Should I use a credit card or debit card for my everyday budget spending?

Both can work, and the right choice depends on your discipline. Credit cards offer rewards, stronger fraud protection, and detailed automatic categorization that makes tracking easy, but they only build wealth if you pay the statement in full every month and never carry a balance, since interest quickly erases any rewards. Debit cards pull directly from checking, which enforces spending only what you have and eliminates the risk of debt, at the cost of weaker rewards and, historically, weaker fraud protections. If overspending is a struggle, debit or a cash system adds helpful friction. If you reliably pay in full and treat the card like a debit card that happens to earn points, credit is the stronger tool. Never let rewards justify carrying a balance.