I’ve been thinking a lot about credit cards lately, and this post will probably only skim the surface of everything rolling around in my head. I’m taking a hard stance on this issue, but that doesn’t mean I have any contempt for those who choose to live their lives differently. This is simply my two cents (money pun somewhat intended).

I recently read Jon Acuff’s book Gazelles, Baby Steps, and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt. It was moderately amusing; I think it would have been funnier had I read any Dave Ramsey books or followed Financial Peace University. So that is my big disclaimer about this post. I’m not claiming to know everything he says about credit cards and money management in general, nor am I claiming to know everything about those topics myself. But it seems like in the frugal living-Mommy Blogger world, Dave Ramsey is king, so I’ve read a lot about what he teaches (and ultimately have a lot of respect for his intentions). But I’ve also read a lot of posts about subscribing to tactics he suggests…and to be honest, some of them make me really nervous. Namely: cutting up all your credit cards and spending only cash.

First of all, the idea of spending only cash makes me nervous because if you’re spending only cash, that means you have a lot of cash lying around. If A. and I were to deposit our paychecks and then withdraw cash to cover every penny we planned to spend that month, I would feel like I needed an armored car to get around and a padlock on my purse. There’s no protection for cash. Even our renter’s insurance only covers cash up to about $200 in the event of a break-in, fire, etc. With credit cards, you have lots of protections, including retail dispute assistance and protection from identity theft and fraud. (Read more about that here.)

The Dave Ramsey philosophy offers debit cards as the solution to some of these situations. The money is coming immediately out of your account, so it feels like cash, but you have minimally more protection than with cash. But it’s not quite enough to me. If your wallet is stolen and someone spends a large amount of money on your debit card, you could overdraft and incur a fee. That fee and the money lost might not be refunded for quite some time. Plus, you have to type in your PIN everywhere with debit cards, and there are creepy software programs out there that can filch PINs from public keypads, not to mention people who might be watching carefully over your shoulder and following your fingers on the numbers. Also, if you are using your debit card at a hotel, they can take hundreds of dollars out of your account upfront to cover any incidentals you might incur during your stay. You’ll get it back at the end of your visit if you don’t spend it, but that means you need to keep extra money in your account to make sure you can fund the rest of your vacation. Finally, I read somewhere that using a debit card to rent a car can provoke a hard inquiry on your credit report. I haven’t corroborated that, but if it’s even a possibility, I’ll pass. Hard inquiries are bad news, as far as I know.

If you use a credit card well, it can provide a lot of perks, not the least of which is peace of mind. MSN Money published an interesting article recently about credit cards as travel protection. All of the aforementioned protections apply here, along with a few others: if you become ill, a credit card can speed up your treatment. And apparently credit card exchange rates won’t hit your wallet as hard as if you change all of your money for foreign cash. You can read the full article here. Another perk, obviously, is cashback and other types of rewards. The best way to use these is to pay off your card in full every month, because then the perks really are a bonus and don’t just mitigate the debt you owe.

A. and I have several cards that we use regularly, each of which earns a good percentage on different types of purchases. We use one card for gas, one for restaurants and some online retailers, and another for general purchases. If one of the cards is doing a promotion with extra cashback, we use it for that. I will admit that I am the absolute worst at remembering to switch it up. When we first got married, I practically had to carry around a sticky note reminding me when to use what card. But when we get bonuses at the end of the year to the tune of hundreds of dollars, it’s well worth it.

And we pay each of them off every month. A post on a blog I love got me all riled up recently, and it was because commenters seemed so indoctrinated into the cash envelope system that all they could do was bash credit cards. Someone said it was great to go on a vacation with just cash because you didn’t have to spend the trip worrying about the bills that would be waiting when you got home. But as far as I see it, you can do that anyway, if you’ve saved for a trip and have the money waiting in an account for when the credit card payment comes due! One commenter stated my thoughts better even than I could (I wish she had a blog so I could link to her!). Krysten wrote, “My husband and I use credit cards (we like the rewards!), but treat them like debit cards. We only spend money that we have in our account, and as we keep track of our finances, we subtract our credit card payments from our checking account in our books, because in our minds, the money is already spent and gone. Of course we pay it off every month too. It’s all in your view of the card. If you spend money now that you hope you’ll make next month to cover your spending, it’s going to be stressful. But if you spend money that you already have in your account, as long as you keep track of your spending and stay within your budget, it doesn’t matter what form of payment you use.”

Everyone else’s point seemed to be that if you had credit cards, it automatically meant you were spending crazy amounts of money, and I don’t think that’s a fair assessment or accusation. A. and I have a budget that we stick to. We re-evaluate it at the end of every month, measuring how we did versus how we’d like to do, and we re-allocate our dollars for the next month, tweaking different categories up or down as needed. I can understand that some people struggle with self-control. I’m not always great at getting myself out of bed to go to the gym in the mornings, and sometimes I eat things that I know aren’t good for me just because I can’t convince myself not to. But Dave Ramsey’s whole theory seems to be about learning to control your money, and I think saying you can only do that by using cash is a cop-out.

The last thing in the world I want to do is come across as holier-than-thou about this. I’ve learned most of what I know about finances in the past year and a half of being married, because I was fortunate to marry a man who has a great head on his shoulders for this type of thing. I’m still learning every day. But I’ve become passionate about saving money, and spending wisely when I need to spend. I respect that Dave Ramsey has changed the lives of TONS of people. There is nothing bad about his teaching AT ALL. And if it works for you, that’s great. I just can’t quite get behind the idea of cutting up all my credit cards. My overall point is that working to get a handle on your finances is admirable and necessary, and if you need to leave credit cards out of the mix, by all means, DO IT…but I don’t think they are inherently evil.

What are your thoughts on living life without credit cards? I would really love to open a dialogue about this…send me some comments!

If you are visiting from my guest post on Money Saving Mom, welcome! I’m excited that you’re here. Please poke around my site–I’d love to “meet” you in the comments! It was one of my Birthday Resolutions to have a guest post posted on a blog I respect, and Money Saving Mom is definitely that. I’ve had such a blast following Crystal and others who’ve taught me how to coupon. I hope you can pick up a tip or two from Unpunctuated Life!

It’s so easy to become dissatisfied with even what you know is wonderful life. Last week I was changing the sheets on our bed and noticed that the fitted sheet I was putting on has gotten pretty dingy. I helped A. pick them out even before we were married, so they’ve gotten a fair amount of use. I started grumbling to myself about how I couldn’t believe I was putting ugly sheets on my bed and how I really just wanted some new ones. But when it comes down to it, I HAD sheets. I was putting on the SPARE SET. And it’s not like anyone can see the fitted sheet anyway. But it took me quite some time of being grouchy to convincingly remind myself of all of that.

Similarly, sometimes I get so overwhelmed thinking that for the rest of my life I am responsible for keeping not just myself but my husband and potential future children fed and satisfied food-wise. I lie in bed some nights thinking up meal combinations and wondering how I’m ever going to come up with enough interesting dinners to feed a lifetime. But again: at least I HAVE food. A. cares so much less about what’s on his plate than I do; I could probably fix the same meal every night for a week and he would love it just because I made it. Plus, I enjoy cooking! I don’t know why it should be a panic-inducing thought that it’s my job to do so. I take great pleasure in feeding people. But picturing that calendar of lunches and dinners marching out ahead of me gets me down into a pit of dissatisfaction in a second.

In these situations for me it simply has to be mind over matter. I can mope around about little things that aren’t perfect all day long…or I can focus on all the things I have that make me happy, and all the things I love to do (like posting on this blog!). It shouldn’t be that hard to do so! There’s a popular hashtag on Twitter which is “first world problems.” I’m going to try and keep my perspective. When my fitted sheet is dingy, but I’m putting it on my cushy queen-sized mattress, that’s just nothing but a #first world problem.

 This is my only prize to show for this week’s Frugal Friday. 500 ml of couponing glory, for which I paid $0.56 at CVS. It was on sale for $3.99, down from $5.99, and I used 1 $0.75/1 Crest Pro-Health Rinse coupon and $3.00 ECBs from last week. That brought it down to $0.24, but I still had to pay tax on the full amount. Thus the $0.56 total out-of-pocket tab. Hard to beat that, though, especially since I also netted $1.25 ECBs.

I’ve discovered a route to work that has me pass right by a CVS, which is really convenient. I was able to pick this up on Monday by just leaving about 15 minutes earlier than I normally would have. And then when CVS had a Facebook offer for a free candy bar or soda, I was able to swing by and get that without feeling guilty for going out of my way! I had a burgeoning sinus headache that morning, and even though I normally don’t drink soda in the morning, I REALLY enjoyed the Diet Coke with Lime that I grabbed.

I’m pretty pleased with what I’d call the beginnings of a stockpile growing in the cupboard we use as a pantry.

It’s not much compared to what some folks have, but this is the most I’ve ever had at once, I think! Given our limited space, I can’t get too crazy…but there’s a bit of room in there to grow! You can see all the Kashi products I racked up last week at Target. The pasta there is actually overflow, as I keep dried goods in a different cupboard. The only problem with growing a stockpile is that if snacks are around, A. just eats them up! So sometimes I’ll think I’m buying snacks to last a long time, only to find the granola bars demolished in a week because he’s taken a liking to them. But if my finding bargains can provide my husband with treats he likes, then I can’t call it bad at all, whether they last for months or days.

Saturday A. and I went hiking at Sweetwater Creek State Park. The creek is much bigger than what I think of as a creek! The trails are really neat. They wind through several different types of environments and then parallel the creek and its waterfalls for awhile. There used to be a cotton mill there that was demolished during the Civil War. I think what’s left of it has been refurbished, or at least reinforced, but it’s pretty cool regardless!

P.S. Bethany grabbed herself some liebster cred in the comments on Monday! She and her husband (but mostly her) write a cool blog about their lives. She does a lot of fun DIY projects. Plus, I know her IRL! We play trivia together on Tuesday nights. Go check her out!