Free Money

I am not a big fan of Suze Orman, but if she is giving away $100 I like her a little better (Ameritrade is really doing the giving). Some of you may have already heard of this account, but it is over in March and I wanted to bring it to light before the deadline. Check out the details.

Sometimes you have to ask

After church yesterday our family went to Pizza Hut for the buffet. My little one is four and they charge $3.59 for a child's buffet and .99 for a child's drink. After we had finished eating my 4yo had only eaten shredded cheese and drank all his drink. I ate the piece of pizza I had selected for him. When I went to the register I explained that he had only shredded cheese off the salad bar and asked for his buffet to be removed. The manager was called and gladly removed the charge. My husband thought I was crazy to ask, but that saved us almost $4. Not a bonanza, but to have paid for that meal would have been like throwing $4 out the window while driving home from the restaurant.

Mortgage Calculator

This calculator from Dave Ramsey's website is awesome! If you want to accelerate paying off your mortgage play with the numbers and see the amount of money that you can save by paying a little extra each month. Happy computing.

Online Savings Account

Recently, I decided I needed a savings account that was not so easily accessible. And after reading about online accounts with rates above 5% I thought it would be worth checking out. Bankrate does a wonderful job of comparing the different online banks interest rates, minimums to open, and service fees.

After reviewing all the options I finally chose iGObanking. Their current rate is 5.17% APY. It is very easy to set up an account, as I had my brick and mortar bank linked to this account and when I want to add money to my savings account it is drafted from that account. It takes about three days for the transaction a complete, but that is what I was looking for with this account. I did not want easy access to the money. This account is for long term savings for things like cars and appliances.

Another feature that was appealing to me was PayPeople. This option allows money to be sent or received to or from family or friend. A shared secret code allows the recipient to obtain the money that is being sent.

Overall, I like iGObanking because of the great interest rate, ease of use, and free transfer fees. The account can be opened with only $1 and there are no monthly service fees. Also, if you know that you want to save a certain amount every week or two weeks a recurring transfer can easily be set up.

Don't delay start saving today!! Works for me!

My not so favorite things list:

• Kenmore Elite front load washer. We all know how expensive the front loaders are. I've only had mine a 1 year and 10 months and I have had nothing but trouble from the thing. No problems out of the dryer so far.
• Pampered Chef measure all cup. Sounded like a great thing. However, measuring dry foods with it is not that easy. I'll stick with my Tupperware measuring cups.
• Pampered Chef Ice Cream dipper. Worked well until I put it in the dishwasher.
• Oreck vacuum. This is a very fine vacuum as far as picking up dirt, but I wish it had attachments. My handle is breaking on it because it falls backwards if you leave it to move furniture or a rug. I wish I had bought a Dyson for about the same amount of money.
• Land Rover 1998 Discovery. Let's just say I wish I'd bought a Honda.

We all have favorite things we use everyday. Oprah does a show every season about her favorite things.
So, in that same spirit I would like to list a few of my favorite things.

• Miracle Thaw-a metal sheet(aluminum, I think) that defrosts meat in a couple hours on the counter. I know there were reports about it not being safe because meats are sitting out at room temperature to defrost, but honestly we've never had any problems thawing meat this way. If I'm shorter on time I use the microwave's defrost option.
• Pampered Chef classic scraper. Let me first say I am not a big fan of Pampered Chef parties after a consultant stalked me about hosting a party (I still get emails from her 7 years later!) Doesn't stain or get bent out of shape! I've had this one for years and love it.
• Pampered Chef rice cooker. Microwaved rice comes out perfectly every time. I never cook rice on the stove anymore.
• Pampered Chef nylon pan scraper. I use one of these everyday. It originally came with a baking stone(broken) used to scrap it clean. However, it works great for removing baked on food from other baking dishes and pans and even dried food spills on counter tops.
• Swivel sweeper. I bought mine at CVS about a year ago and love the little thing. Gets under tables with ease and picks up everything from salt to dog hair. Because of its design it cleans right up to the base boards! You won't replace your regular vacuum with the Swivel Sweeper, but for the quick jobs it fits the bill.
• Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals foundation. I love, love, love this makeup. First off, it lasts forever. Secondly, my face never breaks out when I use this foundation. Lastly, it covers so well and yet I don't even look like I'm wearing makeup. I bought it off EBay last time I needed a replacement and it was much cheaper than buying from QVC or ULTA or even the infomercials.
• Craftsman Tools. Enough said. What else could be said about tools that if broken will be replaced by just taking it to the store for another one. Tools that are guaranteed forever. Wouldn't it be great if everything we bought had a lifetime guarantee!

Next time I will post about some of my not so favorite things that I wish now I had not wasted my money on.

Yeah, We made it!

Well, we did it! We made it last week with only $23 in the bank! My husband spent $15 on gas leaving us a grand total of $8 in the bank. I learned this week that I am more disciplined than I thought. I could have pulled out the CC, but I'm tired of working to make them rich! If we don't have the money we can't afford it(whatever it is), period! Some things I did to fill my time were, a lot of extra cooking and baking, working extra hours and doing free and cheap things with my 3 yo. This week is not going to be a non money spending week, however I am buying only necessities this week at Aldi and the bread store. No thrift store (my weakness) for me this week.
On a different note I wanted to share a Coconut Cookie recipe I made last week. These were marvelous.
Tip: Put a piece of bread in the cookie jar to keep homemade cookies moist. I usually use the end piece as we don't eat those anyway!

A $23 Week.

After all bills were paid last Friday there was $44 left in the bank for the week. Normally, we would fall back on the CC to get through the rest of the week. But, we have a pact not to use our CC's anymore and live on what we make! Out of the above balance I spent $11 at Walgreen's for a couple of free after rebate items, and $10 for a trip to the pumpkin patch with the preschool on Thursday. So that left $23 for the rest of the week. Now I don't have a $10 a day Starbucks habit or spend $100 a week on a "just shopping" trip to Target. However, I do usually stop by the Goodwill once a week and run to the grocery store and check out the 50% off meat bin. I also love to stop by a few yard sales on Saturday mornings, but I refrained even though there were a ton around town! I have plenty of groceries in my freezer and pantry so food has not been a problem. I normally cook at home everyday and pack lunches for the family anyway, so there is no big difference there. I have found myself baking more this week. Well, it is midweek and I think we are going to survive our "no spending" fast. It is really a freeing feeling. Maybe I will choose to have a no spending week in the future...maybe.

Better Budget

I've heard it said that a budget can be your friend. Well, I need a friend. Every month I write out the bills that I know are coming and their due date. On payday I send the bills that are due that next week. The problem is I always have an unexpected expenditure come up that was not in the budget. Therefore, I am always behind. I tried using Budget Simple and I think it would work, but I am more a paper and pencil kinda girl. After reading this at No Credit Needed I decided to give this method a try. My husband and I sat down tonight and did out budget for October in about five minutes. I realized very quickly I need to work some extra hours next month (bummer). We weren't able to fill anything in the savings category and Christmas is coming. We did base the budget on the lowest income we could expect, so I will hope for a better month than our worst. How do some of you budget? Any ideas? I am bound and determined to make a balanced budget. Wish me luck!