Your Frugal Friend-Tip Two

Money saving tip #2: Do not pay for anything with a credit card that you couldn't pay for with cash.

Well, that's what we do. That's what my parents did. Mr. Wild's parents did not have a credit card at all until I think we were dating, or even married (this would have been in the early or mid 1990s). So obviously, we come from very cautious credit card users who try to make sure that every month's balance is zero.

What Mr. Wild and I found is that if you use some of those cards with rewards this way, it is like getting free money. We have an Amazon card we pay off every month. For every $2500 in purchases we get a $25 gift certificate for Amazon.com. Since we don't have a balance, and don't carry interest on it, then the $25 is like free money. Those certificates have come in mighty handy at Christmas time. Or on the occasion that we want to pick up something rather expensive. We save up our certificates and then can get something. You can buy lots at Amazon.com. We got our PS2 this way.

We also have one main credit card we use. We try to close other credit card accounts as we decide we don't need more than one. I say no to all the store cards and so forth. They don't really offer anything more special than our Amazon Visa and we really can use Visa everywhere.

If you're carrying a balance on your credit card(s), get that balance down to zero, cancel all cards but one, then use the one as if you're paying with cash. If you're not sure you will have the money to pay it off at the end of the month, then don't go ahead with that purchase until you can be sure you have the money.

I know these are repeats of what you may have heard on TV or read about, but it is absolutely true. Try to treat credit cards as a convenient way to handle your cash. Don't treat them like "credit" cards, because using them for credit is essentially highway robbery. If you are one of those people too tempted for using them as credit, then get rid off all but one and then put it away in your house and try to pay cash always. If you can't stand waiting until you have the money to buy the next new thing, you need to seriously double check your priorities. There is nothing wrong with deferred gratification and it is going to be a really good thing for your kids to learn.

Something, but I don't know what

I am running dry lately. I am all into this frugal thing and have about five tips ready in the pipeline, but I don't want to overwhelm or bore folks with frugal tips.

I have had great ideas on the go. I'm in the car and think, "Oh, that would be good to blog about." Then I get to work and promptly forget what I was going to talk about. I swear to you, I've had about three or four really good ideas lately, for short, cute, sassy blogs.

But, nothing. I get home and help with dinner, eat dinner, play with the kids a bit (Pixie Hollow on-line was last night's session and we all, including Mr. Wild, were working on getting around the fairy land) and then focus on getting the kids to bed either with jammies or bath and jammies. Then I'm web surfing (damn Facebook, time eater), reading (Hondo, ancient Egypt, and other blogs, but no Jane), and watching waaaayyyy too much TV.

I keep telling myself I need to stop following some shows. I think I've finally dumped Grey's Anatomy. They "jumped the shark" when they made Isabella see and "sleep" with her dead fiancee. Actually, I think they "jumped the shark" when they killed the main character and brought her back. Ridiculous.

Anyway, so I feel I've been frittering my creativity on things not related to blogginess. I read all these other blogs, and wonder where my blog savvy has gone. As if I had any to begin with.

You know what, send me some topics. Please, please give me something creative to tackle. We can treat this like "Cawfee Tawlk."

Here's something to get you started:

"The peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss."

"The New Deal was neither new nor was it a deal. Discuss."1




1Coffee Talk. (2009, January 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:09, January 30, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coffee_Talk&oldid=264807268

Poor Jane!

I really do like Jane Austen. I have two other friends who do as well. We were getting together about once every month to six weeks to discuss another Austen classic. We got through Pride and Prejudice, everyone's favorite, I'm sure, then also discussed Sense and Sensibility. Our next one was to be Mansfield Park. I started reading Mansfield, I really do like Fanny and feel sorry for her. She's a little bit like Cinderella with stupid step-sisters. But I haven't gotten that far into the book.

All three of us belong to another book club with more people. So, the holidays and that book club seemed to get in the way. I miss Jane. Our last Jane book club, instead of discussing the book, I put together a Power Point on Regency period clothing. Oh, how I love those styles. I think they are rather flattering and forgiving looks. And rather easier to sew, I might add. I really want to have an excuse to make an 1800s or 1810s gown, or two or three. I put on a dress I had made in college, that was relatively early 1800s, but not entirely, and did up my hair with the curls on the sides of my head. They got such a kick out of it. So did I.

But, we still haven't gotten back to Mansfield Park. My library renewal ran out, I put it on hold again, then neglected to pick it up. Now I'm knee deep in ancient Egyptian (another period I love), so I haven't had the gumption to get back to Jane. On top of that, the other book club assignment is The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. Don't you just love the name Esme?

Alas, poor Jane!

Your Frugal Friend-Tip One

Ok, this is not my idea. This was totally my mom's idea. She thinks we're pretty responsible with our household spending (thanks, Mom, we appreciate that) and thinks we could share something with other people. But I liked it and I wanted to see if I could help anyone out in these economic times. I intend to share some money-managing/money-saving tidbits with you folks and anyone else out in the ether that is interested. I intend to request suggestions from folks, too. And, I intend to not be totally serious.


Money saving tip #1: Marry someone Dutch.


You know what they say about Dutch people. You've heard of the saying "going Dutch."* They have that reputation for being cheap. You've heard the joke about their dead and bike racks.** See, problem solved! I cannot take credit for this tip, Mr. Wild came up with it.


Yeah, ok, not practical for most of you who are already married. This is a running joke in our household. Mr. Wild is half Dutch. Well, okay his Dutch ancestors came over to the midwest, set up in the Pella area, eventually his dad was born, and his dad married his German descendent mom, so that makes him half Dutch and half German. Since those enclaves of people probably never married outside their ethnic groups until his parents did (shock! gasp! breaking with tradition, yeah, another running joke), I like to point out that he is still truly half Dutch and German.


My practical suggestion is to make sure that you and your spouse understand each other's expectations of spending money and where you are stand in the bank account and what you each will accept for being involved in the decisions for big purchases. We are lucky in that our spending habits actually mesh and our appetites for "stuff" are about the same and still fit within our means. I know of some other couples where there is tension due to very different attitudes about spending money, what is acceptable debt to be carrying, and what are appropriate large purchases for the family unit. If you feel that there is tension and you avoid talking about it, you need to talk and both sides need to listen to the other. It also helps if you budget, or, at least, add up all the expenses for a month and look at your monthly income compared to that number. Do not forget your car insurance, divided by six for a monthly cost, house insurance divided by 12 for a monthly cost or taxes divided by 12 for a monthly cost. You need to talk and you need to try to get on the same page. And you don't need to buy everything you think of exactly right now, at this moment. Kids, either. Practice deferred gratification. You'll thank me for it and your kids will thank you for it.


We are practical modern people and we enjoy our perks to life as much as everyone else. We are not off the grid, grow/make our own food, heat with wood pellets, avoid restaurants and avoid cable type of people. We both have done living history, and neither of us want to "live history" everyday. We could, but we don't want to. But we also know what our means are and stay within that. Some things might have to go or be set aside for a much long time than we anticipated. We'd like a newer, bigger TV, but the two we have are working just fine, we don't need to convert for the HD switch over, so we'll continue as we are.

So, look for more tips in the coming weeks. Once a month, I'll try to come up with a "tips" theme and have everyone write in with their own.


*A "going Dutch" story: When Mr. Wild and I were first dating, on one of the dates, when we were done, I offered to pay for coffee, dinner, something. Mr. Wild was sooo incredibly excited that I offered to pay. He doesn't really remember this, but I remember he was like you could knock him over with a feather when I offered to pay. I always figured that's what sealed the deal on our relationship.
**Dutch joke (I apologize if this offends anyone): Why do the Dutch bury their dead with their butts sticking out of the ground? Because they need bike racks.

What I didn't get out of the historical inauguration

I have a friend I met through work and though she's moved on from the place I work at, she has kept up a correspondence and has come to visit me and my family for dinner on occasion. She is a very dear young lady (I can say that, she's ten years younger than me) whom I got to give career advice and she took it (gasp! I actually said something useful). She has moved back to Chicago, and I am sorry I won't get to have her over for dinner even once every six months anymore.

My friend is African-American, middle to upper-middle class. She has a master's degree in marketing and is doing very well in her field. The last time she came over for dinner, which was November, I told her I had to ask her point blank what it meant to her that Barack Obama had been elected to be the next president of the United States. I asked her if it really did surprise her and if it really did mean something to her. I have no idea if her experiences in life are the same or different from mine.

She told me that it made all the difference in the world. She was light-hearted about it, but she explained it really well. She said, "Sure people would always say anyone can become president, but deep in our hearts, as an African-American, we knew it didn't really apply to us." I could see that and told her that I could see that. "But now, it has really happened, and now we feel we really can do anything." She was really on a high. We were on a high, too, as we supported the man from Illinois as well.

But, on inauguration day, though I am very happy to have helped in my own small way to elect an African-American as president, I cannot, in anyway, fathom the joy and the feelings of people of color have for having an African-American as president. I am sure it must be indescribable. And I will never actually know that feeling.

I can say that I am overjoyed that the United States in my reality, is also becoming the United States in my mind. When people said anyone could become president, in my mind's eye, I did believe anyone could regardless of race, religion, sex, or any other background. I believed this as a child in the 1970s, I want to believe it as an adult. I don't care what you look like, I will support the candidate whose priorities match mine.

I know that our country is far from the ideal country that is in my head. I know there are many people who have issues because of race or sex. They may not even know that is what is holding them back. People are still raised with prejudices. It will probably still take many generations before the country in my head is the country we live in. But yesterday was as gigantic a leap for the United States as the step Neil Armstrong made on the moon.

I am glad my children are seeing it and seeing the joy people have to have faith in their government again. I am glad to be in the United States, in this time, in this part of history.

I am glad I get to say to my grandchildren, I was part of that election, I was there, I helped make it happen.

Nothing says love like an egg salad sandwich

Yesterday, I made egg salad for lunch. It was pretty yummy. I had some leftover egg salad and I wanted to eat it at lunch today. Mr. Wild also liked the egg salad, but I had made it after he had lunch yesterday, so he had only a little sandwich because he had already eaten. Today, he also wanted egg salad.

There was a rush on the refrigerator and two people grabbed the egg salad at the same time. I claimed ownership because I had taken the time to make it for myself yesterday.

But then I said, "Do you want egg salad?" Mr. Wild said he did. I had leftover hard boiled eggs (I made extra in case we wanted them on salads, or more sandwiches!). So I asked him to get out the ingredients: Miracle Whip, dijon mustard, lemon juice, green onion, and celery. To that I added cracked black pepper, dill weed and salt. I took the time to chop up small the onion and celery, carefully diced the eggs in my egg slicer (I marvel every time that you have to make three cuts through the egg to get perfect dice. I guess it is three dimensions), and stirred everything together. Not hard, but I realized I like to cook and mix up things, because it shows how much I care. And I like them to come out tasty, because I took the time to try to get it right.

I put the egg salad on some bread and took it into the den where Mr. Wild was watching Torchwood

"Here's your sandwich."

"Oh, thank you, hon."

Simple appreciation for a simple sandwich, simply perfect.

Lotions and potions

When I was in my early, mid, and late 20s, I took offense when someone thought that I was still a teenager. I would complain to co-workers or friends and often get the statement, "Oh, you will appreciate being mistaken for younger when you're older.

The first time I was giggly over being mistaken for younger was soon after #1 was born. Here I was, late 20s, a new mom, and found that I was mistaken for a middle schooler. I had to laugh at that one. It was a pretty good one. As I approach 40 (which is not that far off at all), I've had some fun times with being mistaken for younger, and I now appreciate my co-worker's comments.

Then, one day, it hit me. I could tell my laugh lines were becoming more pronounced. The crinkles around my eyes aren't deep, but they are there. My forehead creases stay, instead of disappearing, once I quit furrowing my brow.

Years ago, maybe 6 or 7, I had friends get me Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me and The Beauty Bible both by Paula Begoun.* We mostly used it to look at makeup choices that were inexpensive, but that would work best for our skin types. It also had good skin care routines, set up to help keep skin healthy and avoid early wrinkles. At that point, mostly, I might have gotten a blemish or two around that time of the month, but I wasn't really thinking about anything else and I didn't give the skin care routine a second thought. I used to, maybe, wash my face with water in the shower and maybe remove the eye makeup before I went to sleep. Ah, not anymore.

But now, I have turned to the pages with "Battle Plans for Wrinkles." She's very good at explaining the science behind your skin. Now I have a gentle cleanser for my face, a product with AHA and another product with BHA. Both are chemical exfoliators, removing the dead skin cells from the surface and from your pores. AHA is better for dry skin, which I have, and BHA is better for your blemish prone skin, which I also get, especially once a month. I have eye makeup remover, and moisturizer with SPF15. The biggest thing for skin is to keep the sun's rays off of it. I have another sunscreen for the summer with SPF 45 for my face. I also have some thicker facial cream for at night, especially in the winter.

Last winter, my face, especially my cheeks, always felt really dry and got incredibly flaky. Since I started being more diligent about a facial care routine, I think the exfoliators have helped keep the dry dead flaky skin away. Last year I was using the thick cream every night to soothe my skin, but this year, the light moisturizer seems to be all I need.

So, do I notice that the wrinkles seem to be getting less? I really don't know. Probably too early to tell. I guess I can say the new routine has helped my skin be less dry this winter, so that is a huge plus. Am I vain about my looks and staying young? Maybe. But, you have to admit it's nice when someone mistakes you for a 20 something.



*If you're interested in all this information, the best place to start is cosmeticscop.com. I can guarantee you'll find the reading interesting, at the very least. Paula Begoun seems to do a thorough check of all the brands you can imagine. The website has newsletters, and recently she sent one out to recession proof your beauty routine. It was about the best, least expensive skin care and makeup products available. Paula has her own line as well, and they are reasonably priced, too. I haven't tried them, because the ones I've found seem to work well enough.