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Archive results for “September of 2006”
On this page you will find the search results for the search term that you queried.
If you are looking to discuss personal finance with some of the best finance bloggers out there (the Money Blog Network and beyond), stop by the MBN Forums. Recently, someone asked about getting lower rates on car insurance and received some great replies.
Feel free to browse what’s already been posted, post your own topic or reply to somone else’s question 
I spent some time this morning catching up my Quicken file. It’s not quite there yet, but at least my check register is updated and I have a better idea of how much money I could put to debt this month.
Credit Card Debt Update = $26,996
Total Paid Since Starting this Blog in February = $10,618
I am heavily forecasting our expenses for the month of October. I still have to find someone to do our home repair (I’ve left messages but haven’t heard back from anyone yet) and I am putting a guess of $700 for the repair. With the overtime I’ve worked the past few weeks, the extra work I plan on doing this week, and the eBay selling I’m hoping to accomplish - I sent an extra $400 to one of our credit cards.
I hope I forecasted well enough to make sure we do not have to pull out the credit cards due to lack of cash. I vividly remember how that made me feel when I had to do it before.
I am generally a pretty frugal person. One thing that I do seems to garner looks and reactions every time I do it. To me, I see great value in getting the most out of things we purchase.
I am so frugal I keep all non-working lighters in the house. Then, when I run out of a lighter that is 100% operational, I combine the efforts of two lighters. Meaning I use one that still sparks with one that still has fluid.
I have done this for a long time, and here’s the best reaction I have received when someone witnessed me using two lighters.
“Oh my gosh…what are you doing? I’m gonna give you $1.00 to go buy a new lighter.”
I politely declined the offer, but it sure made me chuckle.
If you have a “I am so frugal I…” trait to share, feel free to leave a comment. Bloggers, feel free to meme (I believe that’s the word) and let me know. I’ll link to you here.
I have been working a lot this week, and while I love the overtime…it hasn’t left much time for other things. I was hoping to get a break during work today to prepare a Blog Highlight post but it didn’t happen.
I’m also feeling a little under the weather. Probably because of the season change and from not getting much sleep lately. I think I need to recharge a bit, rest my eyes, and get away from the computer for a while.
I may or may not be posting this weekend, since I could use some R&R. I have a gazillion things to do and I need to get focused and get things done. Right now I feel like I’m doing bits and pieces of things and not accomplishing anything. I haven’t even updated my Quicken file in a while! It would be nice to put a few more dollars towards debt before the end of the month but I have some major catching up to do. That reminds me…I have another confession to share…
Anyways, I’ll try to get back on schedule next week with the blog highlights and one of these days I’ll be a consistent blogger. Right now the times I post are all over the board. It’s basically when I have a moment to write what’s on my mind.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.
If you wear contacts and visit a Wal-Mart with a vision center, look for the brochure that’s titled, “Caring for your contact lenses.” Inside is a coupon for a free 4oz. bottle of Bausch & Lomb ReNu MultiPlus Solution 
Back in May, I revealed a trick I used when my glasses broke. I called them my frugal glasses.
Well, not too long after that post, they broke. I shopped around, and couldn’t find a pair of sunglasses that would work with my lenses. Luckily, my mom sent me some of her old frames and I have been using them ever since May. The lenses did not fit well at all…but I was buying more time before I had to spend money for brand new ones.
Things were working out well. I had a few pairs of contacts I could put in when I ventured out of the home, and at home I would wear my glasses. I just had to be very careful with the lenses.
Well, last week a lens popped out and my vision is very poor without my glasses. I’m not sure what happened, but when I found my lens there was a big scratch on it. Upon further inspection, there are tons of little scratches all over the lenses. No wonder I have been squinting so much.
I made the appointment last Saturday and my appointment was today. I thought for sure I would cancel the appointment, but I did go. I knew I couldn’t buy any more time and I just had to spend the money.
The total bill came to $249.00 at Wal-Mart for the glasses and the eye exam. There’s a bit of good news, my eyes didn’t change much at all. Now that I know my vision is fairly stable, I plan on buying a new pair of glasses with my current prescription before it expires in two years. That way if my new glasses break I’ll have a back-up. And, I picked frames that have smaller lenses so I have a better chance of finding sunglasses that would work as frames if I have to do that again
In the mail yesterday was the statement for Credit Card #6. That’s our store credit card that we applied for and received to take advantage of 10% off the purchase of our stove. Saving over $60 seemed like a great deal so we went ahead and applied. As an extra bonus, the card came with the offer of zero payments and 0% interest until March 2007.
Anytime a store credit card offers a deal like that, you should make sure of two things…
1.) If you still have a balance on your card when the special offer expires what is your interest rate?
2.) Will you be charged back-interest (meaning they will go back to when your charge(s) originated and charge you interest) when the offer expires and your balance is not paid?
I asked the sales lady those questions and she said that “their” card is different. They do not charge back-interest and when the offer expires there is an interest rate of 24%. The interest rate wasn’t a good one, but we were planning on paying the card off before the offer expired. Everything seemed straightforward enough for me.
This was back in March. We received our first statement in April and I looked at it. Everything seemed fine and I saw the terms of zero payments and 0% interest and all looked well. The months passed by and I opened the envelopes but didn’t really look at the statements. For some reason I looked this month and I was shocked. I was being charged a finance charge!
As it turns out, our stove was under the special deal, but the cord we purchased for $14.00 to go with the stove was subject to finance charges! I’m not sure at this moment if it’s because the sales lady rang up the two items separate or because the special offer only applied to major appliances.
In either case I am upset. Upset at the store because I feel duped. Upset at myself for not noticing this sooner. It’s only been $1.00/month (due to the minimum finance charge being assessed), but I really feel like I should have known better.
It is my fault for not being vigilant with my statements for that card, but I still feel like going into that store and compaining since I was under the impression the whole purchase would be under the special offer. The sales lady was very misleading (and, as a sidenote…she’s the owner of the store).
I was going to wait until January or February to pay off Credit Card #6, but in light of this recent development - it’s now next on the chopping block to get paid.
About This Site
Credit Card Debt
- Starting = $37,614
- Paid Off = $28,616
- Current = $8,998
- $25 ING Savings Bonus
Savings Account
- Current = $3,203
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