Blogging Away Debt

Ways I Save Money – More About Being Resourceful (with pics this time!)

Back in December of 2006, I mentioned that one of the ways that I save money is to be resourceful. I described a swing that I made for our son.

I don’t have enough pics on here, so I decided to show you how I am resourceful. Prepare yourself – I love using duct tape!!

First of all, the problem that needed to be solved…

We are fortunate to have cherry trees in our yard. We were also fortunate to have been left a decent ladder by those we purchased our house from. With that ladder, we can pick a lot of cherries. The problem lies with the last 1/4 of the tree. We cannot get to those cherries. The birds eat some, but as soon as the cherries get dark purple, they seem to stop by less often and if we don’t pick them they go bad.

The dark ones are the real juicy and sweet ones. It’s hard to see them go to waste. Sure, we could buy a higher ladder or a fancy gadget that could help us pick the high ones. We could even buy a cherry picker truck (which would thrill our son), but there’s no way we should be spending money right now. Money is tight.

What’s left? Making something new from things we already have.

I sat down the other night and started brainstorming ideas of how to make our very own cherry picker. While I won’t be rushing to patent this idea (it definitely has its flaws), it is working as I had hoped and my son cannot quit talking about how neat it is. He wants to use it every chance he can get.

Here it is (you can click on the smaller pics to see the full picture).

Here’s what I used to make it:

The handle from a Swiffer Sweeper (which can be put back after cherry season)
Cardboard to make the box
One rubber band
Two shoelaces (which also can be put back after cherry season)
And the best thing of all…duct tape

How does it work?

The rubber band on the back of the cherry picker keeps the lid semi-open. I find a cherry, get it inside the box, then pull the shoelace to close the lid. Pulling on the entire picker causes the cherry to come off the stem and stay in the box. The box is lowered to an anxious hand and a lovely cherry rolls out.

I totally impressed my son, we didn’t spend any money, I stretched my imagination a little and we have more cherries to eat this year. It may not be the prettiest cherry picker, but it works 😉

Making Your Voice Heard – Proposed New Rules for Credit Card Companies

by Tricia

This is a guest post from Family Man at Build Tomorrow – Another Day of Life. He’s a married, 35 year old father of three who has some significant debt he is trying to pay off. He gave me this article, and since I don’t always keep up with current events I thought this was a great article to share.

Earlier this year the Federal Reserve proposed new rules for credit card companies. The major issuers immediately spoke out against the proposed rules, claiming that they would result in less competition, higher prices, and less choice for us the average consumer.

So what do these proposed rules mean for you? It first of all means that banks will have less opportunity to make changes to your account for arbitrary reasons. Some of these fundamental changes are as follows.

Banks wouldn’t be able to hit you with a higher interest rate on debt you already owe.
Prohibits “two cycle billing.” This is a practice that computes finance charges based on previous billing cycles.
Banks would have to apply at least a portion of payments toward higher-interest rate debt. In the past issuers put payments consumers made toward cheaper debt, like balance transfers that generally had lower rates.
Banks would have to provide consumers a reasonable amount of time to make payments.
Credit Card Holds. The proposal would prohibit banks from imposing a fee when the credit limit is exceeded solely because a hold was placed on available credit. This can occur where the final dollar amount of a transaction was not known in advance (for example, when a consumer checks into a hotel, a hold is placed for the expected cost of the stay).

This potential rulemaking is a huge step in asserting consumer rights in the area of credit. Many at the fed believe this is a necessary step toward recovering the credit market. Will this limit some of the credit available to consumers? Absolutely! Over the last 9 years credit was made so readily available to individuals, that could not afford it, it has become a major contributor to todayâ€™s economy. These rules will tighten lending to those who can afford to pay it back. While that may seem more restrictive it is more in line with consumer sentiment.

The Federal Reserve needs your help. Public comments are being requested before August 4, 2008. I plan to post mine. I believe that interest rates should be capped at prime plus 12%. This will allow those in debt to recover, while still allowing banks to make money. As consumers get out of debt, they will have more disposable income, and spend more (cash I hope). If you agree I hope you will make your voice heard.

Go to federalreserve.gov and click on “consumer information” at the top of the page. Then click on “Proposed Rules for Credit Cards and Overdraft Services” and scroll to the bottom of the page. Look for Regulation AA and click on submit a comment.

Direct link here.

Thanks, Family Man for the guest post!