Having a credit card is very convenient since carrying a lot of cash becomes unneccesary and you might even have a hard time leaving your credit card at home. But with its advantages comes also its disadvantages. Since you can always buy things without carrying cash around, you are always tempted to buy something that you come across. If you have excellent control on your finances then good for you. If you have a hard time managing your credit card, then these pointers can help you.

Get organized

First thing’s first, obtain your credit card records to have a better idea of your spendings. Be sure to double check the records for errors and ensure its accuracy. A good example would be to find out if you have outstanding debts that should not be there as well as the accuracy of the listing of your former and present address.

Evaluate your credit card

Go over your recent credit card records and look at the interest rates. Some credit card companies have promos wherein they offer lower interest rates for a period of time and this promo may already be over yet you have no idea and are already paying at a higher interest rate. Also take note of the membership fee which they charge annually since some have very high membership fees. Consider cancelling this if you are not using it frequently.

Pay on time

It is important to pay your bills on time since it can have a negative effect on your credit record or rating. You will also be able to avoid getting charged because of not paying on time. Try asking the credit card company to remove the overdue charge if you have forgotten to pay it on time for the first time.

Manage your debts

If you see that you have more debt than what is comfortable, think ahead and plan out how you will repay it or at least reduce your debt. Devise a way to pay more than what is required of you so that you will have a reduced payment schedule. Prioritize the card that has the highest interest rate. Do not bring your credit card always when you go around since temptations abound.

Don’t bite more than you can chew

As the saying “don’t bite more than you can chew” goes, do not spend more than you can afford. True, a beautiful gold bracelet may be enjoyable to wear but its price tag may mean paying a lot for the next months. If you are bent to save money when using your credit card, unnecessary items like jewelry and the like should be at the bottom of your considerations.

Here are 3 easy tips that you can use to make sure that your family budget isn’t derailed. Don’t worry, these are NOT very hard to implement and you can start today. The reason you really want to think about this is because creating a budget is only half the battle. Most people are capable of putting together a basic family budget. The hard part is when you run into day-to-day situations that can put your commitment to sticking to the budget to the test.

1) Make sure you have some money put away for emergency situations.

This might take a little while to get set into place, but it’s really important that you set aside some money for emergency situations. Look, it’s a fact of life. Sometimes things will arise that are unexpected. For example, you might suddenly start experiencing car problems. You take it into the repair shop, and are quoted a couple hundred dollars to get it fixed. This ordinarily would break a family budget — but not if you have some money set aside to deal with situations like this.

2) Never go shopping without having a clear idea of what you’re going to buy.

The last thing you want to do is go shopping with only a vague idea of what it is that you need to get. That’s the last thing you want to do. Why? It’s far too easy to buy things that aren’t really even necessary or that you had no intention of purchasing. How often have we gone to a store and suddenly spotted something that caught our interest. Before long, we’ve added it to our shopping cart. This adds up and can bust a family budget easily.

3) Don’t treat your credit cards as being a source of “free cash.”

This is a biggie. The last thing you want to do treat your credit cards as a source of “free” cash. This is a recipe for disaster. You need to make sure that any purchases that you make on your credit card are within your budget. However, a lot of families often find it far too tempting to charge things without really thinking about whether or not it’s a necessary expenditure.

If you heed this advice, you’re more likely to stick to your family budget and to avoid doing the things that can derail it.

There’s a fine line between keeping track of the money that your family is spending and becoming an obnoxious jerk about it. You’re not going to be very popular in your family if you follow everyone around with a notebook and pen jotting down all of the expenditures that are being made. Not only will it seem very crass, bu it will really take a lot of fun out of things that should be enjoyable. There’s a better approach.

We know it’s important that we keep track of where the money is going. We can’t just spend recklessly and blindly without accounting for where funds are flowing. So how do we track expenditures without being obnoxious about it?

Think about how how many of us make purchases. We either use a check, or we use a credit card. While it’s true that we sometimes use cash, that cash often comes straight from a bank checking account or savings account. You’ll see how you can track the cash in a moment. But let’s initially turn our attention to credit cards and checks.

Do you literally have to be standing over someone’s shoulder looking to see who they’re writing a check to at the moment the check is being drafted? How about when someone is making a credit card purchase? Do you literally have to be right there monitoring what the money is being spent on? See, this is what would make people feel a bit uncomfortable. Doing things like this would be obnoxious — and they’re completely unnecessary.

You can easily audit checking accounts at the end of the month and even look at the checkbook to see where the checks were made out to — assuming accurate records are kept, which they usually are. Credit cards are laughably simple to monitor. Every purchase results in a line-item entry when you get your monthly statement.

This brings us to cash. How can you monitor that? While it’s not as easily monitored, you can at least get a general sense of how much cash has been spent based on ATM transaction notices that are listed on your banking statements.

By following this advice, you can accurately monitor expenditures without being obnoxious about it. It’s not as hard as it might initially seem!

Credit cards are the ultimate double edged sword that can be both a lifeline and a major liability. From a family budgeting perspective, you’re dealing with dynamite. You really need to have a clear understanding of what role credit cards will play in your family finances. For some people, they’ll merely be devices through which to facilitate transactions without needing to have cash. Presuming the balance is payed off at the end of the month, this is a perfectly legitimate way to use a credit card. It’s acting as a lifeline by facilitating everyday transactions.

However, for far too many people, credit cards become a major liability. Families will sometimes have a slew of unexpected expenses (or sometimes even regular expenses) that arise. How are these things paid for? With credit cards. But then, at the end of the month, a balance reminds. As a result, the credit card company starts to charge interest. This can quickly add up, to the point where — if you’re not careful — you could end up with a significant long-term liability that will simply linger for years and years.

The secret is to be extremely disciplined with how you and your family choose to use credit cards. It’s okay for them to be there as a genuine lifeline and as a mechanism through which to facilitate shopping transactions. Where it starts to become a real problem is when you notice that a lot of un-budgeted discretionary spending is taking place. This is a sure-fire way to run up a massive amount of debt in a relatively short amount of time. At this point, the credit card ceases to be a lifeline and truly becomes a liability.

Here’s the bottom line: credit cards do not provide you and your family with “free” money — it all comes with some very hefty strings attached. Between the high interest and the potential for additional fees, the overall approach that many experts recommend is that you attempt to minimize your usage of credit cards. Don’t ever let yourself be fall into the trap of believing that it’s easy to pay off credit card debt…. it’s not! So be smart, and make good decisions.