1 Piece at A Time

My American Dream. (Some assembly required.)

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

DIY "Keep The Change" Program

I kept seeing ads for Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program and thought, "I don't need a $7 a month service-charging bank to save my nickels for me." And so, since I try and use only cash, I have stopped using exact change when I make a purchase and break bills. For the last month, I have taken all the change and put it in a jar, and today I am going to cash it in and see how I fared. I'll post the results tomorrow.

Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 30, 2006

New Moby Video—And I Don't Need Cable TV To See It!

Tonight, October 30th, Singing Fool will show the exclusive U.S. premier of the new Moby video for "New York, New York." I do love Moby. I saw him in Kansas City about four years ago and the show was fantastic. "New York, New York," features Debbie Harry on lead vocals, another reason for me to check it out. And I don't need cable! Which I don't have anyway, so there.

See the US premiere of Moby's "New York, New York" feat. Debbie Harry (Blondie).

A Solution for Everything :: The Bag Dryer

I've been racking my brain to come up with a way to make a ziploc bag dryer for my sister. She and I both wash and reuse and so our kitchen counters are always covered with baggies. I thought about using one of those octopus-style photo holders, and then did a search for "plastic bag dryer" and found this site:

The Agora Concepts Bag Dryer


It's much nicer than anything I could ever make and since it's a Christmas present, it was worth the $16. I know, you're thinking, "What kind of person gives her sister a bag dryer for Christmas?" If you knew my sister, you'd know that she will be doing back flips when she opens this gift.

Discover 0% Balance Transfer

I received notice that I have been approved for a Discover card with a 0% APR for 1 year, and that includes balance transfers. Good-bye Beneficial; hello Dicover. I'll be wiping out the LOC and paying off the Discover before the introductory rate expires. I calculated that over the course of a year I will save approximately $1200.00 in finance charges. That's no small potatoes.

I have also recently sent every single credit card company that we owe a letter requesting that they lower our interest rate since we have been making timely payments and paying more than the minimum payment. I'll let you know in furture posts how that turns out.

Halloween Hijinks

Saturday I threw a Halloween party for my family and got miles out of this great idea from the Frugal Yankee:

Take two talc-free rubber surgical gloves, fill with water, and tie the ends as you would a balloon. Freeze. Run frozen hands under cold water and cut/peel off gloves. Float the ice hands in punch made of equal parts orange juice, cranberry juice, and ginger ale.
My nieces loved it, as well as the adults. When the hands start to melt, they look freakishly real.

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Long Distance Service: The Biggest Scam In The Universe

For the last twelve years I have lived far enough from my family that when I phone, it is a long distance call. In Wichita, I played the switch-to-our-company-and-we'll-give-you-a-$100- check game frequently enough that, for almost a year, long distance was free. But the offers dried up and I chose MCI's Family Plan and for a flat rate I could talk as much as I wanted.

When we moved to town, Pancake & I started using a pre-paid phone card because I hadn't chosen a long distance carrier. And now I never will. The phone card is much cheaper because you're not paying line fees and delivery fees and lattes for the telemarketers fees, not to mention all those stupid FCC taxes. My folks bought us a $20/570 minutes card the last week of July and we just last week ran out of minutes! Three months for $20 vs. $78 a month, which is what we used to pay. Boy, do I feel like a dope!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Yum :: Vegetable Barley Soup

Homemade soup should be inexpensive, and I've found a recipe that I'm always able to make with what I have in the fridge. It is the thickest, richest, tastiest vegetable barley soup I've ever slurped. (Note: When I don't have homemade chicken stock on hand, I use Better Than Bouillon rather than canned chicken broth. I prefer the taste, it's less expensive, and there's less packaging.)

Vegetable Barley Soup

1 TBSP Butter
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Barley
1 Yellow Onion, Chopped
2 Carrots, Diced
2 Celery Ribs, Diced
4 Cups Chicken Broth/Stock
Salt & Pepper, To Taste

1. In a 3-quart saucepan, melt butter in olive oil over medium heat. Add barley, onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender, 7 to 10 minutes.

2. Stir in stock and bring to simmer. Cover and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until barley is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe is from The Wooden Spoon Book of Home-Style Soups, Stews, Chowders, Chilis & Gumbos by Marilyn M. Moore. This woman knows how to cook. I keep renewing the book from the library and have asked for it for Christmas. Every recipe I've tried is fantastic.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Saving For Big Purchases

Since we no longer use credit, I've been putting away as much cash as possible to save for some big purchases that are long overdue. Everything on the list is absolutely a necessity and we will take our time before spending our hard-earned cash to make sure we're getting the best deal without sacrificing quality. Here goes, in order of importance:

1) Pancake needs a new computer. This is a necessity (and a business expense) because our livelihood depends upon it. The ThinkPad he is using is five years old and I fear that it may die soon, which would not be good. In fact, it would be a disaster.

2) We need a car. We only had one car and that was totaled in an accident back in July. The settlement check is sitting in the savings account while we save a few extra thousand so we can buy a decent used vehicle. Pancake's folks have been letting us use their truck and we can continue to use the truck for as long as we need, but I don't want to take advantage of their generosity for too long.

3) We need a new porch roof and a new roof on the ad-on. This is third because neither roof is leaking. Yet. We need to have this done before winter sets in. There is the very real possibility of an ice jam which could cause considerable damage.

4) We need to reupholster our sleeper sofa and loveseat. This is last because we can't pay for the sofas if Pancake's computer bytes the big one and it would be silly to put newly upholstered furniture in a room with a leaky ceiling. They are quality pieces and it will cost less to reupholster than to buy new. Unless, of course, we bought cheap furniture, but I don't want to spend money on disposable sofas. Once these are reupholstered we'll never have to buy another set as long as we live.

Baby Needs A New Roof

We received an estimate to have a new porch roof put on, and also repair the roof over the ad-on, which is where I work. My father-in-law said he thought it would cost somewhere around a thousand bucks, but these guys came back with (gasp) $5400.00. Needless to say we're getting a couple more estimates. I had not budgeted enough for such a huge expense, but now, before we even get the other estimates, I'm trying to calculate how we can work that in. That way, if it ends up costing considerably less, we'll be ahead.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

ING Pays Off

I checked my ING account yesterday and was happy to see that my $25 bonus had been posted. I also signed up for their automatic savings plan and will have $100 a month magically whisked from my checking account to the ING account. Plus, by signing up, I've been entered into a drawing for $1000 and a grand prize drawing for $25,000. Wouldn't that be nice to win!

Buy Nothing Days

I've decided to institute a "Buy Nothing Day" into my week. On those days, we will eat whatever we have in fridge or pantry and we won't spend any money anywhere else (e.g. on the internet, at the video store, etc.). Since I go to a coffee shop in the afternoons to get some writing done, I'll have to figure out how I'm going to work. I see the $2 I spend on a cup of coffee as rent because I work out of the house and sometimes I just need to go somewhere else. Maybe I'll start saving up my free coffee cards to use on those days! I also think I will pick Tuesdays, and maybe, if all goes well, I'll try upping my experiment to two times a week.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Crossword Puzzle Junky Fix

Pancake's dad sent me this link so I don't have to buy a daily newspaper to get my crossword puzzle fix. Click on the link below to print out a new puzzle everyday:

Daily Crossword

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Squirreling Away Cash

While the ING Direct percentage rate is lower than HSBC, I opened an ING account last week to take advantage of the $25 sign-up bonus that they were offering. I'd received the offer in the mail, and had to enter an invitation code, so I don't know if the bonus is available to everyone.

Now I have accounts with both HSBC and ING, plus a Christmas Club and regular savings with our local bank--plenty of places to sock away some cash and forget about it.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Design On A nickel

And the final cost of redoing the lavatory...

Paint.................$13.99
Recessed TP Dispenser..13.98

Towel Ring..............8.79
Mirror.................10.00
Toilet Seat.............5.59
Molding.................8.96
Spray Paint.............3.19
____________________________
Grand Total...........$64.50

The spray paint was for the vent cover, and the mirror, which I picked up at Family Dollar, was a real steal. We're still searching for the perfect sconce light to replace the bare fixture that is in there now. If anyone knows of a good place online, please let me know!