I know what you mean - most of my friends are heavily into credit card debt. You just have to limit yourself and be super responsible with it. I NEVER let my credit card get above, say, $700 (and it only ever gets that high if a special occasion arises - vacation, X-mas, etc.) I usually average a $300 monthly balance, so...not too bad! If you still keep yourself in the "If I don't have money for it right now..." mindset, you'll be golden. I only let myself spend as much as I KNOW I'll be able to pay off at the end of the month. Also - doing it this way takes takes away my worries of overdraft fees, waiting for checks to be deposited, etc.
The rewards are pretty decent since I have a separate credit account, he has a separate one, and we have the joint one. We've been putting all of our points towards gas cards (for our impending move). It's slow going since we don't have huge expenses (apart from rent), but by the end of the month we'll have $350 in Shell gas cards. Some people see reward points as misleading enticements, but as long as you're paying off your card in a timely manner and preventing late fees, they're pretty much pretty much what they claim to be - rewards!
Michael and I had separate banks, as well. We opened the joint account when he opened a new account, so I can't transfer money directly to it every month, but he can. I usually just deposit my checks into the joint account, then move the remaining amount into our joint savings or take it out for myself. So yeah, once you change banks you should definitely look into it. And hey - if it doesn't work out, no one says you can't close the account! :)
The rewards are pretty decent since I have a separate credit account, he has a separate one, and we have the joint one. We've been putting all of our points towards gas cards (for our impending move). It's slow going since we don't have huge expenses (apart from rent), but by the end of the month we'll have $350 in Shell gas cards. Some people see reward points as misleading enticements, but as long as you're paying off your card in a timely manner and preventing late fees, they're pretty much pretty much what they claim to be - rewards!
Michael and I had separate banks, as well. We opened the joint account when he opened a new account, so I can't transfer money directly to it every month, but he can. I usually just deposit my checks into the joint account, then move the remaining amount into our joint savings or take it out for myself. So yeah, once you change banks you should definitely look into it. And hey - if it doesn't work out, no one says you can't close the account! :)
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