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. Common sense advice on topics from high interest savings accounts, frugality, cd rates, money market accounts, mortgage rates, how to get out of debt, money management and more. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:18:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 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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