I love her

HA! That's grand. I've always thought that the rewards programs for just about any industry were worthless -- credit cards, casinos, etc. About the only thing that is somewhat worth it are airline miles.

Well, I wouldn't say credit card rewards programs are worthless, since you get the points based on how much you buy, not how much debt you carry. If you pay off the bill on time and in full every time, then you won't pay any interest or fees, and you'll still get the rewards. This is also a way to establish or improve one's credit rating.

But for the fiscally undisciplined, credit cards are a definite no-no.

And you know my position on marriage; I prefer a religious-only ceremony, not a legal marriage. Couple that with separate bank accounts, and one's spending habits don't affect one's spouse at all.

We use a Cabellas card.
All points go to firearms or fishing related items.

As it should be.

Oh, yeah.
We also pay it off every month, because we're conservative (fiscally).

Triton:

I consider myself fiscally disciplined because I REFUSE to get a credit card. And I consistently spend less than I earn.

The problem with rewards programs is that due to their very existence they raise the costs of goods and services.

Why? Because that money comes from somewhere and it sure isn't the goodwill of the bank. It comes from increased card transaction fees. In fact, every transaction has to include the money the merchant loses to those fees so those paying with cash lose out as well.

That's not necessarily true. Credit cards enable many, many transactions that would otherwise not happen at all. You couldn't even have a functional Internet economy without a system resembling them. Everyone charges similar rates. Paypal, credit cards, you name it. Someone has to charge the seller for enabling the transaction. $0.30 + about 2%, though, isn't that much on any big transaction.

Credit card transaction fees are already low enough as it is. If they went any lower, it would most likely really hurt the credit card processors' ability to stay in business.

The only one that I have found to be worth anything is MyPoints because MyPoints is an independent program which earns most of its money off of affiliate programs, not credit card points. I can get 10 points per dollar from sites like B&N and Overstock, and generally at least 2-3 points for every other store with them, plus the 1 point I get when I use my MyPoints Visa. Over the holidays, you can easily spend enough money on sites like B&N that you can get as much as several thousand points, just from the bonus points you get from buying through the MyPoints affiliate link. A $50 Amazon.com gift card from them is about 7,400 MyPoints.

Rachel and I use them to subsidize my gadget obsession. I recently cashed in about a year's worth of MyPoints, and got enough points to get a new iPod Touch 50% off at Amazon :)

Erik, credit card companies make their money from interest, not from transactions. They call guys like me "freeloaders" because I enjoy the benefits of a card without paying fees or interest. It is the fiscally irresponsible folks who carry debt over from one month to the next and pay interest on it who are financing my rewards.

I consider myself fiscally disciplined because I REFUSE to get a credit card.

By all means, Funnibunney, follow your conscience on this.

Capital One are douche bags.

I could have been one of those marriages. Looking back on my spending habits early in my marriage, I wonder why my wife put up with me for so long. (She is a wonderful woman as well.) It's one of the four leading causes of divorce in our country. The other three being children, in-laws and religion.

"Credit cards enable many, many transactions that would otherwise not happen at all. You couldn't even have a functional Internet economy without a system resembling them."

I disagree Mike. I haven't had a Credit card for a few years now. I am still able to buy airline tickets, hotel rooms, online purchases or anything else that "requires" a credit card. I simply have a Visa check card and enough money in the bank. Life without a Credit card is fine if someone is willing to discipline themselves.

I actually agree. I have (well had, before we got married) one credit card with a limit just large enough to cover an emergency. As a single woman, living in NoVA by myself, I had to have one in case the car broke down or something else. But I very rarely used it. I used it when I first moved into my apartment to buy $2,000 worth of furniture from IKEA because the last thing I wanted to do was to go to Woodbridge carrying more than $500 worth of cash. I am personally somewhat against credit cards, because it is so easy to spend way too much without realizing it. I am personally very much opposed to a cashless society (for that and other reasons). Mike and I have talked about it and lately we have spent a lot, but trying to consolidate two apartments into one causes a lot of money to be spent on storage containers and shelving. If our spending habits got out of control, Mike and I would clip our cards. We always pay them off every month, so I think we are doing all right.

we're basically on the same page Rachel. The key is to not live beyond your means. Spend less money than you make. If you guys are paying off the cards every month, you are obviously doing just that. (I'm not trying lecture anyone anyway.)
For me, however, I preffer keeping an emergency fund rather than a credit card. I recomend 3 to 6 months worth of living expenses. Thsis hsould be more than enough to cover any emergency that comes up. That's how my wife and I get away with no Credit cards.
note: No my emergency fund is not that big yet, but it will be..... some day. :)

Yep. I agree. Although, if I broke down on the side of the road, I didn't have someone to come get me, so for me a credit card was in my best interest. I usually keep some cash on hand for an emergency here at home, but ended up using it all up right before the wedding with all the gas and last minute stuff involved. I am slowly building my cash reserves up again and will be glad to have that back. We also have enough food and water to survive about two weeks (I call it my hurricane rations - I think growing up in Southern Louisiana causes that) in case there is an emergency. Mike and I just circulate everything, so nothing goes bad. It is a good thing to have just in case. I am more afraid of people panicking than I am of anything else. Never under estimate a crowd of crazy panicking people. When my family moved from upstate NY to Virginia, the first time we went into a grocery store before a snow storm, my mom was taken aback by the number of people getting a couple of loaves of bread, several gallons of milk (which is really great if you lose power for a few days), 24 packs of toilet paper, dozens of eggs, and boxes and boxes of diapers. The stores' shelves looked like a tornado hit them. My mom use to get so frustrated, that makes me laugh just remembering those days (now, I don't go to the store right before or on holidays or before snow/ice/tropical storms) with people acting like it was a matter of life or death. Everything around here shuts down on the suggestion of possible light snow. In NY, we had a foot of snow on the ground and we still had to go to school.