I mentioned awhile back that was I was going to experiment with using a credit card for bills and cash expenses and see if it was appropriate for me. I have had a credit card number stolen locally in the past which makes me nervous about using a debit card.

So far so good. I treat it like my atm card except I don't have to be quite as paranoid about when things clear.

Point two in its favor is the vast simplification of my budget. Part of that is I have paid off two credit cards and part is that I have bills autopaid by the credit card.

Current budget

CC1: Paid in Full
CC2:$95
CC3: $2200
Electric: $70
Student Loan: $194
IRA: $150
Savings $25
Rent: $730

Way easier to follow than the 14+ item one I had before. Mind you CC1 has rules for use like how much for me, how much for groceries, etc but those are sort of instinct by now and the real bills just pay themselves. I have to worry about missing a bill a lot less. In fact I only have to schedule 4 bills anymore since everything else is automatic. And pretty soon that will be down to 2 since 2 of the cc's are going away very quickly.

I really was afraid it would be easier to spend given my previous expenditures but it seems that somewhere along the way I actually learned some discipline. Imagine that!

I even periodically double check the budget overall to make sure things stay on track.Can't wait to change my ticker to a savings tracker instead of debt tracker.