Which payment form is best to use when shopping?

[midnight]

What does everyone find is the best to use when they go shopping? I use much less when I pay by cash than by credit card or debit card, but I also end up spending alot in ATM fees when I only use cash.

[Tree0164]

I use my debit card at the grocery store. I don't have any fees taken out using that.

I do watch for atm fees though. Luckily, most of the atms around here are my bank.

[2moretrees]

It seems there is a bit of disagreement on this one...I guess it depends on the way you use money.

[deanawo]

Depends. If you pay your balance in full every month a credit card that earns you a % back or gift certs, etc may be a good idea. Before we had children with medical problems (& the resulting debt) I paid for all groceries/gas for a year with my cc & paid it off every month. After the year was up I had enough gc's to buy carpet for my whole house!

[DivaJen]

I would agree that it depends on how one handles credit cards, cash, etc. I tend to spend cash easily if I have it - $5 here, $3 there - and before I know it I've frittered away $20-$40 with nothing to show for it. OTOH, I won't use a credit card for purchases under $10 or so (just my personal 'thing') so that helps me avoid the smaller impulse buys.

Since we pay off our cc each month in full, I use it for pretty much everything. It's an easy way for me to track spending. If a bill seems unusually high or low compared to other months, I can go back and analyze it, figure out why.

[nate]

For me its no contest. Cash goes a lot further than CC or chec, usually because I have a limited supply on hand! Not only that, I absolutely hate withdrawing cash from the ATM so I notice myself skrimping and saving a little more when I only use cash.

[luna-mia]

I prefer cash. Its keeps me modest in my spending as I only have a set amount I take out for purchases.

[amomof4]

I hate to comment on an old thread (I'm a newbie), but maybe my experience will help someone else.

I am a very thrifty person. Always have been (except my binges). My husband lives in a different state, yet he balances my check book. To make it easier, he requested that I charge everything, so he wouldn't have to worry about bounced checks. Oh, did money get out of hand for me. I remember at one time, I spent $5,000 a month for 3 months in a row! Ouch! Now I use a local checking account. I can see how much money I have left, and it stops my spending big time. I hate not having any money, so I really quit spending when I'm down to $500 unless something unexpectedly happens. But, to the chagrin of my husband, I usually give whatever is left to charity and mission work.

I don't really care about saving money, I just hate waste. So I give away what I don't spend. This sometimes puts my husband into a financial bind as he could sure use the money for his goals. Just recently I gave $2,000 to a missionary so that he could buy a house in India. Boy was my husband mad! I guess I should have consulted him, but it was my money I had saved from my budget.

[PrincessPerky]

I think cash is only best if there is a difficulty in getting it, for example I don't carry a wallet, it is in my desk at home. I try to take out needed cash for r dr bills and minor purchases whenever possible so that I limit my spending, if I only have 10$ I should only spend 10. I have to plan on getting the money out of my desk in order to spend it. I live about 30 or more minutes from anywhere I would spend money, so going back is not an option. (my husband has his wallet with plenty of ways to spend money in it, but he also has better willpower with CC's.)

I have heard that if you go to the mall you could put the purse or wallet in your trunk, so if you see anything that you think you want, you have to be willing to walk all the way back to your car for it. for me the ATM fee is much worse than walking to my car, I can't see spending money for the right to use my own money!

You know alot of people mention that cash falls thrugh their fingers like water, I so notice this with my husband. but if I have cash in the house and I take it with me say to a party (like tupperware, or the toys I do) I have found that I will spend only the amount I took. If I only took my wallet with emergency CC and ID, I will buy something that may or may not be less than the cash I could have taken.

[akaivyleaf]

I use debit card, simply because I have to record the transactions in my check register at night when I come home. Carrying cash isn't my favorite way to travel especially when I've had the unfortunate incident of being robbed at gunpoint. I don't use my credit cards AT ALL. Matter of fact my American Express currently resides in my freezer in a block of Ice. I've thawed it out once when I had to make an emergency trip home to see my ailing great grandmother and I was determined that she would have whatever was necessary for her health no matter what the cost and she wouldn't be faced with any bills- I would take on that responsibilty through my card.

When I really buckled down on spending, I did carry cash because it was very easy to understand the concept of when you have no more cash, you can get nothing more, so if I allowed it to run through my hands like water, I would most likely go hungry toward the end of the week. It taught me a valuable lesson in that regard, but the flip side of it, was having that cash made me a target.

[xboxundone]

Pay by credit card if you plan on paying it off at the end of the month as many credit cards offer protection against fraud and breakage etc...

[mahanda]

for me the best way is debit card, i find when i keep cash on me my children,grandchildren, and spouse can fritter away it much faster (i admit i am weak with them) then if i use the debit card. also no change for anyone to pocket or beg.

[leewill72]

I work at Kohl's, so i receive at least one discount when i use my kohl's charge, and when it is associate day, i get a double dicount. That is not factoring in special discounts for card holders they have during the year so as long as i pay it off right away i am saving more with my charge card than cash.

[Amelia]

I use mostly my debit card as a credit card when the purchases have items that get me money back into my upromise acct. If I do use a cc-I only charge what I can spend and since I use online bill pay-no charge and it comes straight out my acct-I'll send the amount out in the next day or two.

[Momof3grls]

I use CC's for shoppping they offer rewards & one of my banks charges for checks so I would hate to buy checks all the time & cc's do offer lots of protections

[mom-from-missouri]

My credit card, and debit card are the same card. It just depends on how I use it-but either way, it still comes directly out of my checking account. The advantage to using it as a credit card, is that my bank (usbank) pays me back .25% every November of my total credit card purchases. Since it comes directly out of my account, there is no interest and no balance. I only gain by this.

[Armywife]

I've been using my Amex Rewards Card for everything except gas. I've decided I'm cashing the rewards every three months and placing the gift cards on EBAY (that's if I don't use them myself!)