I love the convenience and perks of credit cards. I charge most things, but always pay off the balance at the end of every month. Even though I'm not paying interest, I'm always a month "behind", in that I'm spending February's money for January's stuff.

I've been slowly trying to move off of the credit cards to a cash-based system. It's tough to do, because it essentially means paying double the amount one month (the credit card plus the current month). I'm at the point now where all of my utilities (gas, electric, phone, wireless, etc.) are drawn directly from my checking account. Now I'm moving on to other categories.

First is gas. Thanks to super low gas prices ($1.53 yesterday!) I came in $70 under budget last month. I took that amount out in cash, and will use it to buy gas the rest of this month. I'll likely need to charge a few fill-ups when the $70 runs out, but I'll be way under budget again next month, and will cash out the rest and repeat. By my estimates, I should be caught up and paying exclusively be cash in March, April at the latest.

I was also $50 under my grocery budget last month, so I'm doing the same thing there. That will take some more time, though, so maybe July? That's the goal.