It isn’t hard to spend too much money on your credit cards. In fact, I think many of us know from firsthand experience that spending money is extremely easy to do (especially when the cash doesn’t disappear right away). You don’t want to end up with a huge credit card bill at the end of the month. Take some initiative to watch your spending and make sure you are keeping your bill within a limit that you can pay off.
Here are some tips that might help you keep your bill within your limit:
1. Monitor Your Accounts Online – Watching both your credit card spending and what you have in savings and in your checking account is extremely important. You don’t want to spend more than you have (unless it is an emergency) and you also want to make sure you aren’t pulling money out of your savings. Online banking makes everything simple for you. Consider going paperless and pay your bills online as well. If you have a credit card from your bank, transferring money over to pay your bills is simple!
2. Don’t Spend Money You Don’t Have – Unless it is an emergency, there is no point in spending money that you don’t yet have in your possession. Although you may be counting on a check to come in within a few days, if something happens and you don’t get that money on time, you are still left with a credit card bill to pay. Although this seems like common sense, people are constantly overspending on things that they don’t absolutely need and instead just want (i.e. clothes, video games, electronics, etc.).
3. Pay As You Go – This idea works great. There is no point in letting purchases sit on your credit card. If you were following tip #2, the money should be in your checking account anyway. Transfer the money to your credit card to pay off your bill as you spend. If your money is in your checking account, you may think you have more money than you actually do. If you pay off your bill however, the money disappears and you can forget about it. Many people wouldn’t understand why you wouldn’t just pay with your debit card instead, but if you have a points/rewards card with your credit card, you can earn points and still avoid the credit card debt with this tip.
4. Don’t Use Store Credit Cards – Actually, let’s make that don’t even open store credit cards! The more credit cards you have, the faster you can lose track of your spending…and store credit cards are the worst way to do it. Although they may sound appealing when you first open them (because you are always offered a discount on your purchase) but once you realize you have to pay your bill off, if you can’t, the interest rate is usually extremely high. The less credit cards you have, the more under control you will find your spending.
Some of these things may seem very common sense but a few pointers in the right direction can be the greatest help for some people. Just remember to monitor your spending and hopefully things will work out better (with no credit card debt!). Obviously emergencies happen and there are times where you can’t avoid putting an expense on your credit card, just find a way to pay it off that works best for you.
Photo: Dani Simmonds
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