Utilities under $300

I just saw an interesting older post at Boston Gal's Open Wallet.
She had a spreadsheet where she was trying to keep her utilities under $300 per month.
That is not a bad goal.

Wordless Wednesday -January 9, 2008

Carnival of Debt Reduction

My post regarding Credit Card Grace Periods was included in the Carnival of Debt Reduction for January 7, 2008. This Carnival was hosted by No Credit Needed.

Menu Planning

Here are some meals that our family are having this week.

Chicken, vegetables and salad; dessert strawberries or apples
Spagghetti and meatballs with Garlic Toast; dessert graham crackers or pears
Hamburgers with rolls and salad; dessert mandarin oranges or Jello
Grilled Chicken Salad; dessert Dole Frozen Fruit or Frozen Yogurt

With the help of coupon mom http://www.couponmom.com/indexd.php?cid=4 and our local grocery store website I was able to plan these meals at an inexpensive price.

For example
Chicken (boneless, no skin) 1.99 a pound
Strawberries on sale 2.99
Apples (not available but on sale)
Garlic Toast (never tried but only 1.19 on sale)
Pears 99 cents a pound
Mandarin Oranges container for $2
Dole Frozen Fruit bought two with $1.50 coupon
Frozen Yogurt -still working on

Free Calls to Directory Assistance

Are you still paying for Directory Assistance calls from your land line and your cell phone? Stop. Call 1 800 FREE 411 to obtain the phones listings that you desire. These calls are free. The catch is that you need to listen to a short advertisement. The ad is no big deal. It sure beats the $1 or so that you will be charged by your service provider. This service is made available from Jingle Networks. http://www.free411.com/

Credit Cards -Grace Period

I have an urge to discuss credit cards since the holidays are passing and the UPS truck will be now be delivering the credit card statements. Did you ever notice that those bills get bigger? Too bad it is just not the type got bigger. My husband suggests that we try to keep the spending under $1,000. He would rather not see the commas on the credit card statements.

But here is my real message. Pay off the credit card statements each month and don't finance. It is a very big hole to dig out off. The credit card company will put on an extra charge every time you purchase an item when you are carrying a balance. While this does not seem fair that is what is done. So if your credit card is not paid off in full each month start paying cash and pay more than the minimum to pay it down each month. With the finance charge percentages in the double digits it is really really hard to pay off the credit cards.

This is the fine print on the back of one of the credit card statements regarding Grace Periods.
"You get a grace period of 20 days if you pay the New Balance in full by the due date every billing period. If you do not, you will not get a grace period until you pay the New Balance in full for two billing periods in a row."
Bottom line, please don't finance. Start paying cash for things until you can pay down the balance.

A thirty dollar belt is going to get thrown away before you pay it off.

Credit cards are for convenience. Don't let them become a burden. If you don't finance on credit cards congratulations but it is easy to fall into the trap. I was surprised reading the fine print that you need to pay the full balance on time twice in a row to not be charged finance charges on current purchases.

Annual credit reports

Check out this site to obtain your annual free credit report from all three companies. You can request the reports at the same time or go back throughout the year and order one from the next company. https://www.annualcreditreport.com