There’s a lot of other items I could argue similarly about…

you don’t always have to reach your goal.. what is important is you have something to aim at

Credit cards are for carefully considered emergency expenses – like my daughter’s medications when she got sick last week.

It will be a great month when the credit card balance is zero. That hasn’t happened in a while, but then my husband is out of work.

#6 involves getting an adjustable rate mortgage…no thanks…really.

ThatGuy

@ Becky: You are exactly right, I am still bringing in money. The great part is that I don’t have to anymore, it’s for fun. Kind of like the same way lots of older retirees pick up a side job or volunteer to have fun, keep busy, and do something they love.

I’m not the type of person that can sit on the couch all day, but I guess I could if I wanted to.

And yes, you are absolutely right, Scott is still working. That’s his choice and I support it. He has never really been into quitting his job like I have, but if he wanted to quit, I would support that too.

You’ve identified the exact problem that I have now when people ask me “What do I do?” Since it’s sort of a mix, I usually say stay at home mom:)

@Steve in Denmark, yes we have those cards here, they are called Debit cards, as Elisabeth pointed out. Many places will offer cash back on purchases as well. Actually, funny that you mention ATM fees — in the US there is a push from some banks to offer a rebate for any fees that you may incur at ATMs.

It’s a Bank Visa card, also called ‘Dankort’. The money comes out of your bank account, rather than being a credit card, but it can be used where there are Visa signs – the Interweb, for example. It’s cheaper because you will often get charged to withdraw cash from a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ machine.

Just about every shop – from supermarkets, to cafes – has a little device at the check-out or desk, where you stick you card in (chip down) and once you’ve seen that you’re happy with the amount/it’s correct, you put in your personal 4 digit code, press (what amounts to) ‘agree’ and there you are.

You can get ‘cash-back’ by asking them to give you so much over the amount of goods you’ve just bought. So if your purchases came to 300kr, you say ’200 over, please’, and you get the goods paid for and 200kr in cash in your hand. Should you wish.

It’s funny, I was only thinking the other day that I haven’t had cash on me in any shape or form for something like 4 months now. The card units are every where, you’ve no need for cash (as for the bus; it takes pre-bought bus cards).

Of course everything she says is good advice, I just found the “personal story” aspect of the article to be somewhat misleading.

Going out and spending money can be fun, and the problem is, it’s all most people know how to do for fun. I’ve often felt like my options were go out and spend money with friends, or be alone. I’ve usually chosen the latter option. I always hope these online articles will just say, “It’s lonely, it feels crappy sometimes, but you’re doing right by yourself.” Instead, they’re just always so smug and self-righteous that I feel alienated from that crowd, too.

We now drive by the ATM on payday every other Friday and take out grocery/household money for the next 2 weeks. It was so easy to drop $200+ just on a trip to large club/warehouse store and pay with a swipe of plastic and then find we already had a giant bottle of red wine at home and an unopened 12 pack of kitchen towels in the basement because we would use it eventually after all. Using cash forced us to think differently. We still go to club store on payday but having spent a lot less.

I noticed this post is in the ‘Spare Change’ category so I’ll just add that we have been successfully selling all kinds of things from our house for cash too. Just 3-4 items per week but enough to cover daughters music lessons and school lunches for 2 children, husbands lunches out at work plus movie date night at home for us once in a while (redbox + takeout). We had no room in budget for these things and it is amazing how using cash makes spending it and finding it so much more fun.

Our Grand Plan depends on it. While we focus on cash in hand our credit cards and bills are being paid on time and savings are growing too. All the best, to everyone!

By the way, what could possibly motivate a person to do that? I’ve been thinking about this for days, and I just don’t get it.

Frugal – buy it on sale, buy it with a coupon, try a cheaper brand, buy a cheap brand on sale with a coupon and then send for a rebate on it, use baking soda or alcohol instead, scrounge some from the trash can

Cheap – use some with a scent you can’t stand, just because it’s the cheapest; don’t use any even when you know you’re going to get smelly and be around people, just because you don’t want to spend the money; use a kind that really doesn’t work for you even though you know there’s a kind that does work just because you don’t want to pay the extra

Theft – use your roommate’s, your kid’s, some from the store, some from a donation box