Tuesday, February 15, 2011

What does your Dr.H use for purchasing power?

I've got a money question for all ya'll med spouses out there. How do you work debit cards, etc?

My husband wants a debit card so that he can buy things. I understand his desire. My question is if he's debiting and I'm debiting, how do we know how much we have to spend in the account?

Do your dr.h's carry credit cards? Cash?

How do you work this out? I would appreciate any ideas.

I am trying to revamp our finances to get us living within our means.

5 comments:

  1. I admit, we create a budget and it lasts a week. Sad. We've done Dave Ramsey and mint.com to help. Dave Ramsey is huge on cash in envelopes and that worked for us for a really long time last year, but haven't used it now.

    We both use debits and I check it on a daily basis so I know what he has done. I just tell him when it is getting down there and when to tighten up. Wish I had a better system to share!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We use a joint credit card for nearly all purchases, but that's because it has "perks" (miles, I think) and because we pay it off IN FULL every month.

    So I guess I have nothing useful to add! Good luck though, and definitely share what you end up doing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We do the same as above. We both have a cc for the same account, we use it for EVERYTHING, and then we pay it off in full every month. In fact, it is set to pay itself off every month out of our savings account which is where all our student loan money is dumped. We keep an eye on it here and there and have various budgeted amounts for groceries, entertainment, and we each have out own personal budget money each month, etc. For example, if Ben doesn't pack a lunch, it comes out of his budget money if he wants to eat out. We have a goal amount we aim for our credit card to be every month, and if it goes over, everyone's budgets get cut accordingly the next month.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh yeah and our vacations are partially paid for by cc "miles," too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We use a credit card for rewards points -- but we did do debit cards for awhile. I am a fan of joint accounts because it makes you communicate! You do have to check it, but we always talked about it.

    Now with a credit card it is dangerous, because I can spend without seeing my balance drop! I have to check it online often!

    ReplyDelete