Say I bought a TV for $500, but I didn’t even have $500. But – I’m smart – I do have another card! What should I do by the due date? A balance transfer? Well, I’d certainly consider it if I had a current interest free balance transfer offer available. But let’s say I don’t anymore.
The first thing I’d do is work out my average weekly maximum cardable expenditure (not income) – including everything l usually buy but can buy with credit card purchases. For example, groceries, fuel, some bills (some companies don’t accept credit card bill payments, others only in emergencies.) and so on. (Obviously rent or home loan repayments are a big one, but you may or may not be able to pay for these by card depending on who you pay!)
For our examples’ sake let’s make some figures up for my weekly living expenses. Because all plans work on a multiple of the expenditure, we can take any figure as the expenditure to work out and demonstrate the plans. So let’s say:
Groceries $300
Fuel/Transport $100
All Other Bills $100
Total per week $500
If were to put all these living...