There are no transaction fees, we use our debit card for almost all purchases.

We don’t have a credit card, only a line of credit with the bank where we have our checking.

No mortgage (paid off!! YAY!! in 2005) and no car payments.

It took a long time to get here, but the freedom is worth the struggle.

Yeah, we are just getting our financial ways figured out at this point. It is tricky. I do all the finances and he just wants me to tell him what I’ve left for discretionary spending once bills are all taken care of… Then we assess what we will spend that extra cash on.

Years ago there was not extra cash left after bills so having the left over money is quite different for us. LOL.

I am all about paying stuff off right away too. It just sucks when you end up using the credit cards for big stuff (like a $10,000 cross country move) that you can’t pay down right away. Lots of people these days (not us!) are even living off those credit cards to pay bills and to buy groceries, that is where you really get in to trouble!

We dont pay any fees…. None… Zilch… Nada….

As you know Chris works for Wells Fargo, so we actually get paid intressed on our checking account because he is an employee!

We dont have credit card. Well, I take that back I have one (C doesnt have any). But it has nothing on it. It’s one my dad co-singed on so that I could rebuild my credit too. I will use if we need to. But seing that the bill goes to my dads house, and he can see what I bought, it for emergencies only… Like trips to the ER or a car repair.

This really is an awesome post! Make you really think about money you toss away every month.

We worked so hard to pay everything off, so that the only money we have barrowed is the morage and car loan.

Just watch the late fees too! Those can be pretty heafty. Even for utilitys or cable.

Krystal McCarthys last blog post..I ♥ Paxil…

I have checking accounts at a bank that I’ve had accounts at since I was a kid and I’ve been grandfathered into no-fee accounts. Every time they annoy me and I want to close my accounts and take my money elsewhere, I remember that I get charged NOTHING. The one time I am susceptible for fees is if no transactions take place in 12 months, so every year I have an automated transfer go through to keep the account active.

Here is one thing I learned recently from Suze Orman…keep your oldest credit cards, even if you don’t use them. Just tuck them away. The reason is that once the account is closed, that information no longer is pumped into your credit score and you WANT that good credit information to remain intact. I’ve got 2 credit cards from college (um, 1990) that I keep but are locked away in the vault… because I’ve never missed any payments and I’ve got great history with them.

Good post, I hope people googling about financial options find it.

Hyphen Mamas last blog post..Mr Hyphen’s Fantasy Comes True