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Comment by josteink | Hacker News Reader

> if I'm ok with paying X in cash to buy something, and the other persons offers me paying it in interest-free rates, it would be stupid for me not to.

Disagree. This severely complicates my economy.

Instead just having X funds less available, I still have the same funds at disposal, but have to remember I owe X to Y which must be paid by Z.

Even just once this makes the simple question “How much disposable funds do I have?” hard to answer.

More than once and I will need a system to manage my own personal economy. That’s horrible!

When asked for credit I always answer no, because the small savings of delayed payment does in no way make up for the extreme complexity it adds to day-to-day economics.

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This is not a hard problem to solve... Personally I use YNAB[1], but there are plenty of other options out there.

[1]: https://www.youneedabudget.com/

What I do has worked great for >10 years: - Direct deposit paycheck into checking account 1(the main account) - automatically transfer spending money to checking account 2 (I call it the Petty Cash account) - auto transfer $x for the large recurring or known but infrequent bills into savings account 3 (I call it the Escrow account) - Only issue bill payments from the main account - Only walk around with debit card for petty cash account. I also use this for online purchases, Amazon etc - As needed, transfer from escrow to main to pay off something big, like property tax or car insurance.

Play with the transfer amounts to suit your budget. This helps you not have to think about spending money, or if you have enough to pay rent that month.

Back to the furniture example from grandparent comment, I simply ensure that main has enough in it each month to cover the monthly expenses. HTH

> Disagree. This severely complicates my economy.

Some online banks have virtual subaccounts, which let you 'hide' money from your main account, if that's the way you are tracking funds available.

> More than once and I will need a system to manage my own personal economy. That’s horrible!

You already have a system, and it sounds like it's 'ask the bank how much money I have'. In the not too distant past, checking accounts came with a checkbook that included a register for you to track your expenses, but I guess humanity has declined.

You're going to need a "system" to manage your finances no matter if you buy furniture on credit or not.

In fact, if you aren't buying on credit your finances are more complicated because you have to plan ahead make sure you've got future major expenses covered.

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