I am exactly like you. I never have money in my wallet and you know what…my family is frugal and spends much less than the average American. We live off of our income AFTER we pay ourselves first ( savings ) and always have.

My wallet is full of credit cards, all of which have been slowly accumulated over the years, and each has a sticker on the front letting us know what to use it for.

One has gas ( I was getting 6% there ) one for groceries ( I was getting 6% there, too ), one for Restaurants ( 3% back ), etc, etc. By putting the sticker on the front, my husband and I know exactly what card to use.

I use the grocery game to shop each week, cut coupons and fed my family of 5 for less than $70 a week last year thanks to my frugal shopping. And, then, I made 6% on top of that savings.

I made almost $1,000 in rewards from credit cards last year and did NOT spend more than I would have if I had cash in my pocket.

My career before becoming a stay at home mom was in accounting/finance, and I was lucky enough to have been brought up with parents who drilled into my head ( just like yours ) the importance of managing your finances, SAVING, paying off bills each month, etc.

To the readers of my blog who do the “envelope” system with cash and claim it cannot be done with credit cards ( earning rewards ), I always ask..why not?

Make your same envelopes ( grocery, gas, etc, etc ) and stick a piece of paper in there with the amount of cash you would have put in the envelope. Everytime you use your credit card for a purchase from that envelope, pull the paper out and mark down how much you spend…subtract…and you know how much you have left…just as you would have had left with cash.

It is all about discipline! If you are willing to live within your means and manage your spending, it will not matter whether you use credit cards or cash.

The benefit…you can earn extra with credit cards..keep your money in the bank a month longer ( earning interst in a High Interest Checking account ) and have the safety of cancelling those cards if they ever get stolen.

Your cash gets stolen…it is gone!

Thanks SOO much for a great post! I love it so much, would you ever be willing to do a guest post?

What excellent, balanced advice.

I’m like a recovering alcaholic with credit cards so I’m living by the no debt/cards rule at the moment. This may change when I think I’ve recovered!