A Penny CloserA Penny CloserA Penny Closer is for those of us who want to improve how we spend, save, and invest. We want to be able to manage our money so that we can use it to enjoy our lives today while still saving to reach our dreams tomorrow. Articles
15 Random Household Tips From Cyberspace
2008-01-28 16:26:00 This weekend, I received an email from my father-in-law that had all sorts of household tips in it. Some of the tips I knew about but some I hadn’t seen before. I thought the 15 tips below were interesting enough to share with everyone. Hopefully you will find them helpful as well! ... More About: Household , Tips , Random , Cyberspace
Reducipe - Baked Dijon Salmon
2008-01-25 19:00:00 Reducipe Pronunciation: ri-doos-uh-pee Function: noun 1 : a recipe that can help lower your food costs in a variety of ways a : by scaling back an expensive recipe to be less pricey but still just as tasty b : by turning an already inexpensive meal into something special c : by using leftovers in ... More About: Food , Baked
Don?t Save The Worst For Your Family
2008-01-25 01:11:00 This is a little off topic but I thought it was still worth posting. I was feeling crabby after a particularly stressful day last week and I noticed that I was being a little short with Eric. We were doing our normal routine of chatting while I prepare dinner. It was a subtle change and he didn’t mention ... More About: Family , Relationships , Work , Save
Suspect You Paid Too Much For That Diamond?
2008-01-24 00:06:00 Of course you did. We ALL did. The good news is that we may get a little back now that the class action lawsuit has been settled. The lawsuit alleged that the diamond kingpins were being naughty and were up to no good when it came to diamond pricing. A great big thanks to ... More About: Shopping , Paid , Diamond , Suspect
Recession Fears = Flat Screen TV?
2008-01-23 02:13:00 On our way home from visiting family this weekend we decided to listen to news radio. They were discussing the economy and the stimulus plan being proposed to help ward off a recession. Many experts are on the fence on whether or not a tax rebate will help prevent a recession. Regardless, it ... More About: Screen , Taxes , Debt , Savings , Recession
Save Me, CFLS!
2008-01-22 01:35:00 One of the first things we wanted to do after moving into the new house was switch out most of the regular incandescent light bulbs to CFLs. Of course, other stuff got in the way and that goal became low priority. That was until we got our first electric bill. The bill was $40 for 4 days worth ... More About: Household , Frugality , Save , Save Me
Reducipe - King Ranch Chicken
2008-01-19 03:49:00 Reducipe Pronunciation: ri-doos-uh-pee Function: noun 1 : a recipe that can help lower your food costs in a variety of ways a : by scaling back an expensive recipe to be less pricey but still just as tasty b : by turning an already inexpensive meal into something special c : by using leftovers in ... More About: Food , Chicken , King , Ranch
Show Me The Damage!
2008-01-17 18:09:00 I’m finished with the postmortem accounting of the last two months. I ended up tossing my budget out the window during the move and was putting off doing the math to see how bad the damage was. After crunching the numbers I’m pretty surprised! First off, let me say how difficult it was to do my ... More About: Show , Damage , Budgeting
Get Your Doctors To Give You The Goods!
2008-01-17 02:12:00 I spent most of my morning at the doctor today. My asthma has been acting up for over a month now and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve been putting off going to the doctor (laziness? fear? I’m not sure) but it’s to the point where I can’t sleep at night and I’m draining ... More About: Doctors , Medical , Insurance , Goods , Give
Nostalgia By The Truckload
2008-01-15 17:12:00 This weekend we are going to visit my family to celebrate a belated Christmas. It kept getting delayed due to illnesses and conflicts but it looks like my family can finally meet up this time. I’m looking forward to it but I suspect this trip might set us back in our efforts to simplify and de-clutter our home. The ... More About: Household , Nostalgia
One Week?s Food: Our Version
2008-01-14 14:00:00 Last November, Eric wrote about an interesting photo essay by Time magazine called “What the World Eats”. We were so inspired by those photos that Eric and I set out to create our own photo. If you haven’t seen this series of photos yet, make sure to check it out. It’s truly ... More About: Food , Week , Groceries , Version
It Gets Even Awesomer
2008-01-10 23:33:00 Yesterday I was forwarded a video I’ve seen a before and loved. I crack up every time I watch it. Watch the SNL short “Taco Town” below. (If you are reading the RSS feed, click through to the site to watch the video so the rest of the post makes sense.) Isn’t that great? ... More About: Shopping , Psychology
The Reluctant Landlords?
2008-01-10 00:24:00 Last night we met with our realtor to discuss the fate our old home. Now that the new flooring is going down it is time for decisions to be made on how we will list it. Prior to this meeting we told our agent that we were leaning towards selling it, provided we would be able ... More About: Mortgage , Housing , Landlords
Reducipe - Toscana Soup
2008-01-09 00:22:00 Reducipe Pronunciation: ri-doos-uh-pee Function: noun 1 : a recipe that can help lower your food costs in a variety of ways a : by scaling back an expensive recipe to be less pricey but still just as tasty b : by turning an already inexpensive meal into something special c : by using leftovers in ... More About: Food , Soup , Toscana
Smart Move Or Invitation For Junk Mail?
2008-01-07 23:38:00 I have question for all of you out there. When you buy a new appliance or product and it has a registration card, do you actually send it in? I have TONS of registration cards that came in the product manuals for the new items in my home. Everything seems to ask for registration. All of the ... More About: Mail , Kitchen , Household , Smart , Invitation
My Resolutions: Getting Back On Track
2008-01-02 18:33:00 I rarely do resolutions for the new year. Sure, I think of some of the things I’d like to accomplish going forward but I never formally write them down or even discuss them with others. This year I felt it was time to put them in writing. Many of my resolutions are financial and that ... More About: Back , Reflection , Track , Budgeting , Resolutions
Confessions Of A Busted Budget
2007-12-27 18:10:00 I must confess that for the past month our budget has flown out the window. I have not even done the math to see the damage yet. I’m avoiding it because I know it will be ugly. The stress of everything surrounding the move got to us and we lost ground with many of the positive changes we had ... More About: Confessions , Budget , Busted , Budgeting , Fess
My Big Fat Rambling Update
2007-12-20 21:20:00 I thought it was about time that I give an update on how things have been going lately. I know I have been noticeably absent around here. I am getting closer to being in a place where I’m able to get my life and schedule back to where I need it to be. We have officially ... More About: Rambling , Moving , Update , Reflection
First Arbitrage
2007-12-16 16:44:00 I talked briefly in the past about how I was considering playing the arbitrage game for some of our big purchases for the new house. We had the opportunity to get no payments and no interest for one year on two of our big purchases. We are going to take advantage of that ... More About: Arbitrage
6 Ways To Help Your Pets Adjust To Change
2007-12-10 14:00:00 As we busily pack and prepare for the big move (the movers come this afternoon), we have started noticing that we aren’t the only ones feeling the stress. Our kitties have been showing signs of being affected as well. They seem on edge and out of sorts. Every time we move a piece of furniture ... More About: Pets , Change , Psychology , Adjust
Breaking The Silence
2007-12-08 05:53:00 Sorry we haven’t been writing lately. It’s been lots of 7AM to 10PM days and just a short time at home. We didn’t do a good job ahead of time estimating how long we’d have to work on different tasks around both homes. A quick update - we’ve been robbed! Our new house was robbed and ... More About: Household , Housing , Breaking , Silence , Breaking the Silence
Saving Money Doing It Ourselves
2007-12-04 06:13:00 About a week ago, Melissa wrote about how we were considering doing much of the work on the new house ourselves in order to save money. We’ve chosen to do quite a bit ourselves and save the money we would have spent otherwise. So far it’s working well but taking most of our ... More About: Money , Household , Saving
Carnival Of The Recipes - Cooking On A Budget Edition
2007-12-02 17:34:00 It’s time for the Carnival of the Recipes - Cooking on a Budget Edition! This carnival features the efforts and ideas of those who enjoy cooking and creating wonderful recipes. It’s like a great recipe swap every week! If you are new to A Penny Closer, welcome! This is a blog about a couple who are ... More About: Food , Carnivals
My First Debt And A $5 Lobster
2007-11-30 05:22:00 This is the humorous, embarrassing, and expensive story of how I acquired my first debt. The story begins just a couple of months after I graduated high school. I was working at a fast food joint and although I liked my job, I was ready to start college. A friend of a friend ... More About: Lobster , Debt , Reflection
Isn?t It Supposed To Be Monday That?s Manic?
2007-11-29 06:39:00 With all the months of planning I have done I wouldn’t have expected this move to affect my time, energy, and money so dramatically and in ways I hadn’t anticipated. With the closing this Friday, my stress is at an all time high in this process. It’s looking like the loan paperwork and the home ... More About: Reflection , Monday , Manic
Why I Bought My First House
2007-11-28 05:48:00 With our upcoming move, I started reminiscing about the current house. I’ve been living in this house for 10 years now and I’ve got a lot of memories from this home. Here’s the story of why I bought my first home. When I decided to buy my first house, getting one was the last ... More About: House , Housing
The Good Feeling Doesn?t Last
2007-11-27 03:15:00 I heard this great quote the other day. It really spoke to me and describes how I’ve felt about new cars and many other purchases. The quote is from Professor Barry Schwartz. He’s talking about the feelings we get when we purchase something we’ve desired for a long time. You know, the stuff we believe is ... More About: Psychology , Good , Feeling , The Good , The Go
The Carnival Review #12
2007-11-24 19:51:00 Oh my gosh, I completely forgot to do my carnival review during the week. I suppose that’s because everything has been a little late this week. The holidays sure throw a wrench in the schedule. I wasn’t able to spend as much time as usual at the carnivals but they were still good as always. Here are some ... More About: Carnival , Carnivals , Review , The Car
One Week?s Food
2007-11-23 14:00:00 I came across this photo essay on the time.com website a while back. It shows a picture of a family and the food they eat in a week, along with the price and a few of their favorite foods. You can find the link here. It’s well worth a look. A few things ... More About: Food , Week , Reflection , Groceries
Tightwad Wednesday - Fog Free Mirrors & Laundry Pretreatment
More articles from this author:2007-11-22 21:20:00 Each week, I will test out two tips from the The Complete Tightwad Gazette, and on the following Wednesday I’ll review how they went and evaluate if it is worth my time/effort/money to continue with it. Happy Thanksgiving! I want to apologize to everyone for getting this tightwad Wednesday up a day late. Yesterday blew by ... More About: Laundry , Free , Retreat , Mirrors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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