this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

My credit card helps me budget.

Yes, you read that right, I think that my credit card is helpful tool in my budgeting process, it encourages me to really keep track of what I spend, and in turn, my budget keeps my credit card spending in check.

Each month when my credit card statement arrives, I want to check each transaction to make sure it's correct. In order to do that, I need to keep track of each transaction when it happens (I enter all my receipts into Quicken). Thus, I have a very accurate picture of my spending each month. For some reason, when I spend cash, I have a much harder time keeping track of each transaction. Maybe that's because the motivation isn't there like it is when I use a credit card. The credit card usage motivates me to keep track of all my spending, which makes an accurate budget easy to set up and follow.

Each month I pay the balance in full. I have no desire to overspend simply because I'm using plastic. I don't know how I could, really, because if it's not in the budget, I won't buy it, and our budget is designed so that we spend less than we earn. Thus my budget prevents me from using a credit card to buy more than I can afford.

I know this does not work for everyone, and I'm not saying it should. For me and my husband it works, and that's all that matters.