Planning family finances is essential if you want your family to steer clear of financial disasters. Initially, you might find it painful to account for every penny that you spend, save, and invest; but later, you will find that the exercise is worth it. If you stick to an effective family budget, you will always have enough money to pay important bills, give the children the best education, take family vacations, and buy anything the family desires. Interestingly, credit cards can help you create an effective family budget.
While a credit card can help you save a lot of money, it can also burn a hole in your pocket if you are not careful. If you get a credit card with a generous reward programme, you can get a plenty of freebies or heavy discounts on flight tickets, accommodation, and other products or collect points that can later be used for products or cash backs.
If you use a credit card wisely, you can really save a lot of money for the entire family. For instance, if you spend around $6000 purchasing groceries per year and if you get a 2 percent cut on your credit card, you can save around $120 annually.
Alternatively, if your family in is the habit of using the family car a lot, you might get a fuel card that comes with 1 percent or 2 percent cash back on all fuel purchases. For instance, if you spend around $3000 filling up your car per year, your credit card can help you save a maximum of $60 on your fuel purchases.
Here are some good tips that will help you create an effective family budget with credit cards. Avoid carrying a balance on your card because this will defeat the very purpose of using credit cards to save money. Ensure that you get the right card for your family; you really must invest a lot of time studying various credit cards till you get the best. Make a comparative study of numerous credit cards on the basis of credit limit, reward programme, annual fees, and so on. As far as possible, get a credit card without annual fees. Importantly, avoid spending excessively just because your credit card rewards you for it. Find a credit card that offers introductory low interest rates for the few months or years.
Once that you have chosen a credit card or credit cards that might help your family to save a few pounds and get rewarded too, you might like to sit down with your family and create a family budget. Ensure that your budget includes timely payments to the credit card company. If you don’t like the old-fashioned method of creating a budget with pencil and paper, you can use one of the zillions of budget-creating software available.
All you need to do is put the required money in your savings account, pay your credit card company on time, and enjoy saving money and getting rewarded on your credit cards.