The Use of Credit Cards For Everyday Purchases
Posted by Joe Villanvera in Uncategorized, tags: credit cards, credit tips, finance, money, moneyonthego net, moneyonthegonet, personal finance, UncategorizedIn your quest for discovering the perfect credit card for your use some advice you are sure to encounter is to never, never use your card for every day purchases. You are not to use it for toilet paper, milk or dish soap.
Did I mention toilet paper?
Here’s the thing. With the economy continuing to slide and unemployment continuing to climb, people are making some hard decisions. For many, those decisions revolve around when they should and should not use their credit cards to pick up those ordinary items they just can’t live without.
So when Should a Credit Card be Used?
Before we go into any kind of discussion on when you shouldn’t use your credit card, let’s talk about when you should. Conventional wisdom dictates that credit cards should serve one of two purposes:
1. As a means to build credit. There is no need to borrow money to purchase a certain item you want. On the other hand, you are attempting to build up your credit and that can’t be done without digging out that dusty old credit card from the depths of the desk drawer and putting it to use.
2. Using your credit card is the only option available to take care of an emergency. No one expects their car’s engine to conk out in the middle of the expressway 600 miles from home. A pipe busting and flooding the basement with two feet of water is certainly an unexpected occurrence. It is entirely possible that you don’t have $4,000.00 lying around to cover such things. Use your credit card.
It isn’t always a Bad Idea to use your Credit Card to Purchase the Usual Staples
Granted, you really shouldn’t use your card for toilet paper and soap. But life is not always that simple.
Things are never just black and just white. There are many gray areas that must be considered occasionally. Sometimes those everyday staples add up to a substantial amount of money whether the plastic is handy or not. Today’s gruesome economy and job picture has thrown many families into dire circumstances.
When given the choice between buying formula for the baby and not having any when the next feeding rolls around, you’re going to whip out that plastic without thinking twice. Believe me, I’ve been there. The money crunch hurts. But there’s an upside to using your credit card for the usual suspects that you’re going to enjoy if you did your homework when you picked your card in the first place, and that’s reward points.
I’m not going to go into laborious detail over these reward points, because there are a multitude of methods credit card companies use to tally them up and certain usages that earn points and those that do not. Let us discuss here only the cards that earn points for buying stuff. Such points can be cashed in for numerous items. The more purchases you put on your credit card the more points are accumulated. You can even use your points to buy toilet paper and baby formula!
For those who were interested in the above article, you may go take a look at more related posts at moneyonthego.co or this MoneyOnTheGo article.
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