Farmer H was sitting on the long couch at 5:45 a.m. Thursday, when he said,
"Oh. I went to the dentist last week, and got two fillings. It cost $400. I put it on the credit card. I didn't know if you were ready for me to use the debit for something like that."
Huh. Thanks for sharing. It's not like I print money in the basement, or can snap my fingers and draw it out of thin air. We either have the money or we don't. A credit card is not magic, like young HOS (Farmer H's Oldest Son) used to believe. So saying in not so many words at the Devil's Playground once, where I always spent cash, as I wondered aloud if I had brought enough: "Just put it on a credit card. Then it won't cost anything."
Anyhoo... I am the maintainer of the bank account. Farmer H must ask me for a check if he needs one. He's not allowed to carry them, because he is just unreliable about details. It is for this reason that I carry a secret "padding" amount on our bank account. It doesn't show if you look in the checkbook register at the transactions. But it's THERE. It shows the true balance on the monthly statements, which Farmer H never bothers to peruse. That "cushion" is there specifically for Farmer H's shenanigans, so I am confident that we are never overdrawn, unless he randomly decides to buy a third tractor, and put it on the debit card...
I don't like having a credit card, but it's necessary to shop online. I never carry a balance on it. Interest charges are 20-SOMETHING PERCENT! That's because it's a really old credit card, back when interest rates were even higher than they are now. We haven't changed, because we always pay off the balance every month, so don't incur interest charges. It's just easier to keep the same card, with it being linked to a couple of online entities.
Anyhoo... I'll pay that dentist bill when it shows up on the credit card.
3 comments:
You are one smart cookie!! Since HeWho has access to the bank account and always has, I was the one who saved up for our retirement and saved enough cash to purchase our new home outright. If he had known that money was there, he would have found something he NEEDED and spent it! They are, after everything is said and done, cutfrom the same cloth!
I don't have to worry about charges to my card since I am the sole user and most often choose the debit option. It's the same card and I keep track by subtracting purchases as I make them in my "budget" book.
At least he told you so you don't get a surprise when the account arrives.
Kathy,
That's right. Out of sight, out of mind. Farmer H used to have our tax refund spent every year before we even got it! So I kept delaying about telling him how much it would be. Then when it got here by direct deposit, I didn't show it in the checkbook register. By the time I'd finally tell him, I'd have an "emergency" that it needed to be used for. Like my high-dollar health insurance premiums for us and The Pony, which were over $2000 per month. Money put to good use, rather than squandered on "extra" lawnmowers or saws or outbuildings.
***
River,
Better late than never! Even though I've always harped at him about putting stuff on the credit card. I don't want to take a chance on the bill getting lost in the mail (sorry, Pony!), and having to pay that high interest.
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