I'll give you the flexibility, that's pretty clear/convenient, but I'm not sure how it allows for better budgeting, isn't it slightly harder to keep track of money you haven't actually spent? I mean it's not hard to just keep the receipts and add it up, but I'm not sure how that's easier to keep track of.

Well, allowing you to delay payment on stuff is just another budgeting tool in the right hands, it makes sense.

It helps when unexpected expenses pop up too, meaning a set of new breaks won't completely throw your budget out the window.

But really it's just a means of circumventing the process of saving for a purpose when making larger than normal purchases. I can get that big screen tv now instead of 3 months from now etc. etc.

Pretty much what Funka said. In the right hands having greater flexibility in spending increases overall budgeting potential.

As an example, and I'm sorry I can't find the article on it at the moment, but I think it was the NY Times that did a piece on one of the more powerful merchandising men of this century. When interviewed he noted how appalling it was that businesses were settling to pay their venders somewhere between "on time" or "30-60 days" for merchandise they sell. He told the paper that he never settled for less than 90 days flexibility to pay back bulk vendors and contractors for services and merchandise he sold to others. It was this extra flexibility that gave his company room to grow and become an economic powerhouse.

There's also the fact that online banking makes it pretty easy to regulate payments to the appropriate people, credit cards included.

EDIT: also HAHHAHA oh man this is dumb.