How I’m quitting my credit cards

I use credit cards. 6 of them. I also meticulously plan and track my spending using YNAB.

This year, I decided to stop using credit cards. Here are the first steps I took.

Update billing information

Look through one month’s worth of transactions. Identify all recurring bills. 

Log in to each bill and change the payment information from a credit card to my checking account/debit card.

Make debit card the default payment method in Apple Wallet and my Apple Account. This covers all my subscriptions and purchases connected with my Apple ID.

I have a Costco Citi credit card, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stop using it and still keep my Costco membership. Turns out, it’s easy. Was able to add my debit card to my Costco account and make it the default payment method for renewing my membership.

Pay my credit card balances down to zero

Because I live beneath my means and never spend money on a CC if I don’t have the cash for it on hand, I have the ability to pay off all 6 credit cards completely all at once. Not just my last statement balance, but everything I owe. This gives me the feeling of a fresh start. 

Clicking “pay current balance” on each card was a euphoric experience. Turns out I hate owing money, even if I’m sitting on all the cash I need to pay it back. 

What do I think will happen?

Well, I’m open to the possibility that nothing will substantially change with my finances, but I have some hopes, and even if writing this with intention makes them self-fulfilling prophecies, I’d be ok with that.

First, I think managing my finances will be simpler and take even less time than it does now. YNAB makes everything so easy, even with 6 credit cards. But I’ve been fantasizing about having only two accounts to manage—a checking and a savings account.

Second, I think I’ll spend less money. With credit cards, I found it easy to buy things impulsively. I knew I had the money in the bank already, and I knew I’d have a couple of months to shift money around, if needed, to cover whatever impulsive thing I was doing in the moment. Now, my money will disappear as soon as I spend it. There’s no grace period. I’ll need to think before I spend. Eliminating credit cards removes timing as a consideration, and it also removes some flexibility. The tradeoff 

Third, I think I’ll worry even less about money than I do now, which is saying something. I’ve been using YNAB for over 10 years, which means it’s been over 10 years since I’ve worried about money in the conventional way. Instead, I’ve been worrying about it “for fun.” There’s no denying that utilizing credit cards comes with a cognitive load of some kind. That will go away, I think.