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Newsletter to Your Friends (Use this link only if you receive this newsletter by email) Week of July 5, 2010This is an OPT-IN list ONLY! If you feel that you have received this message in error, please follow the directions at the bottom of this email to unsubscribe. Thank you.Click Here to view this newsletter online. Navigate This ColumnGrandpa Terry's Update
Credit Card Offer I found a neat page that explains in detail what the terms mean on your credit card statements beginning July 1st. All you have to do is put your mouse over the numbers and an explaination will open. Here is that link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/creditcard/flash/offerflash.html The above article is one of the best I've seen to explain how the new law covering credit cards will affect you. Please take a couple of minutes to review this. Gas in Greenville, SC today, 6/27, was $2.43 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 tre2000@midwest.net If you know someone that may be interested in subscribing to our newsletter just copy and paste the below link into an email to them and have them subscribe: http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/confirmsubs.html Have a great week, Grandpa Terry Sponsor Advertisement and Bill Organizer Extremely Easy To Setup and Maintain! Offers Forms & Worksheets (paper & calculating), Money Saving Tips, 35 How-To Articles and Easy To Follow Instructions. Backed By Unequaled Support. You Won't Know How Easy Budgeting Can Be Until You Try "The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer" Click Here For Immediate Download! Grandpa Terry's Tip of the WeekThis week I'm turning my tip over to a member of Budget Stretcher Premium. Lynn submitted an excellent article on how to create your own price book.By Lynn D. The website is : http://www.groceryhop.com/ . The welcome page says... Welcome to GroceryHop - Your Free Grocery Price List Grocery bills are the second highest monthly expenditure after housing for most households. Consumers are shopping at multiple stores ("GroceryHopping") in search of the latest sales to maximize grocery savings. Our free Grocery List & Grocery Price Book will tell you: * How the latest sale compares with your lowest unit price paid at all the stores you shop. * Why your grocery bill is rising - which items are you paying more for and buying more of? * Which store do you generally find the better prices? Our easy to use tools to help you save money include: * An easy to create, reusable Grocery List that shows your lowest unit price paid per item. If you see a sale while at the store, simply check it against your grocery list! * Instant Analysis highlights your items increasing in both cost and quantity purchased. * Complete Item Summary, Detail and Trend Analysis for additional information. Hope someone else finds this as handy as I do! Lynn D. Sponsor AdvertisementAre 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? Click Here to check out My Budget Planner Today Grandpa Terry's EmailDear Terry:I'm writing because i saw a post from " VAL ' in your latest Budget Stretcher article, ,, about her credit card with BP Oil and what she should do since they increased her apr to 29% . . . they had a bad attitude when she called them. We 've recently talked with BP reps 5 times . . . . . . because we tried to use our BP card at BP gas stations when we were on vacation . . . . . at 2 different gas stations, in 2 separate states, , , , their pumps wouldn't take our card!!!!! . . . so we had to use another credit card, fortunately we travel w/a few just in case something happens and we'll have another card to use. We have excellent credit and our card's expiration isn't til 11/ 2012 so we KNEW it was good ! We owed nothing on our BP acct. . . paid it off a while ago. Well after several phone calls, e mails from them telling us they'll 'look into it' . . . they finally , flatly, told us they CLOSED OUR ACCOUNT!!!!! ---- this was news to us . . . we never closed it , THEY did. and why? because we hadn't charged on it in over a year so when that happens , they close your account . . . . . . period. They said it's in their 'policy ' but of course it's the fine print. They told us we'd have to fill out ANOTHER app and do it online/ or send it to them and they'd open another account. Being we've been customers for years, i told them just to re activate our account. No , they woudln't do that . . . said it's been 'purged ' from the system and they don't have access to the card # . . . well i HAVE it and told them i'd give it to them . . They refused. sooooo we won't be buying anything from them. I wanted to let you know about this because you told Val to just let the credit card be, , , , and don't use it . Well, if she doesn't charge anything on it in 12 mos. . they will , without a notice or anything , CANCEL her account with them . . . . even if she charges $5 on it, it's better than nothing . No one informed us but we don't want to go thru the hassle of trying to set up another account with them . . . . .so we're using other gas cards that give us 5% back . . They've lost our business. They weren't exactly pleasant on the phone either . . . . i told them after all the OIL SPILLAGE problems they are having , they should want to keep the loyal customers they have . . . by just renewing our account with them . no , they didn't care. What a lousy way to treat your long term customers. i hear alot of people are boycotting them . . no wonder. So if Val wants to keep that account . . charge on it occasionally and pay it off when the bill comes , don't let them cancel her account, like they did us because we hadn't used it in a year. thanks for reading. Bev in Ohio Gas in Greenville, SC today, 6/27, was $2.43 Featured Articleby Jill Cooper http://www.LivingOnaDime.com/ Try picking up during TV commercials or while you are waiting for something to boil on the stove. You will be amazed how much you can get done in five minutes. Have the entire family spend five minutes picking up the family room or living room before they go to bed. Set a timer for young kids so they don't get overwhelmed. If your family members go to bed at different times then have each member pick up his or her items before bed time. Once this becomes a habit, you will be amazed how much easier picking up becomes. 2. Stop making messes. Keep a trash can in every room. No one likes carrying one small piece of trash from the family room to the kitchen so it usually ends up on the floor. Keep small trash cans everywhere. In our office we have two trash cans, one next to the desk for throwing away regular office trash and one next to the shipping table for throwing away envelope tabs, extra invoices and other shipping trash. If you need two trash cans in a room put them in there. Make it easy to keep things clean. Throw that sticky food wrapper straight into the trash. Don't lay it on the counter to make another mess that needs to be wiped up later. Don't lay that dirty spoon on the counter. Rinse it and put it in the sink or dishwasher. As you're undressing, don't throw your dirty clothes on the floor or on the furniture. While they are still in your hand, put them in the hamper or if they're still clean, hang them up. Keep the hamper close to where you undress at night. If it is convenient, you will be more likely to use it. Before you leave the bathroom, hang your wet towel on the rod. Don't drop it on the floor or leave it in a pile. 3. Think ahead. What are you having for dinner? Are the kid´s papers signed and ready for school? What clothes are you wearing tomorrow? 4. Never, Never Procrastinate. Keep straightening things all the time. For example, when you put away groceries and you see that the cans of soup have fallen over, take two seconds to re-stack them. When you put linens or clothes in their drawers, make sure everything in those drawers is neatly stacked. Pick up as you go. Each time you walk through a room, pick up something. 5. Stop thinking about it! Just do it. Train family members to rinse their own dishes and stack them in the sink (or better yet to put them directly into the dishwasher). It may take a while to develop this habit. For kids, you may want to do something like charge each member a dime for every dish not rinsed or make them responsible for doing all the dishes for a week. Remember Thomas Edison? What if he had given up after his first 5, 10, or 100 light bulbs? Where would we be now if he had thrown up his hands and quit at his first failures? The same is true with getting and staying organized. Keep practicing and you will create a productive new habit. 6. Attitude, Attitude, Attitude. Stop dreading taking care of your home and start taking pride and pleasure in it. Think of an organized home as a special gift of peace and pleasure that you are giving your family. A disorganized one causes turmoil and frustration. Besides -- You probably spend more time worrying about it than it would take to clean it. 7. Use rooms for their intended purposes. Don't let kids get undressed in the family room - that's why they have bedrooms. Eat food at the kitchen table or bar, not in bed. This alone can save a huge number of messes. Fold laundry in the laundry room immediately after taking it out of the dryer and put it away immediately. 8. Be a wise steward of your time. If you see something that needs to be clean, clean it as soon as possible. If something doesn't need to be cleaned, don't waste your time. If there is no dust, don't just dust because you dust every Saturday. Don't overbook yourself volunteering at schools, churches or charities. Learn to say "no". Notice that I didn't say don´t do these things at all, just control how much you do so they don't take over your life. Don't overbook your children with their activities, either. Get rid of fruitless activities. Many of us spend way too much time talking on the phone, watching TV, shopping unnecessarily or killing time on the computer. These are all time robbers when you devote a lot of time to them.</div></li> 9. Keep on top of things. If you do small cleanings every day, you'd be surprised how much you can accomplish. In ten minute increments, you can do each of the following: wash the dishes, vacuum, file a pile of papers or clean your purse. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes for each child to pick up his room before bed and to lay out his clothes for the morning. Don't let the laundry, dishes, toys and paperwork get out of control. Jill Cooper is the editor of http://www.LivingOnaDime.com/. |
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