I hate credit cards.  I hate debt.

If you want to hit me where it hurts, you’ll mess with my finances.

Yesterday, my lone credit card company did just that.

I’m ticked.

I got a letter from them stating that they were lowering my credit limit… blah blah blah… based on information received from credit bureau blah blah blah…Whatever.

Translation - we see that you have your act together these days and it doesn’t appear that you are going to regress back to your carefree days of living beyond your means and you’re not going to carry a balance and when you do owe something you’ll pay it in full and on time and we won’t be able to charge you finance charges or late fees, so allow us to take this opportunity to attempt to lower your credit score.

You may find yourself asking, “if you hate debt/credit cards so much, why do you have one?”  (If you’re here for Works For Me Wednesday, stay with me.  I’m getting there).  The answer is quite simple (though not the whole “in case of emergency” cop-out).  I feel that shopping online is much more secure when using a credit card rather than a debit card.  I know, I know, that is kind of an antiquated way to think.  I do believe they’ve made advances in the whole debit card thing where there is more security in case of identity theft and all.  I’m just stubborn, I guess.  So, we kept A credit card for use online.

I’m severly lacking in a proper transitional statement here, so, in light of my being extra extra anti-credit card today, let me just introduce what Works For Me:

The Paypal Plug-In

I love paying with PayPal.  My PayPal account is tied directly to my checking account and it’s just like I’m spending cash.  I can only spend what I have.  There’s no temptation to spend a little extra with the intention of paying for it next month.  (There’s always going to be more money next month, right?!)  Unfortunately, not all online retailers accept PayPal.  Luckily, with the quick download of the PayPal Plug-In,  an icon is placed on your browser toolbar.  When you are ready to place an order online, you simply click it.  Up comes a pop-up box for you to log into PayPal and, SHAZAAM!, a random MasterCard number is generated for use on your purchase.  The number is tied only to your PayPal account, and in turn to your checking account.  Voila! No credit card needed.  Not on your home computer?  Simply log into your PayPal account as you normally would to check your balance or transaction history, follow the links to the Plug-In function, then request a random MC number.   Snazzy, huh?

Now, there’s really no reason to use that silly credit card anymore, is there?

I didn’t think so.