I have mentioned before that we use a credit card for daily expenses that we pay off in full each month. We are currently using a Discover card because of the Cashback bonus award, which we usually redeem for gift cards. Last week, we used part of our bonus award to get 2 ($40 and $80) Sharper Image gift cards. We’re not huge fans of Sharper Image, but Discover would double your reward for Sharper Image (ie. redeem $20 to get a $40 gift card). We had picked out a new beard trimmer and headphones for my husband. When...
Monthly Archives: February 2008
Revolutionmoneyexchange offering $25 to open account
**UPDATE 9/24/08: There is no longer a $25 sign-up bonus, but there is still a $10 referral bonus. If you would be so kind as to consider using the button below to sign up, I would greatly appreciate it! If you’re tired of Paypal fees, you may want to take a look at revolutionmoneyexchange.com as an alternative. They are a scaled-down version of Paypal, and allow you to transfer money for free to other account holders as well as to and from your own bank account. They are FDIC insured, and according to their website, there are the following...
No More Valpaks for us!
After getting back from visiting family, there was a pile of mail waiting for us. One of the most annoying things we receive is the Valpak (the big blue envelope of coupons we never use), so today I decided to do something about it. After a little online investigating, I found that you can take your name off the Valpak mailing list by filling out this form from Cox Target Media. I also found that if I ever have a burning desire for some of the coupons I never use, I can go to Valpak.com and enter my zip...
Balancing frugality with living life
We’ll be traveling this weekend again to see family, which got me thinking about balancing frugality with life in general. To me, material possessions aren’t very important. This isn’t to say that I’m not thankful for what we have, but our life isn’t focused on getting more “stuff”. On the other hand, when it comes to traveling to see family, our costs seem to be getting increasing with each trip (gas, tolls). However, we’re not willing to cut the number of trips we make to see family each year. There are alternative routes to save on tolls, but it...
Time to buy plane tickets for Thanksgiving?
Our family is taking our first real vacation since 2004 – now that our son is 2, it is time for him to begin to see the world (we’ll start with the USA). We have close friends that live in Arizona, a state which neither my husband nor I have seen. These friends are getting ready to return back east in another year or two, and have been wanting us to visit. The time seemed right for us to plan a trip. We thought that sometime around Thanksgiving would be a good time, and our friends have been looking...
Simplify part i – getting rid of lotions and other toiletries
“So toss away stuff you don’t need in the end, but keep what’s important, and know who’s your friend…” –Tom Marshall (lyricist for Phish) I mentioned that I picked up a bin for our bathroom this weekend. Our bathroom is not that large, and we only have one of them (gasp!). Since I’ve been getting some good deals at CVS, I have been running out of room to put things like toilet paper and shampoo – hence the bin. While transferring items to the bin, I was forced to come to terms with all those useless gifts I’ve been...
Get free daily credit scores from Credit Karma
Most people know that they are entitled to a free annual credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) using Annualcreditreport.com. However, it now appears that people can access their credit score as well. Credit Karma is offering free daily credit scores, and from what I can tell, they are from TransUnion. The code CKFRND can be used (I got this code from slickdeals), or you can request a code be sent to you via e-mail. The site is sponsored by advertising from sites such as Zecco and Prosper (if you join Prosper...
We spent money this weekend…sort of
We are home for one weekend before hitting the road again, so we spent some time running errands. I mentioned how we are trying to control our “extra” purchases here, and thought I would start to report on how we are spending our money a little more often. First, I hit CVS again. Because it was a Saturday, a lot of the deals from the ad were already out of stock, but I still managed to do ok. Here’s what I got: 1 bag of Hershey kisses (discounted from Valentine’s Day) – $1.49 1 Fusion razor – $9.99 ($6...
Credit card debt part i – where did it all come from?
We are $31,100 in credit card debt. It really sucks when looking at the number itself, but at least we haven’t been buying big screen televisions. The APR on this debt ranges from 0% – 4.99%. How did we arrive at this spot? Here’s a quick summary: 1. Roughly $20,000 of this debt is a result of my last year of undergraduate work (tuition and living expenses). Being a 5th year undergraduate really took a toll on my financial aid. Overall, I am still ok with this decision. So what happened? Basically, I made the decision to major in...
Download a free copy of Suze Orman’s latest book
My friend just sent me an e-mail – she has become an Oprah addict, and wanted to let me know that Suze Orman’s latest book Women and Money is available for a free download until tonight at 8pm EST/ 7pm CST. As you know, I have mixed feelings about Suze Orman (see this post). However, I would like to read one of her books, and now I have a free copy, so there is no excuse not to! Follow this link or this link to download your free copy. I hope to read it over the weekend and post...
