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Couch Tomato

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Hee, play, thanks for the advice........unfortunately there is not much I can do about it because I don't bring in enough to cover my monthly expenses, which is why I'm trying to lower them. Hopefully once I get this accomplished I can get myself on a budget each month and try to stick to it. I will not cut up my one remaining credit card, though....it is just too hard to live without it. But I will lower the limit considerably. Yep, I'm one of those people you worry about with thousands of dollars owing......but at least I do make my payments every month. I know some who are much worse than me, and have collection agencies after them continually. I do what I can do, but I'm guilty of spending beyond my means, for sure. I'd love to get back to a point of being able to pay off my balances every month. Baby steps.

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Oops - wrong thread! :blush:

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So I am watching one of these how to save money shows and they have this woman who clips coupons and buys extra nwspapers and buys hundreds of dollars stuff and pays 20 cents. After they show that they do talk about how unreal that is with buying things you don't want just because it is free and the tie nad money spent clipping coupons saving and finding them, etc. Their guest suggests you go to smartsource.com just before going to the store to see the coupons you want and print them out as you need them. then suggested if you wanted to get stuff for free - become a secret shopper at secretshopper.com. Now I don't know what kind of spyware these sites will put on your computer, they certainly want cookies.

Then they went back to the couponmom.com where you can get discounts on local restaurants. One thing they said is there are local restaurants that will sell gift cards at less than the printed value like a 25 dollar gift card for 10 dollars - sort of a before you go there discount. Forget gifts, use them yourself!

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{{{couchie}}}

Today I have my final appt at the bank to sign the legal papers for my Home Equity Loan. YAY! The last few weeks have been v.v. difficult....to the point of my kids having to support me, buy me dinner, pay for groceries, etc. Heh, not that I don't deserve it, but it sure felt weird. Hopefully, in about 48 hours, things will be looking up! At least I should be able to break even every week. Doesn't sound like much, but man, it'll be better than what it's been lately! :cocktail:

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America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Senior Pass. - Cost $10.

America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Senior Pass

America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Senior Pass

This is a lifetime pass for U.S. citizens or permanent residents age 62 or over. The pass provides access to, and use of, Federal recreation sites that charge an Entrance or Standard Amenity. The pass admits the pass holder and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle at per vehicle fee areas and pass holder + 3 adults, not to exceed 4 adults, at per person fee areas (children under 16 are admitted free). The pass can only be obtained in person at the park. The Senior Pass provides a 50 percent discount on some Expanded Amenity Fees charged for facilities and services such as camping, swimming, boat launch, and specialized interpretive services. In some cases where Expanded Amenity Fees are charged, only the pass holder will be given the 50 percent price reduction. The pass is non-transferable and generally does NOT cover or reduce special recreation permit fees or fees charged by concessionaires.

America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Access Pass - Free.

America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Access Pass

America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Access Pass

This is a lifetime pass for U.S. citizens or permanent residents with permanent disabilities. Documentation is required to obtain the pass. Acceptable documentation includes: statement by a licensed physician; document issued by a Federal agency such as the Veteran’s Administration, Social Security Disability Income or Supplemental Security Income; or document issued by a State agency such as a vocational rehabilitation agency. The pass provides access to, and use of, Federal recreation sites that charge an Entrance or Standard Amenity. The pass admits the pass holder and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle at per vehicle fee areas and pass holder + 3 adults, not to exceed 4 adults, at per person fee areas (children under 16 are admitted free). The pass can only be obtained in person at the park. The Access Pass provides a 50 percent discount on some Expanded Amenity Fees charged for facilities and services such as camping, swimming, boat launching, and specialized interpretive services. In some cases where Expanded Amenity Fees are charged, only the pass holder will be given the 50 percent price reduction. The pass is non-transferable and generally does NOT cover or reduce special recreation permit fees or fees charged by concessionaires.

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ok I started on my budget and the grand re-evaluation of expenses. I'm only jsut getting starting but so far have cut 86/mo by getting rid of my cell, moving FCAM to another isp and cancelling the family reunion website..must be some freespace out there I can use for that. Hmmm this is kinda liberating.

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Well, I got rid of long distance service at my house and use the cell phone for that instead. For health reasons, living alone and driving for hours back and forth to the beach, I feel I need a phone on me all the time just in case.

Things I have gotten rid over the years is termite inspections(found out my house is made of cedar, not necessary to check for termites, house phone line insurance, dental and vision insurance (never pays for me, costs more than it reimburses and big things are covered under medical), paid credit cards (now I only do money back cards), eat what I have in the fridge before buying more food even though I feel like eating something else, walk to the bank and the stores (all within a mile of my house), turn off all the lights in rooms I am not in at night - heh - parent's influence, paint my own garage, touch up my house between paintings, instead of hiring someone.

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oh yeah, perfectly understandable. Me? I'm either at work or at home or on my way to one or the other :cryingwlaughter: Of course when I call I'm sure they'll tell me I signed my life away and it will cost me $1000 to get out of it..then it might not be worth it as this is a tempoary thing (until clay tours) :cryingwlaughter:

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Yeah, that's the problem with cell phones. I only need mine when I drive somewhere, but it's not worth it to cancel it and then have to get back on a plan later. They charge you to break the contract, they charge you to reconnect it. So I just keep it and try not to use it for long distance, especially in the US, where the roaming charges are astronomical!

Hee, play, I like your thing about eating what's in the fridge even though you want something else. I have been doing that this year, too. Determined to use up what we already have in the cupboards and freezer, too, before buying more. If the kids don't like it, they can buy their own groceries. :P

I cashed in all my air miles a couple of weeks ago, because it seems as though all the flights that are available to me are way overpriced. I guess I am just spoiled, because I always fly out of either Detroit or Buffalo for the cheap rates. Air miles flights can only be taken out of a Canadian airport. Pffffffft. So instead I was able to get a $50 Chapters/Indigo gift certificate, which I gave to my son's math tutor who wouldn't let me pay her, and I also got $80 in grocery coupons which I plan to go and spend tonight. :)

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Yeah eating what's in the house is a hard one. I still look in the fridge and cubbards and say there's nothing there when of course that just mean there is nothing sweet or snacky and it will take some efford to cook.

Guilty! Besides hitting the $$ budget, this hits the waistline too. <_< I have gotten batter about that by taking a weekend now & then to fix some good meals for the freezer, organize the freezer & cupboards and prepping all my fresh stuff for the week ahead.

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I'm all about the pay as you go phone. I have a tracfone. You do have to keep it active or you lose your phone number, but you can add minutes any time and start again. I think you have several months grace period too. What I do is buy minutes once a year--there's always a special or something. Last year I got my and my mom's renewal for two years at $75.00 a year. It's not a bargain if you use your phone a lot, because the by-the-minute rate is high, but great if you just need it for emergencies. About $6.00 a month. I've got about 600 minutes stocked up at the moment--they don't expire as long as you keep renewing once a year. You can add minutes on line.

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Wow, I wish it worked like that here! As far as I know, the pay as you go plans here only let you buy minutes each month, and if you don't use 'em, you lose 'em. I am thinking of getting a phone for my son, so I will have to look into it further. My cell phone service is bundled with my internet and my long distance land line service, so I'm bound for 2 years.

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I was AMAZED to discover that if you call someone in the USA on their cell phone, THEY also have to pay the charges. I would never have believed it if more than one person hadn't confirmed it for me. I mean, what if someone doesn't like you and keeps calling you ... YOU have to pay the charges for THEIR call? It just doesn't seem right!

Here in Oz, I now have a pre-paid cell phone, and as long as I purchase a minimum of $30 credits at least every 6 months, I can have any credit roll-over to the next 6 month period. This suits me because I only use it for emergencies. We don't really know about the risks of electro-magnetic pollution - remember how long it took for smoking to be confirmed as a serious health-risk?. Amazingly, we, in Oz (population 20 million), have the highest, per capita, usage of cell phones in the world. I have two identical phones, the secondary phone (with its own number) acts as a back-up battery.

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Well, it takes a lot of calling to make me go over my minimum minutes, so it has to be people I like to make me get that far, and you can get phones blocked. I got one telemarketer call and they backed out so fast, they know they are not supposed to call mobile phones. However, I signed up from emergenty notificatiobn from my town and now they are texting me notices like the fireworks will be 30 minutes late? Since when was this an emergency, it was supposed to be about evacuations and stuff like that, so I have unsigned up because I have to pay per text.

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With tracfone you also have to pay to receive calls. The phone I have can send and receive text messages, but I don't get many. I never keep the thing on, except when I'm expecting a call on the road. Luckiest, you know that. LOL. Here's their website: http://tracfone.com/index.jsp.

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