Eeek!
I realized something scary the other day. I was entering some receipts into Quicken for my American Express account like normal, and then made the usual entry into my checking account to update the balance for when the American Express would be paid. (The whole amount comes out of my account automatically each month.) I thought, “I should just pay this now” and then I realized that I couldn’t pay it now — not without transferring money over from savings first. Now this is just a matter of cash flow, since I’ll have the money before it’s due, but it scared me. I don’t like not having ALL of the money sitting in my checking account waiting to be paid out. It scared me because I really dislike the idea of using credit cards, and I realized that I was accidentally taking advantage of the “float”. That might actually be a good thing to do financially, but it’s not for me.
