all my transactions would be rounded off thus making checkbook balancing easier. I'd rather add $39, $20, $78, and $8 than $38.45, $19.78, $77.23, and $7.98. Plus, yes you set aside the change and they kick in a little at the end. If WF offered it, I'd sign up.
@Mise, when I was younger I definitely was more like how you're describing yourself. Granted, we didn't have debit cards then, so I was still using cash, but I was always obsessed with counting up where each dollar went. So, I'd take out $80 and save all the receipts then reconstruct how I'd spent the money over the course of the next couple weeks (went farther back then!).
@Mise, when I was younger I definitely was more like how you're describing yourself. Granted, we didn't have debit cards then, so I was still using cash, but I was always obsessed with counting up where each dollar went. So, I'd take out $80 and save all the receipts then reconstruct how I'd spent the money over the course of the next couple weeks (went farther back then!).
I still generally make most of my purchases in cash, although the amount of money I spend may be greater on plastic. That's because textbooks and some grocery shopping is on plastic - I buy food for several weeks at a time, and don't always have $120 in cash on hand. I do like that plastic purchases show up individually on the statement, though - it's easy to spend $3 here, $5 there in cash and not be able to reconstruct exactly where it all went later. I almost find it easier to spend cash - perhaps because it's what I'm used to spending, and I don't think about parting with cash as much as signing off on plastic. I tend to carry $60-$80 in cash, gradually depleting as I spend it until it gets to $25 or less where I'll eventually refill it. I used to carry considerably more when I got ATM fees for every withdrawal, to minimize those fees.
One odd thing I've noticed with my credit card is that sometimes it doesn't work with card terminals, although at most terminals it does. Most often it's at the airport that it doesn't work, so I usually just choose the "I don't have a credit card" option for paying for baggage rather than trying to explain that my credit card doesn't work.
One odd thing I've noticed with my credit card is that sometimes it doesn't work with card terminals, although at most terminals it does. Most often it's at the airport that it doesn't work, so I usually just choose the "I don't have a credit card" option for paying for baggage rather than trying to explain that my credit card doesn't work.
