Going Rogue......Credit Only Baby!

Most people feel that credit cards are evil....or at least can lead you into debt.

They are a tool if used properly but so many either don't know how or won't use it as the tool it was meant to be.
Resulting in many people getting into trouble with the improper use of credit cards.
If you are one of these sort of folks it's best not to even use credit.

With my frugal habits built up over the decades I am at a place were I don't need to put anything on credit....ever!  I only buy things I can afford when I buy them.
The last time I paid credit card interest was 1995(I was pregnant and forgot a deadline.)
The last time I financed a car was 1994(and we paid that one off 3 years early).
The last time I paid mortgage interest was 2007.
This is not to brag(ok, maybe a little lol)but to show that getting debt-free can take time and by golly it takes a LOT of effort!

If you are regularly buying things on credit and can't pay that bill off then maybe you really can't afford to be buying those things, can you?
If you regularly buy things on credit and don't pay off the bill in full each month then you don't own those things, the credit card company does.

It wasn't easy getting to this point of not needing credit.  It meant a lot of sacrificing over the years, giving up wants and just buying the needs.
And putting money away and not spending it.
And with time and regular money saving habits, it meant paying off large debts like cars and even a house and being totally debt-free.

Credit cards are now a convenience for me.
I am in a position that it I need/want to buy something and I don't have enough cash or a check on me, no problem.....I just whip out the vile credit card and purchase.
But I NEVER put a purchase on a credit card that I don't actually have the money for or am not prepared to pay-off before the c/c bill is due.

It's the only way I will use a credit card nowadays....pure convenience.

So since my credit card has a rewards program attached to it why shouldn't I use it for ALL purchases and reap the reward program benefit?
Yes, I am a bit slow sometimes.  ;-)

And that is what I am going to do-start paying every bill I can with my credit card to earn points.
It's a win/win as I never carry a balance and/or pay interest on my card.  Why not earn free rewards for purchases I have to make every month anyway?

I have paid cash for all my food purchases for many years now that it felt funny putting a grocery store purchase on a credit card the other day.

I'll get use to it though.
I know I won't earn that much more in rewards putting food on the c/c as I don't spend a lot on food/toiletries anyway(well, I have been spending much MORE lately since I am feeding 2 more adults)but every little bit counts, right?

I do know already that a few monthly bills I can't put on the credit card as they charge a "fee"(pass on the % the c/c company charges them to take credit payments).
The water and electric company here do this so those will still be paid via another method(check or direct checking account transfer)because having to pay that "fee" is the same as paying interest in my mind.

How about you?

Do you pay cash or put food/toiletries purchases on credit to earn rewards and is it worth it to do so?

Or do you have a credit utilizing problem and end up paying interest on credit card charges when you don't want to?

Do you think it's "worth it" to use credit cards for reward points?


Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Nothing Much to Report" Edition.......

This shirt was seen on the way back from the family reunion in a WV Walmart we stopped at to stretch our legs and wander around(and Hubs managed to buy some beer he can't get here).
Cousin Sonya Ann needs this shirt! lolz

I've got nothing else to report in on.  I few trips to R-A/Weis/Target last week and nothing exciting got accomplished here at home.

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Cheese Steak Sandwiches with Peppers and Onions(requested)

2. Monday--Hamburgers on Rolls, Fried Green Tomatoes, French Fries

3. Tuesday--Leftovers(probably Beef Bourguinon)

4. Wednesday--Chicken & Stuffing Casserole(using leftover stuffing)

5. Thursday--Leftovers(Hubs and are going out/Kids on their own)

6. Friday--Crab Cakes, Cole Slaw, Broccoli

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Cheese Steak Sandwiches with Peppers and Onions(requested)

2. Monday--Hamburgers on Rolls, French Fries

3. Tuesday--Leftovers(Beef Bourguinonover Leftover Rice or Noodles)

4. Wednesday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, Fried Green Tomatoes

5. Thursday--Leftovers(Hubs and are going out/Kids on their own)

6. Friday--Crab Cakes, Cole Slaw, Broccoli

7. Saturday--Chicken Parmesan, Greek Salad

6/7 meals cooked at home, 2 of them a night of leftovers, 1 night Eating Out and 0 night of Take-Out.
Everything but the Chicken/Stuffing Casserole happened as I still haven't gotten a deal on chicken breasts.  I might make a trip to Maine Source this week and see if they have BSCB for a decent price.  I am almost out of onions as well and they have those in large quantities for a good price.(I like to buy onions in 10 lb. bags as that is the quantity I have found that I can use them all up before they go bad.)

As for the grocery spending.....1 trip to Weis and 1 trip to the Shursave grocery store brought my weekly spending to $64.71 and my October food spending Subtotal to $64.71.

Leftovers going into this week........rigatoni in sauce, small container of flavored noodles, cole slaw, 1 crab cake, broccoli, Greek salad.

Here is this week's "food plan".

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings
2. Monday--Sausage Sandwiches w/Onions, Roasted Cauliflower w/Garlic
3. Tuesday--Leftovers(Rigatoni), Veggie TBD
4. Wednesday--Mac & Cheese w/Ham,
5. Thursday--Caesar Salad w/Chicken Strips, Baked Potato
6. Friday--Fend for Yourself/Leftovers
7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself(Out of Town)

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 0 nights of Take-Out and 3 nights of Leftovers.
I have a whole chicken that needs using and a couple of ham steaks in the freezer I'll cube and put into the mac & cheese.  The chicken strips and Italian sausage patties are already in the freezer too.

What I need to buy for this menu? salad greens, milk, rolls.
I also need to get lunchmeat for the kids and breakfast sandwiches for the BF.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?


Sluggy

More Rite-Aid From Last Week & Stolen Gift Cards

Well you can't replicate these Deals since they ended Saturday evening but here is a second trip/transaction I did at Rite-Aid on Friday.........

I did the M&M's double dip Plenti points again and the Spend $30 Vitamins/Get $10 in Points Deal.

3 x M&M's sale $3=$9.00
5 x assorted Centrum Vitamins sale $6.99=$34.95
2 x Herbal Essence shampoo sale $2.50=$5.00
SubTotal......$48.95

Coupons Used
1 x Spend $20/Get $2 off Transaction Rite-Aid CatalinaQ=$2.00
1 x $1.50/2 M&Ms IPQ=$1.50
5 x $4/1 Centrum vitamins IPQ=$20.00
1 x $4/2 Herbal Essence ManuQ=$4.00
Coupon Total........$27.50

$48.95-$27.50=$21.45 + .05¢ tax=$21.50 OOP

After receiving $16 back in new Plenti Points this transaction would "cost" me $5.50 + $16 in current Plenti Points.
So I wanted to use one of the 2 Rite-Aid gift cards I had bought last year right before Christmas.
Last Holiday Season there was actually a deal one week where buying a R-A branded card got you free Wellness/Plenti points.  They hardly ever offer points when buying R-A cards, just name brand cards for other businesses so I had jumped on this Deal.

My 2 cards were totally unused(by me)until this moment.
So I swipe the first card and the register tells the cashier this gift card has no money on it.
Tried again, same result.
So I swipe the second card and the same result.....no money left on this card.

I am stymied.
The cashier says I'll have to call corporate and find out what is going on.
Ugh!

So a call on Saturday happens.  The CS person runs the card numbers and says these cards were used in full this past March at a store in California.
WTF?!?
She is told we haven't been to California since 1969 and live in Pennsylvania so these charges are fraudulent.
Evidently the card number was stolen and put onto a new fake card where they were used on the left coast.

She continues to say that they had a large batch of R-A gift cards with stolen information last Christmas season.  It looks like it was either an inside job within Rite-Aid(shipping/distribution area before the physical cards were sent to individual stores)or someone got a hold of the information at the facility that manufactured the cards.
Anyway, a new card with both amounts combined is being mailed to me and hopefully this time the card information is secure.

*Rite-Aid has since last year changed their gift cards to include a pin number(under scratch-off material)on the physical card which you need to use the card online and these cards are harder to fake with that feature.

As for my transaction above, I also had a prepaid Visa gift card so I put the $5.50 due on that card and used $16 of my Plenti points to cover that $21.50 in charges.
Getting $16 in new Plenti points meant this transaction cost me $5.50 in gift card coin for 2 bottles of shampoo, 3 bags of candy and 5 containers of vitamins.
Still not a bad deal, right?

Have you ever had gift card information stolen?  Tell us about it.

Sluggy

Target Freebies!

Using some coupons that expire today and Cartwheel discounts that came out on Friday I had Hubs take me to Target this morning.

Here is what I brought home.....

2 x Head & Shoulders shampoo reg. $4.99=$9.98
2 x Bic Silky Touch razor packs reg. $2.97=$5.94
SubTotal.......$15.92

Used Spend $15 bath/body/shave/etc. toiletries Get $5 Target gift card Mobile Q
Used 1 x $4/2 Head & Shoulders ManuQ=$4.00
Used 2 x $2/1 Bic razor ManuQ=$4.00
Apply 30% off Head & Shoulders Cartwheel Discount=$3.00

Total Discounts=$11.00

$15.92-$11.00=$4.08
I used a free Target $5 gift card to pay and it now has .08¢ remaining on that one.
Received a new free Target $5 gift card.

4 free items and this is a .08¢ moneymaker.

I'll tell y'all all about my second Rite-Aid trip tomorrow.  Oh boy, you won't want to miss that! lolz


Sluggy

September To-Do List......Update

Here's the update on my September To-Do List.  I post a To-Do list on the side bar of my blog's homepage every month.
Let's see how ol' Sluggy did this month on her list, shall we? ;-)

This Update has to be reconstsructed as I blew away my To-Do List before copying it to post my October list. sigh
I hope I remember most of it.

* Pay Bills  DONE  
Everything got paid and on time, as per usual.

* Bike Something  FAIL  
Well I did do 4 mile. lolz  Must get back on this in October.

* Read 2 Books  DONE
Finished the first book, "Growing Up" by Russell Baker, then Lena Dunham's "Not That Kind of Girl" second and resumed a biography of Katherine Anne Porter by Joy Givner(which is slow going and massive in length).

* Pick Produce and Use it  DONE  We hit 39.775 lbs. of tomatoes picked and used by September, among them this interesting little fellow. lol

I've frozen all the tomatoes we haven't eaten fresh or used in the relish making.
Since I didn't get a massive amount of tomatoes to can I've been putting them whole into the freezer........

This is a super great way to keep them for the short term until you are ready to use them.
Don't boil and peel, just pop them after cleaning off into the freezer.
Then you take them out to thaw when you have enough to make sauce or use in a recipe.  When they have thawed they slip easily out of their skins, just squeeze them out. You might have to cut the core out with a small knife after squeezing but it beats heating water and your kitchen up, boiling them to skin them.  Less energy used if you have the freezer space to park them for awhile.  8-)

* Get Farm Veggies  DONE  I even ended up picking most of the peppers myself when I stumbled onto a PYO farm down the road from the Farm Stand I go to.

* Can Produce/Make Relish  DONE

5 quarts and 18 pints done!  I had picked so many peppers I could have made/canned another batch(if not another double batch).  This is just too much work to do alone anymore so I don't know if/when I'll make relish again.  Next year I do want to get to that PYO farm in time to pick tomatoes to put up.

* 1 Doctor's Appointment  DONE
Went to a medical nutritionist type educator as directed by my new dr.  Diet changes will be ensuing shortly.

* Go to Family Reunion  DONE
Yep, we went and came home.  The weather was good and as a bonus I got to spend time with my oldest son too.  Win/Win!  We are finished traveling in 2016 now.  Hubs has time off in October but between things going on plus money issues(I just can't see spending any more on travel this year with our increased expenses this year).  We may go on a few day trips in October and there may be a quickie during the Holidays to Virginia but that is it for the year.

*  List items on eBay FAIL
I didn't get around to doing this yet.  If it's going to happen it must happen in October to catch the Holiday Selling Season as most of what I have left to unload is new in the package merchandise.

* Shred Papers  FAIL
I just didn't get the time to drag out the shredding and do this.  Mostly because the pile of shredding isn't very large yet so why drag all that out and do it? lolz

* Sew Something  FAIL
Nope didn't have the urge to sew in August.  Perhaps September will see me pull out the supplies and have a go at making a shirt.  I really need to.....

4 items I didn't get to.  It was another low energy month for me(plus it was still hot here which is unusual)plus I've been fighting a touch of depression which I always seem to catch this time of year.

Onward and upward to October!  I am still compiling a To-Do List for this month so it may grow a bit longer as we go through October.

How did you do with your To-Do list for September?

Sluggy