I am sure I am going to get some strong opinions on this but I am seriously thinking about using my credit card. I have all ready figured out our Christmas budget and we are cash flowing our entire budget amount. It's coming out of our second December paychecks. The issue is that we get them on Dec 15th and Dec 22nd respectively and I am a little nervous about waiting to finish shopping that close to Christmas. In particular, there is one large and very hard to find Christmas gift for a certain little girl that I want to make sure we have under the tree, and right now the closest one I can find is in New Hampshire. I am afraid if I wait too much longer I won't be able to get it at all.
So, I am toying with the idea of using one of my cards to do all the shopping now and then paying it in full on the 15th and 22nd. Is this a bad idea, even if I stay within the amount I know I will have out of those two checks, total?
Part of me says don't do it...but another part says it make sense to save me time and my sanity, as long as I don't carry the balance into the next month.
I did the same thing in October with my food budget. I did it to save time, as I wanted to do two weeks worth of grocery shopping, and didn't have the cash at the time to do it. I used my AMEX Blue card and quickly paid it off as soon as I got paid.
ReplyDeleteIf you know you won't go over budget, and know you will pay off the balance that you charged, I see no harm.
However, I think you may be hesitating because you are not sure you will pay it all off. If that's the case, then don't do it.
FYI- Most of the big sales start the week before Christmas...this may be a win-win for you!
Hi Sharon! Thanks for the input. I will definitely have the money to pay for our Christmas budget and a little extra given that I don't have a couple of my regular bills in December. But when I started this blog I locked the cards in the safe with the intention of not using them again, so I kind of feel like I am cheating.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I am becoming increasingly nervous about getting all the gifts, getting them wrapped, along with work and the housecleaning, baking, etc. I need to do before the family arrives on the 24th. So that part of me says shop now in order to be able to relax when the holiday grows nearer.
I'm stressing a lot about the shopping, as I am sure you can tell. And I don't like it all. I just want to enjoy the holidays as I do love this time of year, especially with my little one being at a fun age.
If you can do it and pay it off without overspending, I completely agree with you. part of getting out of debt has to be learning how to use ccs positively!!! I have thought of that myself... but really shouldn't take out a cc, I know that I would use it to purchase more & go over budget! haha
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your opinion. There is a part of me that wants to know if I can use the credit card in the manner it's supposed to be used: plan ahead, set a limit, and pay it off immediately. I am also lucky in that I know that I have a large amount of extra money in my budget this month, above and beyond what we agreed to spend on Christmas. It's good because I don't want to repeat the mistake I made last month with not planning any "extras" in the budget. I think I will sit down and re-do December's budget and then decide what to do about shopping.
ReplyDeleteI think if you really know that you will pay if off with the paychecks and that it won't lead to overspending then just do it and buy yourself some time and peace of mind.
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