I just read a blurb on Lifehacker about a family that went “cash only” and saved money.

Well duh.

I don’t have credit cards. The last time I had a credit card was ten years ago when i lived in England, and Barclay bank just handed me one with my new account. I felt giddy. I promptly got all spendy and pretty much blew through my 500 pound limit on it.

No I use my debit card. If I don’t have the money in my account I can’t buy it. Plain and simple. Sucks when I want something shiny and gadget-like, but that gives me incentive to save for it, which is something I’m only now beginning to be able to do. The debit card works *like* a credit card of course, and I can do anything I need to with it that I would with a credit card (ie, shop online.) So why bother with a credit card that’s going to be impossible for someone in my income bracket to ever pay off (especially if I used it to pay a large debt, like a car repair or something impossible to pay for outright.)

Admittedly, the credit card *would* have been handy with the old $900 fuel pump replacement I had to do. But years of single parent-dom has taught me to be resourceful.

But aside from the freak occurrences, I’ve never needed a credit card. And I know myself, I’m dangerous with them. best to just avoid them altogether and live within my means. If it means I can’t jump on a plane and head to Europe whenever I want and worry about paying for it later, so be it. I’d rather be relatively debt-free than burdened and stressed over things I can’t afford.

I don’t carry cash either and that is something I probably should do. Even in this day and age, there are some things you just need Real Money to pay for. But I can’t remember the last time I had any cash on me. So maybe it’s not exactly vital.