This is my first post, so hello everyone. I'm sorry if these questions make me sound naive, but for the most part I'm pretty ignorant about all this stuff. I wasn't sure if this belonged in Personal Finance or Investing and Banking, but based on the different topics I saw in each, I thought this was the best place to put it.
To give you some quick background information, I'm 19 years old, I have graduated from high school and am planning to attend college in the fall. I've already received some acceptance letters and scholarship offers and my parents have agreed to pay for college, so I won't need to take out any student loans. I live with my parents, and work around 30-35 hours per week, at $8.00/hour before taxes.
I have around 1,000 dollars saved up, but the problem is, right now, the money is just sitting in a shoe box. I wanted to open a bank account and possibly get a credit card to make some purchases, but when I looked into it, there were so many options to choose from that I really had no idea what to do. So I just kept putting it off. The banks near me have 3-4 different kinds of checking accounts, 3-4 different kinds of saving accounts, CDs, and then if I decided to get a credit card there's a ton of different kinds of those as well.
To give you an idea of what my spending habits are, and what I'm looking for: I usually spend ~$20-30/week on food, going to the movies, gas, and things of that nature and the rest just kind of goes to the shoe box. I'm pretty good at "managing" the money I have: I don't spend more than I have, know how much I have, and keep track of where I spend it. The main things I'm looking for are a way to store my money, and a method of making purchases online or that exceed what I feel comfortable carrying around. I don't see myself taking money out of an account more than once a week, and it will probably be slightly less often than that. I suppose the main issue is finding something that has as few fees associated with it as possible. I know a lot of things like that require a minimum balance, which is something I could live with, but when I looked for a "fee-free" checking account the lowest minimum balance I saw was $2,000, which is more than I currently have, and most likely something I could not keep as a minimum balance.
The main fear I have about about a credit card is, how will it affect me down the road? I don't plan on paying the minimum for months on end. Any purchases I make I plan on paying in full when the bill arrives, I don't see myself even making purchases with money from future paychecks. It's mainly a convenience issue with online or large purchases, but I'm still not sure if this would have any consequences. I've looked into debit/charge cards as well, but they look like they carry some fees whenever you take money out or make purchases, so I'm wondering if that is indeed the best option. Between now and when I stop working and go to college I would estimate that at most I'd make 5-6 purchases that required a credit card.
Thanks in advance for any advice
