Going Rogue......Credit Only Baby!

Most people feel that credit cards are evil....or at least can lead you into debt.

They are a tool if used properly but so many either don't know how or won't use it as the tool it was meant to be.
Resulting in many people getting into trouble with the improper use of credit cards.
If you are one of these sort of folks it's best not to even use credit.

With my frugal habits built up over the decades I am at a place were I don't need to put anything on credit....ever!  I only buy things I can afford when I buy them.
The last time I paid credit card interest was 1995(I was pregnant and forgot a deadline.)
The last time I financed a car was 1994(and we paid that one off 3 years early).
The last time I paid mortgage interest was 2007.
This is not to brag(ok, maybe a little lol)but to show that getting debt-free can take time and by golly it takes a LOT of effort!

If you are regularly buying things on credit and can't pay that bill off then maybe you really can't afford to be buying those things, can you?
If you regularly buy things on credit and don't pay off the bill in full each month then you don't own those things, the credit card company does.

It wasn't easy getting to this point of not needing credit.  It meant a lot of sacrificing over the years, giving up wants and just buying the needs.
And putting money away and not spending it.
And with time and regular money saving habits, it meant paying off large debts like cars and even a house and being totally debt-free.

Credit cards are now a convenience for me.
I am in a position that it I need/want to buy something and I don't have enough cash or a check on me, no problem.....I just whip out the vile credit card and purchase.
But I NEVER put a purchase on a credit card that I don't actually have the money for or am not prepared to pay-off before the c/c bill is due.

It's the only way I will use a credit card nowadays....pure convenience.

So since my credit card has a rewards program attached to it why shouldn't I use it for ALL purchases and reap the reward program benefit?
Yes, I am a bit slow sometimes.  ;-)

And that is what I am going to do-start paying every bill I can with my credit card to earn points.
It's a win/win as I never carry a balance and/or pay interest on my card.  Why not earn free rewards for purchases I have to make every month anyway?

I have paid cash for all my food purchases for many years now that it felt funny putting a grocery store purchase on a credit card the other day.

I'll get use to it though.
I know I won't earn that much more in rewards putting food on the c/c as I don't spend a lot on food/toiletries anyway(well, I have been spending much MORE lately since I am feeding 2 more adults)but every little bit counts, right?

I do know already that a few monthly bills I can't put on the credit card as they charge a "fee"(pass on the % the c/c company charges them to take credit payments).
The water and electric company here do this so those will still be paid via another method(check or direct checking account transfer)because having to pay that "fee" is the same as paying interest in my mind.

How about you?

Do you pay cash or put food/toiletries purchases on credit to earn rewards and is it worth it to do so?

Or do you have a credit utilizing problem and end up paying interest on credit card charges when you don't want to?

Do you think it's "worth it" to use credit cards for reward points?


Sluggy

My Brain & A Check Go Missing & 4.5 Years Ago Today

2 days ago I got mail from my insurance company.
Inside was a Notice of Cancellation of our homeowner's policy.

THUD!

After I picked my excessively large butt off the floor I then said....

WTF?!?!

I am a class act if nothing else.

Seems we are being terminated for lack of payment.
Translation--The insurance company didn't get our check!

So I went to the checkbook register to see if indeed I wrote and recorded a check.
Yes, July 29th.

So I went online to our bank account and saw that the check in question had not been cashed yet.
Hmmmm.

Now I am thinking that it got lost while in the capable hands of the almost bankrupt US Postal Service.

But just in case that is NOT the answer I began to go through the stacks of paper on my desk.

I have stacks and stacks of paperwork on my desk and on the bookcase next to my desk.
It's about hit Critical Mass Stage and needs to be filed, organized or otherwise pitched.
This MIA check payment was just the impetus I needed to start throwing papers around and muttering under my breath.
Ok, so I mutter under my breath anyway.....

And after 2 hours of thrashing about I did NOT turn up the missing check or envelope or anything!
So I started channeling my dead doggie Mango(which meant I started grumbling and saying "Crap!" in the cute grumpy old doggie voice we imagined he would have had, had he been capable of speech)and I went about putting all those papers back into assorted piles.

About an hour later, #2 son comes home from school and is raiding the kitchen for snacks.
As I am standing next to my desk talking to him, I look at the space between the back of the desk and the wall it sits in front of.  There, laying halfway underneath the desk is an envelope.  I get the yardstick and fish it out from behind the desk.

Do I REALLY have to say what it was??lol
Yes all you Miss Cleo wannabees....it's the envelope with the missing check.
It seems in the chaos, that was my August, the payment never actually got mailed.

This is so unlike me.....yah, that's my story.

So yesterday I bopped up to the agent's office and hand delivered said insurance payment.
All is now right with the universe until the next bookkeeping catastrophe hits.

Which brings me to the second part of this post.
As I was looking at the paperwork I enclosed with insurance payment, I saw that they still have our mortgage company listed as the lien holder on our house.
Hell NO!!
I need to get the release papers out to send to the insurance company so they take the mortgage company off.

You see, 4 years and 6 months ago today, we paid off our mortgage in full.
March 15, 2007.
I will never forget that date.
That is our personal Independence Day.

By paying off our 30 year fixed rate mortgage in 6 years, 6 months & 25 days instead of 30 years, we saved roughly $109,088.00 in interest.

If we had taken 30 years to pay off the mortgage we would have paid out $142,792.39 in interest alone.
We only paid less than 24% of that interest amount by not dragging out the payments the full 30 years.

And yes, the grass IS greener now in the yard & the air IS fresher without a mortgage! ;-)
And yes, it IS easier to squirrel away money into savings....a LOT of money into savings, once you aren't paying a mortgage too.
Money to buy cars with cash.
Money to pay cash for college.
Money to pay cash for most anything if you save up that new found income instead of buying stuff with it.

If being mortgage-free is your dream I hope you get there, and I hope it's soon.
You can do it!  8-)


Sluggy