Blogging Away Debt

No, It’s Not a Joke – You Can Have a Checking Account at Redneck Bank

I grew up in the country. Anything related to country life I get such a kick out of. Just thinking of how the neighborhood dads used to drive their lawn mowers to visit each other makes me chuckle. Ah, I loved the community where I grew up 🙂

Anyways, I better get back on track. I find myself wanting to stroll down memory lane.

I received a tip about the Redneck Bank – where bankin’s funner. According to everything I have read, it is a real bank and it is FDIC insured. But they do things a little differently as evidenced by their name and their website (the horse says different things if you move your mouse around). They also are offering a pretty decent APR on their checking accounts – 5.25% up to $25,000.

In these days of savings account interest rates plummeting (one of mine went from 4% to 1%), that rate is very nice. There is a long thread going at fatwallet.com for some user feedback. It’s funny, a few people there are signing up for the account mostly for the interest rate and to get the checkcard with the horse and “where bankin’s funner” on it.

There are conditions for the account like a certain number of times a month that you have to use the checkcard. I’m going to keep my eye on it, though. I haven’t been happy with one of my banks lately so perhaps it’s time to “buck yer old bank” like the horse suggests 😛

Thanks Beverly for the tip!

Dusting Off the Sewing Machine

by Tricia

The last time I visited my parents, my mom let me take home one of her sewing machines. I graciously accepted it, even though I wasn’t sure if I’d use it. I’ve never used one in my life, and the few things that needed mending in the past were easy enough to do by hand. A few days ago, the zipper on my son’s sleeping bag partially came off.

An hour later and a few finger pricks later, the zipper was back on. It was a bad, bad, sewing job. LOL. Yep, it was time to bring out the sewing machine and learn how to use it.

The one I received didn’t come with a manual. I found the company on the web and sent out an email asking for a copy. It may be a long shot to get a free copy, but I found one on eBay for $9.00 so that won’t be that bad as a last resort. Hopefully I hear back soon.

On a complete side-note, sewing machines are fascinating. I had no idea how they worked, but found some neat graphics that explain it.

Now that I am more open to using a sewing machine, I can see it saving us money down the road. I can patch up the knees on my son’s play pants so they last longer and we can keep the good ones for school. I can also mend things faster and do a better job at it. Many times I would sew something only to have it last a few days before unraveling. I also found a few neat sewing projects like this grocery bag. We really want to start using reusable grocery bags but the quality of the ones you can buy at the grocery store does not impress us.

I’m excited – I can’t wait to hear back about the manual so I can get started!