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The Budget Stretcher
"Saving you money...One Dime at a Time!"
Week Of: January 28, 2008
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Grandpa Terry's Free Ebook
It's a new year and with fuel costs soaring, the economy
generally bumpy and with Christmas bills pouring in the American
consumer may not wish to hear that it's not just their
imagination....food prices are rising faster than they have in
years. The Consumer Price Index for 2007 increased by over 4%,
as retailers pass on higher commodity and energy costs to
consumers.
While an increase of a dollar for a gallon of milk or thirty
cents for bread may not sound too tough to handle, it really
does start to add up when you look at the costs for a family
over the course of a year. An average family of four, eating
carefully, with an annual income of $46, 000 will spend $136 a
week and a 4 per cent increase in food costs will take their
yearly spend to $7354. If it's costing more than 10% of your
take home pay to feed the family it is worth looking at ways of
combating the rising costs.
Check out these grocery savings tips, courtesy of
mygrocerydeals.com and thedollarstretcher.com, to help lower
your grocery bill.
MyGroceryDeals.com Grocery Tips
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Money is literally part of everything we do: housing,
transportation, food, entertainment, school, and more.
This is why teaching your kids about money must be a priority
if you want them to be successful at anything.
Many parents think that money is an adult subject, but research
indicates that a child's money habits are set by the young age
of 13.
Ensure your child's future financial success by learning the "7
Keys to Raising Money Smart Kids" found at:
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***What's Inside***
Grandpa Terry's Free & Paid Ebooks
Subscriber's Tip of the Week 1
Coupon Savings
Grandpa Terry's Update
Credit Card Information
Grandpa Terry's Tip of the Week
Site of the Week
Grandpa Terry's Email
Subscriber's Tip of the Week 2
Subscriber's Tip of the Week 3
This Week's Articles
Special Recipe - Potato Pancakes
Watch for next week's newsletter featuring:
Best moves to make in 2008 Checking & Savings
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Subscriber Tip #1
Each time you visit grocery stores or "supercenters" add a $5
gift card in the total, that amount shouldn't destroy the budget
however, throughout the year all those $5- will add up to a nice
pad to help out with holiday meals or presents.
Tracy/012807
Subscriber Tip Of The Week
Vote For Tracy's Tip and Get A Free Gift!
Use the form at the link below to vote for this tip:
All you have to do is submit a "Subscriber Tip" and if it
appears in The Budget Stretcher you will get your choice of
either The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer Download, 10 of
my Budget and Credit Card Calculating Forms or my Bill Pay
Management System to keep track of your bills and checking
account.
Please use the form available at to submit your tips:
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Coupon Savings
by Michelle Jones
Thank you to everyone who sent in helpful information to my
questions last week about sending expired grocery coupons to
military families! As I researched the information provided I
found a link (through another link and another link and so on)
to a great Web site called the Overseas Coupon Program at
(use the link on the left hand side of the site that says
Overseas Base List) for sending in your expired coupons. What a
fantastic idea! They have been helping distribute coupons to
needy military families since 1992 and keep a running total of
all organizations, Starfleet chapters and individuals whose
coupon contributions were received and processed through the
program. In 2005 they received $2, 422, 697.71 worth of coupons!
We also have received a list of addresses for bases here in the
U.S. that accept expired coupons and will compile all of this
information together this week at
If anyone has more information we should include please let me
know!
If you would like to learn how to save more money with coupons,
including how to use them WISELY, how NOT to use them, and how
to FINALLY get them organized so you CAN use them, order your
copy today!
022006
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Grandpa Terry's Update
Welcome to The Budget Stretcher!
We are loaded this week. With some extra special tips and a lot
of subscriber email this issue is jam packed. Please take your
time and read it all.
I have a special treat for you this week in the form of some
tips I found at A_Simple_Life Forum. I got a kick out of them
and hope you will too. They are listed below under Special
Tips.
Another special treat is the free ebook offered above. You and
I know that groceries are going up and this ebook will help cut
your overall bill. Please be sure to download this.
I wouldn't count your tax rebate chickens before they are
hatched. Congress is still mulling over this and it's no telling
what the final outcome will be. When it's finalized I will
include it in the newsletter.
Our subscriber tip contest will end for January with this week's
issue. Please be sure to vote for your favorite tips this week
by using the form at the below page:
Don't forget you get a free gift when you vote each week. I
think you will be able to use this week's gift. The results
will be posted and the winner notified about February 4th.
That's all for now. Remember, I really enjoy hearing from you
folks. If you have any comments, complaints, suggestions or just
want to say Hi, please send me an email to
If you know someone that may be interested in subscribing to our
newsletter have them visit:
Have a great week,
Grandpa Terry
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Support Our Sponsor
What readers are saying about "Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card
Debt," by Scott Bilker:
"I spent about 2 hours reading 'Talk Your Way Out of Credit
Card Debt,' getting comfortable with the strategies. Then, after
my first phone call, which saved me $210 per year, I was off and
running! I was able to reduce my interest rate by as much as 9%.
I called all six of my Mastercard/Visa companies and was able to
save $1,983 per year from the finance charges plus having a
$59.00 annual fee removed and a late fee removed ($29.00). The
$/hour saved ranged from $141/hour to $2,464/hour and averaged
$1,334/hour. It was so easy!!"
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Learn how to get this book, and two more free, with a special offer:
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Credit Card Information
Capital One's Brilliance
by Scott Bilker
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Grandpa Terry's Tip of the Week
Do You Support The Fair Tax?
Last week I ran a poll asking for you to vote to let me know if
you support the Fair Tax legislation now pending in congress.
You can still vote in that poll if you like:
At this point I haven't received too many votes but it is running
85% in favor of the Fair Tax. It appears that I don't have much
convincing to do but I would like to inform you of a few of the
details.
The best way to do this is to have you read an article I wrote
about the benefit to you if the fair tax is enacted. Here is
the link:
Fair Tax Sends Checks
You will even be able to figure out how much more money you
would have in your pocket using either a calculating spreadsheet
or the form at the bottom of the article page.
Please send your comments and questions to me about the Fair
Tax:
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Special Tips from:
A_Simple_Life
Hi everyone! My mom sent me this email, and I thought I'd share
it with everyone. Not sure about ALL of the tips, but figured
the one about the dryer sheets was important to pass around!
Great tips !
Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the
little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do
it.
Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If
you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil - will stay
fresh much longer and not mold!
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for
eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better
for cooking. (Who found out about this one?)
Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help
pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of
spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and
then beat them up.
For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes
mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for
a wonderful minty frosting.
Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of
garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger
taste of garlic.
Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert.
Simple, chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice
a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the
chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15
minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yum
1. Reheat Pizza Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on
top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This
keeps the crust crispy No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the
cooking channel and it really works.
2. Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag.
Seal, mash 'til they are all broken up. Add remainder of
ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut
the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag
away when done easy clean up.
3. Expanding Frosting When you buy a container of cake frosting
from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You
can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with
the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per
serving.
4. Reheating refrigerated bread To warm biscuits, pancakes, or
muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a
cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist
and help it reheat faster.
5. Newspaper weeds away Start putting in your plants, work the
nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the
plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about
weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will
not get through wet newspapers.
6. Broken Glass Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the
small shards of glass you can't see easily.
7. No More Mosquitoes Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It
will keep the mosquitoes away.
8. Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants (&
bird seed) sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne
pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near
it. (doesn't hurt the birds, either - put some corn oil on seed
and coat with cayenne)
9. Flexible vacuum To get something out of a heat register or
under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift
wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in
narrow openings. (this is a great one)
10. Reducing Static Cling Pin a small safety pin to the seam of
your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same
thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.
Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.
11. Measuring Cups Before you pour sticky substances into a
measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but
don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter,
and watch how easily it comes right out.
12. Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard
eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the
windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
13. Reopening envelope If you seal an envelope and then realize
you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed
envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals
easily.
14. Conditioner Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs.
It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really
smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you
bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...
15. Goodbye Fruit Flies To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a
small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of
dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn
to the cup and gone forever!
16. Get Rid of Ants Put small piles of cornmeal where you see
ants. They eat it, take it "home, " can't digest it so it kills
them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it
works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children
being harmed!
17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS The heating unit went out on my
dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us
told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to
the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I
always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.)
He took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The
lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what
your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well, ...the hot water just
sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told
us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what
burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's
there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes
soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how
they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this
stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is
also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn
your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer
working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill
lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water
& an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.
He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly
didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
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Site of the Week
Free Stuff 101.com
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Grandpa Terry's Email
Can you help this subscriber?
Hi:
I get a lot of coupons. Do you know of any sites that perhaps
pays you to clip and submit unused coupons?
It is such a shame so many so unused when indeed you could get
paid a small amount to be able to submit them to agencies for pay.
I would appreciate your assistance.
Pauline
----------
Grandpa Terry, I have a situation and I'm unsure what to do.
I have received a collector's notice for a bill credit card
they say was due about 20-25 years ago. My ex-husband and I filed
bankruptcy/reorganization about 18-20 years ago and I don't
remember if this was on the reorganization creditors account.
What are my options to getting this taken care of? I just don't
remember if it was included. They have just started sending me
bills in the past two months and since I'm wanting to buy a
house within the next 4-5 months, I don't want this showing up
on my credit report.
Thanks for all your help.
Nelda
My Response:
Hi Nelda,
This is to the point of being ridiculous. About the maximum
time they have to collect under the Statute of Limitations of
any state is no more than 10 years.
Here is what you need to do. Find your state's Statute of
Limitations from the table at the below site. Call this company
and inform them sternly that you have no intentions of paying
this bill and believe that this is a scam. Keep a record of the
call, who you talked to, the time and date and any other
information you can get.
If they persist let them know that you will be filing a
complaint with your state's Attorney General and with the
Federal Trade Commission immediately. Make sure to do this if
they won't stop the collection action.
Please do not send them any money... If you do the Statute
starts all over again and they will have a legal recourse to
collect.
I would be interested to find out how they react to your
confronting them. If you have time please let me know.
Good luck,
Grandpa Terry
----------
Reference: Last Week's Coupon Tip
It may vary from base to base within the US; the only time I
knew they were "acceptable" was when we were overseas (Okinawa),
and of course, only at the military run commissaries, not at
local markets.
I don't think they could be used at the post exchanges, which
were run by contractors rather than directly by the military.
Here in the US, some commissaries are also managed by
contractors, so again, one needs to ask at whatever
facility/base one shops.
Usually, you can contact the base organization for morale and
welfare re: grocery coupon donations (MWR is the usual acronym).
Kaytee
----------
Hello Grandpa Terry,
I am writing to ask if you can give me some insight. I am
currently separated, a student, and will soon be divorced. I
also have two children. My soon to be ex-husband and I filed a
chapter 13 around 2001, paid on our bills and it was discharged
sometime last year. The question is, as the soon to be head of
my household, should I apply for some type of credit in my own
name? Should I get at least one credit card? And would it be
non-sensical to get a secured card when I live on a limited
budget as is? I am confused in this particular area. Any help
that you could give me would be appreciated.
Thank you,
ReeCee
My Response:
Hi ReeCee,
At this point I would avoid credit cards. It may be a good idea
to request your free copies of your credit reports and see where
you stand. You can do this by visiting the below link:
Make sure to just use your information to request the reports.
If you find that you need to build your credit then a secured
card would be best.
I would start an emergency fund right away to cover unplanned
expenses. Put as much as you can in this fund as often as you
can. In most cases this will eliminate the need for a credit
card.
I hope this helps,
Grandpa Terry
----------
It is my understanding there is a Share Food Program in almost
every state in the country. It is very similar to the food
programs I have seen mentioned in your newsletter, the name
seems to be a little different depending on location. I know on
the east coast there are very few cities that don't have at
least one if not several pick up sites. I also know that S
Dakota has this program because I use it to donate to so that
the local program can give out boxes of food on the different
Indian reservations for those who cannot afford to pay for their
own. Have your readers do a search on Share Food Program or the
words share and their state name. A little searching on the
internet is all it takes. Also check with local churches,
because that is where most of the distribution sites are
located. If your church isn't a participant, they may very well
know what churches in your area are.
Love your newsletter, I always find helpful info in it. Keep up
the good work.
Mary
----------
Hi there,
I am in Australia and was reading your bit about paying out
credit cards but keeping them open for a good credit rating. I’m
not sure if its an AUSTRALIAN thing, but in my recent
experience, my husband and I wanted to try for a car loan. After
several applications we found we were being knocked back because
we had several credit cards. We were told that having too much
credit available to us was too much of a liability. The stupid
thing is, now we have tried for a consolidation loan to pay out
all our credit cards and calculated that the repayments on the
consolidation loan would be much smaller and the interest rate
much smaller than what we are paying out on each credit card
repayment! So we cant win with the banks. We have now paid our
credit cards out and closed them (except for 1) with a loan from
my parents. Now we have to see if this will help us get a car
loan. if not, my parents will extend the loan they already gave
us!
----------
Hi Terry,
Just writing regarding Priscilla's query about whether or not
she should cancel some of her credit cards. You mentioned in
your response that it would be better for her credit rating if
she kept them.
The situation might be different here in Australia, but from my
experience, although we are told that it is better for our
credit rating to have credit available, the reality is that when
you are applying for a new loan or trying to change an existing
loan, the banks actually count all the available credit as a
liability. I queried this once and was told that the bank had to
count the total of all the credit limits as a debt, because they
were potentially so. Thus it can work against you if the bank
rejects your loan application because it feels you might not be
able to afford to get into further debt.
The situation could well be different in the US but I thought
I'd write in for the benefit of your Australian readers at
least.
Kind regards,
Christine, Australia.
----------
Dear Grandpa Terry,
Just a thought for Iva and giving items to the local food
pantry. We find that as we continue stockpiling, we can manage a
few items here and there by the time the local scouts, or postal
workers, or even our own kids have their canned goods drive for
our local food pantry. Every little bit helps.
Olivia
----------
I had never heard of Golden Share food program but there is
something similar called Angel Food Ministries they serve about
35 states you can visit their website at
Karen Irvington, KY
----------
Hey Grandpa Terry,
Love the newsletter. Maybe you've given this tip before, but I
just got a new dog for Christmas. She's the best puppy ever, but
likes a few areas of our house too much. Her main unwanted
behavior is chewing. I've found a little white vinegar on the
areas I want her to stay away form works like a charm!
Inexpensive and safe.
Happy New Year.
Annie
----------
Hello Grandpa Terry:
I am writing for the first time to send you a huge thank you. I
just paid off my highest interest credit card thanks in large
part to the wonderful tips and advice from the Budget Stretcher.
The work you do has helped me tremendously and I truly
appreciate it!
Ginger
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Subscriber Tip #2
Hi Terry,
I guess you can call this a tip. My husband calls me the
contest queen. If there's a contest to enter that won’t
get us flooded with spam or phone calls, I will enter it. Hey,
sometimes I win. I won my wedding dress by writing a 150 word
essay. So it never hurts to try. It just takes time. The other
thing I started doing is when I shop online, many online stores
will offer *gifts* if you are the first to write a review of
products you purchase. Your email will go into a pool with other
reviewers and you can win up to $100 in gift certificates. In
fact, I just won my first $40. I' m hoping to make enough
this year writing reviews that many (hoping for all) of the
family/friend gifts that we buy for the holidays can be
purchased through my winnings.
Leslie/012808
Subscriber Tip Of The Week
Vote For Leslie's Tip and Get A Free Gift!
Brand New: Use the form at the link below to vote for this tip:
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Subscriber Tip #3
My ten year old son is a huge fan of fleece lined jeans. He
won't wear anything else in the winter months - especially since
Dad installed a programmable thermostat in the house and it gets
cool at home sometimes. Unfortunately, they are difficult to
find at any price (unless you want to spend money with expensive
catalog retailers) His most recent pair of lined jeans, however,
were cheap to make and more fashionable than the ones that are
falling apart. Simply take a pair of second-hand sweat-pants and
cut out the waist elastic and the ankle elastic. Turn a pair of
roomy jeans inside out and stitch the sweat pants waist band to
the inside of waist band of the jeans. You'll also probably want
to tack the ankle to the inseam of the jeans at the bottom. This
could also be done with flannel pajama pants to make flannel
lined jeans.
You'll be a budget and a fashion hero!
Shelley/012808
Subscriber Tip Of The Week
Vote For Shelley's Tip and Get A Free Gift!
Brand New: Use the form at the link below to vote for this tip:
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My Budget Planner
Are you frustrated trying to get by on the money you
make?
Would you like to get a good view to where all your
money is going?
Would you like to start saving your money, or save
even more?
Looking for something easier then software like Quicken
or Money?
Would you like to teach your children about finance?
***********************************************************
This Week's Article Links
Just click the links to view the article
7 steps to financial abundance
By Wayne Farlow • Bankrate.com
Six Tips for Cooking from the Freezer
By O Quinn
Why do you need an emergency fund?
By Cheryl Allebrand
To read more articles visit:
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Benefits Visit:
Visit Our Forum
Budget Stretcher Subscriber Benefits Page
Join This Groups
A_Simple_Life
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Debt Consolidation can:
H - Help avoid filing bankruptcy
E - Eliminate creditor harassment
L - Lower debt payments up to 50%
P - Provide one monthly payment
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Special Recipe
Potato Pancakes
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2 Tbsp. flour
1 ebb
margarine
Mix first 3 ingredients. Make into patties and fry in margarine
until golden brown on each side. Serve warm with butter or
margarine. Delicious served with applesauce.
This recipe compliments of Living On A Dime. Get more of
the recipes you can actually use:
***********************************************************
Everyday Savings
These Tips provided by The Frugal Shopper
Please show your appreciation for these great tips by visiting
this site.
~~Use a powder puff to dust flour on rolling pins, pastry
boards and cookie sheets. Store puff in a margarine tub with a
small amount of flour for quick dusting jobs.
~~Leftover Safety - If food has been contaminated with germs
from a person's mouth, it should be tossed. For instance saving
baby food when you have fed the baby from the jar is hazardous.
~~You can reheat small portions of leftovers in the same pan.
Wrap individually in foil and place in enough water to cover the
bottom of the pan.
~~When converting your favorite recipe for microwave cooking
reduce the liquid by one-fourth. Liquid does not evaporate in a
microwave as much as it does in a conventional oven.
***********************************************************
Contact Information:
Budget Stretcher
1203 Madison 228
Fredericktown, MO 63645
FAX: 573-783-5982
***********************************************************
Disclaimer: This newsletter is only intended to provide
information on proper money management. Budget Stretcher or
Terry Rigg can not accept responsibility for any injury or
damage that may be caused to yourself, others, or property when
following any advice given.
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