For those of you who charge all your daily expenses...

[ScrimpAndSave]

I am thinking about doing this. Currently, I pull out $500 cash each time I am paid and it lasts me two weeks. I do all of my grocery shopping with this, fun money, eating out etc. I am thinking about making a limit of $1,000 and putting it all on a credit card and then paying off the balance each month before it is due.

Does this seem to work for some of you? If you do this, how much cash do you keep handy for things you have to pay cash with?

I have a Bank of America Visa card that has a lot of points that add up to gift cards at the end of the year that I can give to friends and family during the holiday season.

[jIM_Ohio]

SnS-

I have been doing this for years
when my wife and I joined finances, we switched to a cash system

then once I knew she could control spending, we switched back

We keep next to zero cash on us at all times
I am bad- if I have cash, I will use it at coke machine or similar
wife is just in habit of only shopping where they take cards

[disneysteve]

We charge everything and anything. Our annual CC charges total about $40,000 and our annual rewards earned usually approach $1,000. I will charge virtually everything. My wife tends to pay cash for little purchases like under $10 and charge everything else. I keep a couple hundred dollars in my wallet just in case but it can stay in there for months. The only exception is when we go to the casino. Then I take cash since I can't use a credit card there.

[ScrimpAndSave]

Aahhh yes...the casino.

Off topic: Have you been to Mount Airy casino in the Poconos or the Sands in Bethlehem? They are fun day trips with some great restaurants.

My current credit card has a reward system that $1 = 1 point. 3,500 points is a $25 gift card, 6,500 points is a $50 gift card, 12,000 is a $100 gift card. I can either get a Visa gift card...or there are various gift cards that I can get for lots of different restaurants and stores.

[MonkeyMama]

Yes, we also charge everything, and pay it off at the end of the month. (Utilities, and everything possible).

I set all my credit card close dated to around the 3rd of the month. These days, the second may suffice. This way, everything from the prior month tends to be captured and we can pay it on a monthly basis.

I carry $20 cash "just in case." More, when traveling. These days, just about everyone takes credit card and I I will charge 50 cents if I have to. I just hate dealing with cash. I don't remember the last time I needed cash for anything. My $20 bill has been sitting in there a while!

I earn more on my spending than my savings, that is for sure. Cash back is about 3%.

[disneysteve]

Aahhh yes...the casino.

Off topic: Have you been to Mount Airy casino in the Poconos or the Sands in Bethlehem? They are fun day trips with some great restaurants.

We've been to Sands. We have a friend in Bethlehem and we go to his house once a year. We checked out the casino when we were there in November. We'll go back when we go to visit him but I wouldn't go otherwise as Atlantic City is about the same distance for us and I'd much rather go there.

[disneysteve]

I earn more on my spending than my savings, that is for sure. Cash back is about 3%.

You know, I never thought of it that way but it is so true. With the Discover 5% cashback deals, it is even more true.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

me too! I even recently put the car down on the credit card. Couldn't resist.

My biggest problem is finding places that take discover card. I've never had a spending problem. The normal spending of me and my DH isn't over the top.

[jIM_Ohio]

Aahhh yes...the casino.

Off topic: Have you been to Mount Airy casino in the Poconos or the Sands in Bethlehem? They are fun day trips with some great restaurants.

My current credit card has a reward system that $1 = 1 point. 3,500 points is a $25 gift card, 6,500 points is a $50 gift card, 12,000 is a $100 gift card. I can either get a Visa gift card...or there are various gift cards that I can get for lots of different restaurants and stores.

My reward is 1% off my mortgage balance, paid 1X per quarter. So when we charge $1000/mo, $10 comes off the mortgage.

As best I can tell, the best reward is usually 2% cash back, or cards which give hotel points (hotel points accumulate fast to where you can use them- usually 5 nights of staying is enough points for 1 free night).

[GREENBACK]

Beyond the rewards from a CC, It's an excellent way to track your spending if you want to cut back for whatever reason. I can't really imagine walking around paying for everything with cash anymore, and see no reason to.

[kork13]

Beyond the rewards from a CC, It's an excellent way to track your spending if you want to cut back for whatever reason. I can't really imagine walking around paying for everything with cash anymore, and see no reason to.

Ditto.

I pay with my credit card for nearly everything, and most of the time, I literally have less than $5 in my wallet. If I need cash for some odd reason (parking downtown or splitting a restaurant tab with friends), I find an ATM -- my bank refunds any ATM fees. Whether $1.40 or $1400, it all goes on my card. I get at least 2% on everything, and 5% on gas, so from my typical $400-$500/mo of general spending, I get $10-$15 back each month.

[disneysteve]

As best I can tell, the best reward is usually 2% cash back, or cards which give hotel points (hotel points accumulate fast to where you can use them- usually 5 nights of staying is enough points for 1 free night).

My primary card is the Marriott Premier Visa. What I like is that the points earned by staying at a hotel get combined with the points earned by charging on the card. That makes the free nights accumulate pretty quickly.

[jaine]

I put everything on my rewards card too. And I check mint.com daily to look at the budget bar graph and see how I'm doing. It shows a ticker for today's date right next to the ticker of how much I've spent. So I can visualize if I'm spending too quickly. I only buy fun stuff if the graph shows I have room for it. Most useful graph in the world!!! Credit cards alone obscure the concept of how much is left, but credit card + mint makes it perfect

[jaine]

PS. To answer the 2nd question in the original post, I usually keep about $20 on hand for tips and odd purchases that don't accept credit cards. I made a fairly large atm withdrawal a few month ago...I just pull out another 20 from my closet as needed and enter the cash transactions manually in mint. that's the great thing about mint...it consolidates all your cc and debit card and cash purchases into the same graphs and charts.

[ScrimpAndSave]

Jaine...I love the idea of using Mint and a credit card! Awesome!!!