Frugal Friday: CC warning

There are lots of great tips for living frugally over at "Life as Mom," so go check them out here:

http://www.lifeasmom.com/2009/07/frugal-friday-save-money-on-birthdays.html

Here is my tip. If you are lucky enough to be able to pay off a credit card, there is something you need to keep in mind. Just because the card is 'closed' doesn't mean there won't be some charge on it!

I have recently been able, thanks to the best husband on earth, to pay off most of my big, fat debt. As I pay off a card, I also close it. But I double-checked the next month to make sure the balance was at $0. Well! To my surprise I found out this isn't always true. Yes, there will be no more charges from outside sources. But what about the CC's own finance charges?

You could pay off the current balance on a card, without knowing that your finance charges weren't scheduled to show up for a day or so. Those charges go on your card. And there you are, happily thinking of $0 balances, while those sneaky charges lay in the dark, waiting to make your life miserable!

So...take a second look at any CCs you close and make sure they really are finished and done!

BTW, IMHO...credit card companies are legalized loan-sharking establishments. Thank goodness there will be regulations to stop this nonsense in the next few years!

He did it!

My fourth and youngest, Nicholas (Nicky to us, Nick to his friends) graduated high school today. It was a nice ceremony that ran just under two hours. There was a dark cloud in the nearby sky, but it moved away from us. Pleasant breezes took care of the heat that usually plagues these outdoor ceremonies. (And to think, I had four personal fans in my pocketbook!)

Nick will be attending a local community college. He recently took a two-day program meant to assess his strengths. We haven't gotten the results back, but he's best at math and science. (He's great at history, too, if the topic interests him.) The program will help him pick his major.

With the economy as it is, many more kids than before are attending community colleges. This means a longer waiting list. We got our notice that Nicky's application is being processed. I'm pretty sure he's in. He has the grades and I think community colleges have to accept local residents as long as they qualify. It isn't like Harvard. Thank goodness...it isn't like the tuition there, either.

So the future begins. I only have two of four kids living home now. It is weird to come home and know the house will be empty for a few hours.

My frugal, florist daughter

Katherine and I had a nice lunch at an all-you-can-eat Sushi buffet today, followed up by a visit to Michael's Crafts store. I didn't buy much--just some glue and yarn. But it's fun to look at things. Katherine picks up a small package and says, "I'd sure like to meet the idiot who'd buy this!"
It was a packet of broken up dried leaves, named "leaf confetti", which I suppose is used in card-making or scrapbooking. The price was $3.99! And I'm talking a packet that would fit in the palm of your hand. Why would she call the buyer of such an item an idiot?
Because this is the kind of thing she sweeps off the floor of the floral department at her store, LOL!
Honestly, the things people will pay for, right?

We should all get along like this!

I was lucky enough to have my camera ready when I discovered my cat, Melody, taking a snooze with my ferret, Austin! Melody was even grooming him. How sweet is that?

Grrrrocery Pet Peeves

There are two things I find really annoying at the supermarket:

1)People who park their cart dead-center in the middle of an aisle so you can't get around them.

2)People who come up behind you on the self-checkout line and start their order before you're finished bagging your own. Thank you, but I'd rather not have my bread smashed by your 12-pack of Snapple!

Yep, someone needs to make an official 'Grocery Etiquette' guide!

Make a Freezer Map

We have one of those freezers that opens from the top. It's one of the best household investments we ever made, but if you have one, you know what a pain they are when you want to find something.

Mike and I are making a great effort to be debt-free by the end of the year, and one of the ways I'm helping is by upping my frugal efforts at food shopping. What better way than to use as much as I have on hand as possible?

So I decided to do an inventory of the freezer downstairs. Then it hit me: when you want to find something, what's better than a map? (If they create GPS for freezers, please lmk!)

I took everything out, and as I put it back in an orderly way, I did several things:

1. I used a piece of paper (on a clipboard) and drew a front-view of the freezer. Then I blocked off where each item went, and wrote down how many I have.

2. I took out things I need for dinners this week, which mostly includes meat I've browned or marinated and leftovers.

3. I put all of my daughter's diet foods in one area so she can take them down to her new apartment. This will free up almost 2 square feet of space!

4. I moved all the meat from the upstairs fridge's freezer to the downstairs, making more room upstairs. I'll get to that upstairs freezer another time.

So, if you are going to do an inventory anyway, think about creating a map, too!

Salad Festival!

There's a summer salad festival going on over at "A Heart for Home." I don't know about you, but I can never get enough salad! Here's the link:
http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/2009/04/calling-all-salads.html

Here is a salad my family really enjoys. Because it has a cabbage base, instead of lettuce, it 'keeps' longer. You really do want to go for the celery seed and the Longhorn Colby cheese for this, as they 'make' the recipe!

Delicious Vegetable Salad

A small head of cabbage (or half a big head) cut in chunks--don't shred it, this ain't cole slaw!
About a cup of Longhorn Colby Cheese, also cut in chunks
Cherry tomatoes
Broccoli, cut up
Carrots and celery, cut up
Anything else you like!!!!

Put these all in a big bowl.

The dressing:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard...or squirt of the 'wet' kind
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
A dash of onion powder
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil (I think olive oil would be too strong.)

Mix all the dressing ingredients, except for the oil, in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for about a minute (depending on how strong your microwave is). Then stir until the sugar is dissolved and everything is nicely blended. Drizzle in the oil and stir--or do like I do, and just put it in a jar and shake like crazy.

Pour the warm dressing over the salad and toss. You can eat it like this, or later. You don't have to eat it warm--the heat is just to melt the sugar, I think!

All I know is, this tastes just as good a day later, if it lasts that long!