Comments on: Leave Your ATM Card at Home http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/04/20/leave-your-atm-card-at-home/ personal finance that makes cents Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:38:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Susan Carley Oliver http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/04/20/leave-your-atm-card-at-home/#comment-38406 Susan Carley Oliver Wed, 03 Jan 2007 15:31:26 +0000 http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/04/20/leave-your-atm-card-at-home/#comment-38406 For me, the convenience of tracking my spending automatically outweighs the risk I'll use the card unwisely. I do the old "pay yourself first" thing, and my savings account isn't accessible with the card, so it's hard to overspend with my debit card. I only use cash for "purchased food" - thai takeout, a reuben at the new cafe in the nabe, etc., which makes my cash easier to track than when I was trying to do it on paper. For me, the convenience of tracking my spending automatically outweighs the risk I’ll use the card unwisely. I do the old “pay yourself first” thing, and my savings account isn’t accessible with the card, so it’s hard to overspend with my debit card. I only use cash for “purchased food” - thai takeout, a reuben at the new cafe in the nabe, etc., which makes my cash easier to track than when I was trying to do it on paper.

]]> By: Betsy http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/04/20/leave-your-atm-card-at-home/#comment-5 Betsy Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:56:22 +0000 http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/04/20/leave-your-atm-card-at-home/#comment-5 Actually, the decent compromise here is to get one of those "credit" cards that you load up with cash. I was routinely putting money every month on a Key Possibilities card, and using that card for things like online shopping, expenditures I didn't want to carry large wads of cash for, or traveling. The downsides are that a) you can't keep loading the card - once it's gone, it's gone, and b) you can't download any information on your transactions (although you can call in and see how much money you have left/dollar amounts of what you've spent.) I'm now using a credit card with a deliberately small limit for this purpose instead now, though - this way, I can download transactions and better track my spending. Actually, the decent compromise here is to get one of those “credit” cards that you load up with cash. I was routinely putting money every month on a Key Possibilities card, and using that card for things like online shopping, expenditures I didn’t want to carry large wads of cash for, or traveling.

The downsides are that a) you can’t keep loading the card - once it’s gone, it’s gone, and b) you can’t download any information on your transactions (although you can call in and see how much money you have left/dollar amounts of what you’ve spent.)

I’m now using a credit card with a deliberately small limit for this purpose instead now, though - this way, I can download transactions and better track my spending.

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