First, avoid credit cards, charging....
Posted By: smartened up on 2008-10-15
In Reply to: I am so sick about the the economy - How do you cope?
Try not to use plastic if you possibly can because you'll never catch up. Don't buy anything you don't absolutely need. Make do with food you can prepare yourself. Don't go out to eat. Don't be afraid to ask for help, not money, but help with children, etc., so you won't get stressed out. Most of all, don't let the kids see you depressed, they feel it and get scared. Google for help, such as making your own Play Doh, recipes, help with just about anything, you would be surprised at what you can find out. Just be careful you don't get involved on the Net with wrong people. I watch CNN or CNBC because I want to know what's going on, you HAVE to know so you'll be aware of changes coming. I don't own stock but I want to know what's going on with the banks, etc., so I can avoid making mistakes. Suze Orman said on one show that you should live happily in a shack rather than over your head. On another program, she stated she was building a new home in South Africa. I used to follow her lead, but now I only listen to her when it comes to paying off credit cards, otherwise she doesn't walk in our proverbial shoes. You have to be informed, even if it hurts. Making lots of mac and cheese. I think a lot of this expensive organic stuff is totally overblown. Don't use Starbucks when McDonalds will do; better yet, don't go there at all, stay home! Just my humble opinion, less is more, family is all that counts, don't scare the kids! Leave your 401 alone, it WILL come back, don't despair, it will repair.
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NO more credit cards
I had a credit card with a high balance. I got a second mortage to pay it off. I called the credit card and got the payoff balance and my bank sent a check to them. I kept watching on line to make sure they got it and when they did I noticed that there was a $95 credit. So, I called and said how do I get my money back. They sent me a check and when I got it, I called and closed the account. This was about two weeks ago. Today I get a statement from them with a balance due of $45! Huh??? I called and they keep telling me it is a finance charge. I got pretty steamed and finally ended up saying that I would pay it, but no more. Well, I wrote out the check and put in in the mailbox, but I'm still stewing about this. If I still owed them money, why did they send me a credit?? What is the finance charge on if I had a credit balance? I suppose I will just pay it because they will only keep tacking on even more charges, but it is really bugging me. Has anyone else had any experience with this??
I will say one thing - NO MORE CREDIT CARDS EVER EVER EVER. REALLY. I mean it this time.
I think its credit cards...
The newspaper had an article the day after Christmas how people are defaulting on their credit cards all over the place. This added to the mortgage companies having problems with people unable to pay their balloon payments and the bad housing market, price of gas is sure to lead (the article said) to a recession.
When I was shopping I saw all the people with tons of things in their carts, DVD players, computers, etc. on Christmas eve. This was regular people at Walmart. I saw a lot of credit cards flashed around. Paying minimum payment will cause Christmas to cost tons more and they will be paying beyond the item's life which they purchased.
We went through this. We tried to sell our house, rented to own another and went broke in 3 months. After we had 2 house, fell back on credit cards the interest piled up and it was terrible! We moved back and are on a budget. So, I shopped without credit this year, and you know what? I had more fun. And I have 3 kids. Their things were simpler than the fancy things they got last year. The most expensive things we got were bikes because they are growing and we got those on sale. The rest were creative items. I am not saying that what we did is so great. What I am saying is that peeople are not looking at the big picture these days and if they do not use cash (as we had not in the past), they may not be able to pay their debt if hard times fall. In the meantime, grandpa sent my son 100 bucks, which I let him spend on a train set (I should not have let him do that he is 7) and he cried that his money was all gone and he did not want the train set anymore. I bet if I had him save some of it and had him buy simpler things, well I bet he would not have been crying. At least at age 7 he is learning that money is not easy to come by. And he is learning the hard way because I will not give him more money to replace what he spent. Sorry such a long message. It is just that we did not even afford an XBox, and I wanted a Wii myself, but we avoided all of that because in the end we learned that Christmas is not about credit cards, the junk it buys. I think the end of the cartoon the Grinch where the Who people did not even care about the presents was correct. Maybe we'd be happy with less things and more love. I don't know. This was not meant to be a sermon forgive me. We all have to learn what Christmas means to us and I say let people do what they want, consequences are always result of actions anyway. Just IMO. Happy New Year everyone!
If you are just talking about credit cards sm
If you call your credit card companies, they can set you up with a plan to help. I was in the same boat. Low to no wages and a very large hospital bill, plus household expenses.
I have 5 credit cards. Up until the hospitalization, I paid on time or paid more than the minimum, as I used to use them for work-related items.
Sadly, all were maxed out during the hospitalization and subsequent rehabilitation. Of course in the meantime, during the time I couldn't contact them, my interest rates went from 9% to 21-29%. I didn't know about their programs...a well kept secret. 
I'm still hurting, but now my credit rating isn't being dinged and 1 card is back down to 12%.
BUT, you must agree to pay the amount they set for you faithfully every month. If not, you lose the advantage. When you have a little extra, put it on the bill, even if it's only $1. I have the payments automatically deducted from my checking account. That way, I KNOW they're being made on time as I sometimes don't know one day from the next (if you know what I mean) and if I have extra at the end of the month, I hand write a check to one of them (preferably the highest amount of debt).
Don't need credit counseling. Just work with the companies themselves. It's a pain to make all the calls, but it's worth it. Good luck.
If you are no longer using credit cards......
i've had several credit cards throughout my time and all but four are paid off. i don't plan on using the other credit cards ever. they do show up on my credit report. i would like to cancel the ones i don't use, but i've heard that it looks back on your credit report. anyone else have info about this? i think it's a better idea to cancel the cards you will never use again because of the identity theft going on.
Anyone who resorts to payday loans, credit cards or
paycheck advances should either find a better paying job or a second job. Crazy to borrow money just to live day to day. Don't bother telling me that I don't know how hard it is today to make ends meet....been there, done that then got smarter! What happens when you can't make the payday loan payment, credit card payment or you've taken such an advance on your paycheck it's gone before you get it?
Cancel the ID theft protection on your credit cards.
If you didn’t pay for it, you’re not liable for it.
Credit cards with 0 balance can also negatively affect you -
If you have too much credit line available to you and you apply for a mortgage, they can turn you down because they know you can get your hands on that money quickly and therefore put your debt to income ratio way out of whack and jeopardize your ability to pay your bills. That happened to me once many years ago. I had 2 credit cards with large credit lines, but both had 0 balances. The mortgage company made me close them before they would approve my loan.
Negotiate lower interest rates on your credit cards
It’s worth a shot, and some credit card companies might do it if you’ve been a faithful customer or you threaten to balance transfer to another card.Buy a texting plan for your cell phone. Texting has become unbelievably popular. I have no idea why, because it seems like a pain in the butt, but it’s typically 15 cents for every message you send and receive. This adds up, so better off paying $5 to $10 a month for the add-on plan if you’re addicted to texting.
Our kids got their own credit/debit cards when they hit 18 and got jobs. Their success or lack of
s
"Food stamps" now are paid on EBT cards - federal EBT cards which look the
have the option to have their pay on an EBT card as well.
She may well have been using her family's federal EBT card and working for the government for a living.
Or, if she is a foster parent, those children will receive state benefits and she could use an EBT card for food assistance.
Everything is not always what it appears to be. I'm sure you're a nice person, right?! See?! We wouldn't know any better if we believed the appearance you have given here! :)
So just quit charging when
you pay them off, but don't 'close' it?
Why does closing a credit card account negatively affect your credit report
Especially when I never use it anyway, and really never wanted it?
With all the bank rearranging going on in the past few months, one of my accounts was tranferred to Bank of America. I was sent new cards and a new agreement, new interest rate etc...
So I called them up and cancelled but before they did, I had to listen to a spiel about how this would negatively affect my credit report.
Huh?? Why is that?
I would start charging the JA for room and board - sm
If he is so lazy he won't take care of his dogs, then he has to pay for the privilege of you doing it. I would not rely on your DH doing squat about it, he doesn't want to upset his friend/friendship. But you will be the *itchy wife if you do it, but then again I wouldn't care and confront the "friend", and tell him the gravy train has stopped and he needs (1) to either take the dogs and take care of them himself, (2) start paying you $200 a week to feed and board the dogs (a bargin)--and if he fails to pay the dogs go to a no-kill shelter (and stick to it), (3) in the future if he does take the dogs back, that he has to find other arrangements for their room and board whenever he is away, unless he pays you in advance with cash and supplies the food.-- yeah he will think you are a shrew but who cares, I'd be so mad at both of them, DH for not understanding and being a wuss for not talking to his friend, and the friend for being the typical male and taking advantage of a good thing. Good luck, and stick it to them!
but if she is charging for her services, then she is not a charity and would not qualify -
xx
Best to avoid sun if on any antibiotics
nm
I manage to avoid most of them.
no way
I avoid them like the plague
Emotional vampires I call them - they drain you completely!
and avoid the mall
the snobs will not be reformed.
avoid the mall? Was that a
swine flu post?
To avoid this, I take an over-the-counter
supplement:
Fishoil + vit D + vit A,
all in one capsule.
The reson that your husband is deficient in vit D, although he gets a lot of sunshine mightt be that he is deficient in calcium.
The body needs to get enough calcium to be able to absorb vit D, and vice versa.
Hard to avoid when you live here though - sm
It is all around us here, between the headlines/front pages of the Richmond-Times Dispatch and many people where VT hats, sweatshirts, T-shirts, etc. I see it all around me everywhere I have gone this week. I feel bad for the families of everyone who was affected by this horrible crime. It has everyone on edge around here, a school on the west side arrested a kid yesterday who brought an unloaded handgun to school (not too bright obviously), my kid's school had an "incident" involving a suspicious package yesterday and called in the cops for it, another one on the west side called the cops when they saw 2 guys in camoflage with rifles near the school (they were turkey hunting). The news last night was nothing but false alarms and candle light vigils, yes, it does get a bit depressing but people do need to be more aware and not be afraid to speak up and maybe be wrong (or right) about something they see that they think is not right/suspicious. VT is going to have lots of fallout from this from law suits to people pulling their kids out of school, and a good hard look at why this kid was still at their school though it was known he had serious psych problems, that is the biggest question of them all and their hesitancy in acting is the biggest tragedy of all of this. People have to be so politically correct and dot all the i's and t's in order to cover their butts that they forget that sometimes they just need to act, and act quickly, then go back and do all the justification. There were a million warning signals about this guy but they just swept it under the rug because no one wanted to the the fall/bad guy in dealing with this nut case. The whole thing just stinks.
Why avoid Banfield? We took our kitten there for
nm
Also avoid products with lanolin
which can aggravate eczema. It's another common ingredient in lotions.
Curel original has neither lanolin nor vitamin E.
I will try to avoid BEING on the phone when he walks in and if he
comes in while I am on the phone I release myself from the phone call just out of courtsey. My friend does the same thing. However, I am not afraid to talk on the phone while my husband is here. My girlfriend and I go for weeks without talking due to busy schedules, and once we find the time, we are on the phone for no less than a hour, usually more!!!
My family tends to avoid funerals. Instead, several
cremated, and at an appropriate time, their ashes are spread somewhere they really loved being. My dad's were scattered over the ocean. I wasn't able to go, (only 4 spaces on the boat, and my older 1/2 brother (1 of us 6 kids) wanted to go, so I stayed home. Still, I liked it this way because I feel my grief is private - I don't want to put it on public display at a funeral. Also, every time I look at the ocean, a stream, rain, etc., it's kind of nice to know that my dad is part of it.
Jesus and God would *embrace* sinners, not avoid them--sm
We are ALL sinners. No one is perfect, no not one, according to the Bible. No one is saying you have to associate with them, but if God can forgive them of their sins, why can't you? HE will judge them when the time comes. It is not up to you to determine when and if that happens. God bless you.
Agree, have one - avoid using it sometimes because it really is a pain to clean!!!
but do people really not clean it each time? Ewwwww. Gross. :)
I avoid Michael Moore and his "documentaries" whenever possible, BUT
I will watch this movie, I promise.
I don't believe Mr. Moore's beaming portrayal of the European and Canadian health care systems is completely accurate. I have a number of Canadian friends who have described the system as chaotic and overwhelmingly dangerous and dysfunctional. The wait lists for some routine or non-emergency procedures can be literally months long.
I'm an RN and have worked with Canadian nurses who said they crossed the border because they can't earn a competitive wage in their own country. One of my patients (a Canadian now living in the US) had the misfortune of having a heart attack while visiting relatives in BC, and by his own account he had to lie on a gurney in the hallway of the ER for 48 hours while receiving only intermittent treatment. My girlfriend told me pregnant women there don't get epidurals during labor because there is never time or an anesthesiologist available to administer them.
None of this excuses the health care crisis in the United States, but it should cause us to question whether adopting a national plan is truly the answer to our problems. I just know I don't want Canada to be our model.
Anything you think you can avoid by home schooling, not getting birth control, etc
for your children, talking incessantly about all the no-nos associated with premarital sex, etc will more than likely fall on deaf ears when it comes to children. I did live in a really big city and regardless of small or large, the girls are maturing much earlier and a lot involved in sex earlier than we as parents would like to believe. You can give a child talk after talk but restrictions, talking, home schooling, etc only goes so far with growing kids. You cannot protect your kids like you would really like to.
Thanks for the "inside scoop"! I'll avoid Sears. nm
x
It's awful! I used to live in NY. Avoid it at all cost on Black Friday!
!!!
I wish they'd make a board for ESL/illegal alien opinions so I can avoid it.
x
Elf yourself e-cards (sm)
 http://www.elfyourself.com/
This is from OfficeMax - free e-cards that you put your picture and/or family/friends and they dance. It's really cute!
I know there are cards that
are made for something just like this like maybe for a step-mother but don't actucally use those exact words. I know because it was so hard for me to get my "other" mother a card for Mother's day without feeling like I would be hurting my mother, even though she would have no idea. Don't know what this lady's hobbies or favs are, but anytime someone wants to take me out for a nice dinner just makes my day. Actucally hinted to my hubby this afternoon how nice that would be tonight but he said he needs to mow. Well, actucally that is a gift as well cuz he hates to mow and the yard really needs it. LOL!
Also, some people don't like this idea very much, making a donation to a fav. charity in their name to me is a wonderful gift. That is what I have always done for my kid's teachers. I have an aunt who is a teacher, and while she is greatful cuz she really loves kids, but she has talked about some of the "junk" she has gotten. I always made it to the Children's Miracle Network just assuming since they were teachers they would want to do something for children. A couple of times my children got the most wonderful thank-you notes. I absolutely love this idea.
yes, I actually have one of the cards. I have only
used it for dental work so far, though. Payments very affordable with the option to pay off in certain amount of time with no interest. 
I always appreciate cards, too.
I try not to hold grudges about them, but it's hard to send one to someone who can't be bothered to send to you, so I know exactly how you feel. I think its extra tough when it's family, even if it is the in-laws. And I absolutely agree with the poster who said that cards are so inadequate in some occasions, but they are better than not sending one at all and I always add a personal message.
You really have to stay on top of the cards
I do a lot of card flipping with balance transfers but also calling and trying to negotiate new deals. I just switched one with a balance transfer at 3.9 for the life of balance and then talked them down to a purchase rate of 8.9 (it had been up in the high teens). I also talked a card I've had a while into a 2.9 for the life of a balance transfer instead of the 12 month offer they were having because there was a delay in the electronic transfer to the other company causing me a bit of inconvenience. That transfer was actually for a loan I had at a pretty high interest rate, so some loans can be put on cards too which I never knew. I find websites that list ALL the latest offers for all or most card companies and I'm always checking. Sometimes I call my cards and tell them I am thinking about switching unless they can give me a similar/better rate or deal. Often they will so as not to lose the business. I have saved a ton of money doing this - it is sort of like consolidating on your own. I can post the site if anyone is interested, don't have it handy right now. Oh..I also have automatic electronic payment setup to pay a certain amount each month from my checking so the payment is NEVER late. You are so right about that, that's where they get you! I just thought maybe some of this info may help someone, I hope so. My credit is very good now but had been a mess in the past.
How about addressing your own thank you cards!
My husband's side of the family seems to think that it's a wonderful idea to have shower guests address their own thank you cards as they arrive to the party! Well, geeeze! Why not go all the way and write your own thank you note, too! They put the little envelopes in a pretty little basket and pass it around. I don't care how they try to pretty it up, it's still tacky! I refuse to address my own thank you card, and you guessed it! I never receive thank you notes from DH's side of the family!
I hosted a wedding shower for my husband's sister, and my MIL came over with the little basket. We had such a fight, because I refused to do that at one of my parties. ugh!
telephone cards sm
It was on our morning local news that a local mom started collecting phone cards donated by various people for her son and his buddies in Iraq. She said the response has been overwhelming and her son and his buddies couldn't be happier because they love the fact that they can actually talk to someone at home rather than E-mail and snail mail. One woman wrote her a note along with her card, stating that she got to talk to her son every day as he was home, so it made her feel so good to be able to help someone else's son call home. Guess it's all up to them if they want to call, they have to pay, don't know how much it costs to call from there?? Imagine it is not cheap.
A deck of UNO cards
Can you give hints? g o m d t . c o m
Don't use your debit cards
I had a problem with fraud on my account through them. Surely they have fixed it by now, as this was last year and the year before (yes 2 separate occurrences, both at xmas time). So I would not suggest using any cards there but cash only.
I do agree that it seems to be a great idea for teens. Their prices are great and our location has always been helpful with advise, returns, etc.
Another good idea I have found for teenagers is a gift card for restaurants or gas stations. It helps their parents a bit and if they have a girlfriend/boyfriend places like AppleBees or Red Lobster are nice so that they can go on a nice date and not have to worry about $30 for the bill. Even with a part-time job that's a lot of money for a teenager! :) My nephew actually requests it.
gift cards
Gift cards are hard to redeem, especially if they have to spend a long time trying to find something they like at the store for 5, 10 or 15 which they usually cannot and end up spending my money to cover the overage.
I think cash is much better!
Gift cards!!!!!!
x
Don't throw out those cards!
Christmas is over, please don't throw away your cards. If you don't already have plans, please consider sending them to the Pine Ridge Reservation. Children there recycle the cards to make cards for next year. They sell these to earn money. They only need the front of the cards - the picture part - and welcome any style (obviously not naughty cards). The address to send cards is: Via UPS or FedEx: Carmelita Mesteth Oyate Teca Project Wakanyeja Okolakiciye Youth Center 1000 Youth Center Drive Kyle, SD 57752 Via US Mail: Carmelita Mesteth Oyate Teca Project P.O. Box 316 Kyle, SD 57752
Free Ebirthday cards?
Anyone know of a good free E birthday card site that is easy and you don't have to sign your life away? Blue mountain now makes you sign up for a trial but wants credit card.
google free e-cards
Hallmark and American Greetings I know for sure have free ones that you don't have to sign up for...just google! Good luck...
Most debit cards can also be used as a charge
card. If you use it as a charge card you do not have to put in a PIN number. What happened to your daughter sounds like someone from Bobs took the actual account number information. I'd confront Bobs mgmt.
Overdraft and Debit Cards
Thank goodness at the bank we use, debit card deductions are the same as checks (I rarely use checks). The overdraft applies to those as well. Luckily I don't use the overdraft often, just glad to know it's there is I need it.
I always love gift cards :-) so I can buy what I want (sm)
at the exchanges I've been to those are always favorites. Like a box of popcorn with a Blockbuster card, a Bath and Body Works card (my favorite!), Target, etc.
How many of you received gift cards....sm
and if you got them, were they to places you like to shop? (As for me, I got 4 of them, 1 of which is a Visa debit card that I REALLY love since it can be used anywhere!).
Gift Cards or Money...sm
I gave up trying to please everyone with personal gifts. They were never good enough or what the person wanted. so now I give either cash or gift cards. Even with the gift cards, however, I received complaints. They did not like where the gift cards were from, etc so now I basically just give money. That way they spend it on what they want. You can't really get many complaints from just money and they cannot return it. good luck to you.
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