Manage Money With No Software Technology

Looking for a Credit Card for Christmas Shopping? Before you submit a credit card application, first review the main points which will help you choose the right credit card for your needs.

What Charges You'll Make - If you're going to use the credit card mainly for booking airline reservations and hotels, it might be best for you to get a travel credit card that offers sky miles and hotel points or cashback. If this will be an emergency credit card only, then your main concern may be for a low interest rate credit card with low fees.

When You'll Repay Charges - Will you pay off credit card charges in full every month, or will you carry a balance month to month? If you're going to carry a balance, you want the lowest possible interest rate as well as a low introductory rate. But if you'll payoff balances in full every month, then interest rate really doesn't matter so no annual fee and/or a long grace period would be a bigger concern. If you're going to carry a balance, be concerned about how the finance charge is calculated. The most common method is the Average Daily Balance, which means that the daily balances are added together and then divided by the number of days in the billing cycle. Stay away from credit cards that compute the balance using two billing cycles, as this method costs more money in financing fees.

What Amount You'll Charge - If you're going to use the credit card for all your monthly expenses, then you need a card that has a high credit limit and a high cashback percentage.

More info about Interest Rates, Credit Limits, Incentives, Fees and Penalties

Interest Rates - The interest rate (Annual Percentage Rate) APR can either be a fixed rate or a variable rate that is tied to another financial indicator, most commonly the prime rate. With a fixed rate credit card you know what the interest rate will be every month, whereas a card with a variable rate can fluctuate. Of course, even the interest of a fixed rate card can change based on certain events, such as paying your credit card bill late, exceeding your limit, or simply because the credit card issuer decides to change it after providing you ample advance notice.

Credit Limit - This is the amount of money the credit card company will let you charge to the card. This amount varies depending upon the card offer and your credit history. Be sure to get a credit card with an ample limit, because getting close to your max can hurt your credit score. Just remember that you don't have to max out your limit just because it's available.

Incentives - To compete for and to gain customers, many credit card companies offer rewards. Even if you normally use cash, why not use your credit card and then use the cash to make the payment during the grace period? You still won't pay interest and meanwhile you'll rack-up rewards. A credit card with 5% cashback will earn you $5 for every $100 charged. If your total bills come to $2,000 per month, you'll earn a free $100 every month. Look for a rewards program that you'll use and which offers flexibility, such as cashback or travel.

Fees and Penalties - Compare common charges such as late fees, overlimit fees, balance transfers, cash advances, and for making payments by telephone. Regarding balance transfers, look for credit card offers with no transaction fees and zero percent interest for at least 12 months.

Affiliate Program

» Articles » News » Manage Money With No Software Technology

Credit Federal

Personal loan and credit card resource serving millions of good and bad credit U.S. consumers.

View all news by Credit Federal...

Manage Money With No Software Technology

By Credit Federal | Published 05/21/2009

How to manage money with no software technology. Or download our free personal budget software to track expenses and bill payments.

There are many ways to manage money and track expenses using high tech methods. Those methods are great if you want to be glued to a monitor. Many people sit in front of a computer every day at work and do not wish to do so at home.

There is the good old way to make a budget by just using the pencil and paper method. The best way to get started is to review your receipts at the end of each week to see exactly where your money is going. Categorize your spending habits and list expenses under the categories you create.

For example, you might have a category for eating out, groceries, gas, utilities, family activities, and bills. Write down the amount you spend under each category. Writing down the costs can help you visualize just how much you spend in each area.

The next step is to evaluate what is spend in each area. Did you over spend for a family fun activity or did you eat out too much in one week? Take a good look at your expenses under each category to determine where money was spent foolishly or over spent and set a goal to stop over spending in those areas.

While you are learning to budget, consider getting your teens involved or any child who earns an allowance. Begin teaching them budget skills for spending their allowance. You may be able to instill some good life long skills that will carry into adult life.

Start saving more money for a rainyday or toward your retirement years. Because we all usually make just so much money in a week, to save we must cut expenses in other areas. If we do not know in which area we are over spending, we usually continue to blow money. The saying that "knowledge is power" is so very true when it comes to making a budget. Knowing where your money goes is half the battle of creating a budget.

These can be used as preventative measures before you get yourself in debt. Once you are in debt, it is much harder to get out of debt. Being in debt costs more money in the end.

What Happened to All of Your Money?

Did YOU Spend It All?
Did Your SPOUSE Spend It All?

Was It Wasted on 'MISC' Expenses?

Track, Sort, and Itemize Expenditures

Also Ideal for Itemizing Tax Deductions

FREE, Easy to Use Software, Functions like an Electronic Checkbook Register.

Free calculator downloads
Household personal budget
Personal budget software
Budgets, Debt Management, Consolidation, Settlement, Counseling and Bankruptcy

Share this Financial Article with a Friend - click here

Webmasters: Free Financial Content for Your Website!

Multiple ways to use our financial content:

1) You can use our RSS Feeds for automatic insertion and updates

2) You can simply link to this article

3) You can copy/paste the HTML code below (do not remove any links).

Manage Money With No Software Technology - by <a href=http://creditfederal.com>CreditFederal.com</a> How to manage money with no software technology. Or download our free personal budget software to track expenses and bill payments. There are many ways to manage money and track expenses using high tech methods. Those methods are great if you want to be glued to a monitor. Many people sit in front of a computer every day at work and do not wish to do so at home. There is the good old way to make a budget by just using the pencil and paper method. The best way to get started is to review your receipts at the end of each week to see exactly where your money is going. Categorize your spending habits and list expenses under the categories you create. For example, you might have a category for eating out, groceries, gas, utilities, family activities, and bills. Write down the amount you spend under each category. Writing down the costs can help you visualize just how much you spend in each area. The next step is to evaluate what is spend in each area. Did you over spend for a family fun activity or did you eat out too much in one week? Take a good look at your expenses under each category to determine where money was spent foolishly or over spent and set a goal to stop over spending in those areas. While you are learning to budget, consider getting your teens involved or any child who earns an allowance. Begin teaching them budget skills for spending their allowance. You may be able to instill some good life long skills that will carry into adult life. Start saving more money for a rainyday or toward your retirement years. Because we all usually make just so much money in a week, to save we must cut expenses in other areas. If we do not know in which area we are over spending, we usually continue to blow money. The saying that "knowledge is power" is so very true when it comes to making a budget. Knowing where your money goes is half the battle of creating a budget. These can be used as preventative measures before you get yourself in debt. Once you are in debt, it is much harder to get out of debt. Being in debt costs more money in the end. <table border="1" bordercolor="#003300" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="625"><tbody><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="625"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" width="322"><a target='_top' target="_top" href="http://creditfederal.com/track-expenses.html"><img src="http://creditfederal.com/software-track-expenses.jpg" border="0" height="170" width="322"></a></td><td align="left" bgcolor="#f0efd3" valign="top" width="303">What Happened to All of Your Money?Did YOU Spend It All? Did Your SPOUSE Spend It All?Was It Wasted on 'MISC' Expenses? Track, Sort, and Itemize ExpendituresAlso Ideal for Itemizing Tax Deductions FREE, Easy to Use Software, Functions like an Electronic Checkbook Register.</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> <a target='_top' style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;" href="http://creditfederal.com/free-calculator-downloads.html">Free calculator downloads</a> <a target='_top' style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;" href="http://creditfederal.com/household-personal-budget.html">Household personal budget</a> <a target='_top' style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;" href="http://creditfederal.com/personal-budget-software.html">Personal budget software</a> <a target='_top' style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;" href="http://creditfederal.com/article/articles/619/1/Budgets%2C-Debt-Management%2C-Consolidation%2C-Settlement%2C-Counseling-and-Bankruptcy">Budgets, Debt Management, Consolidation, Settlement, Counseling and Bankruptcy</a> This article provided courtesy of <a href=http://creditfederal.com target=_new>www.CreditFederal.com</a>, a personal credit resource of good or bad credit credit cards and loans.

Credit Tip: Need a high limit for Christmas credit card charges? If you have bad credit, consider a personal loan by refinancing your mortgage. Even if you have cash to buy Christmas presents, we recommend using a prepaid card to make purchases because it's safer than carrying cash.