Managing your credit card balance

Credit cards can make your financial life easier. They can also lure you sweetly into debt hell.

There are two cardinal credit sins:

• Not sticking to budgets
• Buying things on credit that you wouldn't pay cash for

Many people have come up with many solutions to these sins not all of them involving rich, crusty spouses or breeding rare emus. Here are a few points:

Sticking to a budget. 'Budget' is a dirty word, but sometimes you just have to muck in. Check out our budget planner to see where your money's going and whether you have any left.

Spending money you don't have. Ah yes, that 50% off flatscreen you simply can't afford not to buy. There's a fairly simple rule which eliminates the worst of our impulse buys: "Would I pay cash for this" (Note that "I don't have enough cash" is a "no".)

According to various studies, we're much more likely to spend up particularly on discount items when we can whisk them away on credit instead of stumping up the cash. If that sounds like you, it's time to consider debit cards, which have many of the benefits of credit (online/phone purchases) without the debt they're limited to the money in your account.

Stop fattening up the banks. It's too easy to take up the nearest and dearest credit card without shopping around. Before you do, consider the thousands you could save by looking at:

• Credit card interest
• Balance transfers
• Annual fees