Eeek!

So, I realized something scary the other day. I was entering some receipts into Quicken for my American Express account, making the usual entry into my checking account. As I was updating the balance to prepare for American Express’s payment. (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. 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 account waiting to be paid out. It scared me because I dislike the idea of using credit cards, and I realized that I was accidentally taking advantage of the “float”. That might be a good thing to do financially, but it’s not for me.