[jmjj215]

Singin,
That was another issue I dealt with quite a bit before starting to use my CC (which I've only been doing for about 6 months). Before that my wife and I used our debit card for everything. We tried using just cash for groceries but we'd keep forgetting the envelope, would have to go back, it was such a pain. I'm sure if we would've stuck with it we would've started to remember...

Anyway, I was worried about what you mentioned above - not really feeling like there was a real "limit" to my spending. I've found it isn't true in my situation. Here's why:

Each month my wife and I sit down and allocate where every dollar we earned from last month (we spend last month's income during the current month) is going. We record every single purchase we make. Sometimes we use the record on the CC to help us remember, other times we use the receipts. Either way - we record everything. That makes a very real connection happen between our spending and our wallet. Also, we've been doing this since we first married and I've looked at our spending since we started using the CC and it hasn't changed at all by any statistically significant amount. I honestly can tell you that I don't spend any more with a CC than I would with cash. The trick is that you have to be on a strict written budget to pull it off.

The only thing I still think about is that the CCs are making a profit off of the merchant because of me...hmm. Of course, they make a profit off the debit card I would use too - though the % is slightly lower.