My hope when I am debt free is to be able to use one card -- to receive whatever points or cash back that's provided -- and then pay it off, in full, at the end of the month.
I don't know if I will be able to do that, though. When I spend, I lose control. I can be so good when I just cut myself off, but when I start allowing this and that purchase, it turns into a frenzy.
Case in point: There were a few things I wanted to get for the cruise in June, so I transferred a couple hundred dollars from savings with the plan to (1) buy them with my credit card (for the points) and then (2) pay off the amount spent on the card using the transferred funds.
But what happened instead is (1) I bought those items with the credit card and (2) also spent a fair amount of the transferred savings on a couple other things.
So now I've increased my balance on my credit card and have decreased my savings balance, and ... that's that.
I knew at the beginning of the year that from May through July the finances would go through some erratic changes: Mother's Day, my dad's birthday, Father's Day, and my mom's birthday all occur within a six-week period; the cruise with my parents is in the middle of June (I'm responsible for my spending money and for the boarding of the family pet); and in July I'm splurging on a much-needed haircut.
I'm disappointed in my spending behavior in May, but not all is lost. I knew there would be an increase in spending, and obsessing over every bit is just going to drive me crazy. Still, I do need to be responsible about what I spend on and not let my old habits get the better of me.
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