We've had lots of emails regarding the stuff we put up on Freecycle, but unfortunately no pick-up times yet.... Oh well, hopefully today people will email to let us know when they can come get the stuff.
It's beginning to snow quite heavily, it looks beautiful, but I hope it doesn't deter anyone who thought about stopping by today.

I had a very good day yesterday while paying bills. (Yes you did read that right...) I was able to pay off one of the two hospital bills, so we will now take the money that was going to the first one and apply it to the second one, along with the regular payment.

I called the credit card company to see about getting rid of our Monthly Membership fee which is $6/month. They lowered it to $3/month, like they did last year (which was a start.)
Then she told me if I make 4 purchases within the next 25 days they will raise our credit limit by $500. I told her I did not want to do that, she paused for a bit, but at least she didn't ask why not.

We've been in trouble with our credit in the past, and after taking steps to fix the situation, we don't want to go through it again. Because of this we pay for most things in cash (bills are paid by check). We use our credit card for a few things every month (usually around $100). We pay off the entire amount every month and have only been late once due to me writing down the wrong date. But I called and they took it off our record....
Because of the trouble in the past, we want to keep our credit at an amount we can afford, if it's every to the max, so no raising of our credit, please!

She said since we didn't want to do that she would credit the account $29. I think this is because the credit raising may be a promotion and if people don't take it they get the $29 credit. (Strange, but.....) So with the $29 credit and getting the monthly fee cut in half, we'll be paying the credit card company $7 this year instead of $36.

Why don't we look for a different card, you may ask? Well we have, but have not been approved. And with every credit card application you send in, it goes on your credit report, and it doesn't look as good. So we're sticking with this one for awhile, so our credit report gets better.

Then after I wrote the check out for US Cellular, something went off in my mind that the price wasn't correct. We had signed a new plan and part of that plan was to get $10 off our first three months. I called and a very nice man told me that they hadn't put it on the account, so he manually over-wrote it. He told me to make sure to check the next two bills, just in case...So after tax and other applicable fees I saved us $8.34 on the bill.

Today we have to go to the library to drop off a video, and we're going to do our weekly shopping (I know Tuesday's supposed to be the day...) I went though a few of my cookbooks and found some recipes for Brown Rice and Mushroom Soup, Baked Onions and Apples, Barbequed Pinto Beans, and one more item.

Frugal/Simple Thought for the Day: (If you are a constant reader, you will see that I repeat certain things. This is because I really believe they are helpful, and if you are anything like me I may not try something unless I see it again and again...)
Make sure to check over all of your bills. If there is a fee you don't understand or you didn't buy the item, make sure to call and get it corrected.
There are mistakes on bills all the time. (Personally I think some companies do this to make some extra money.... I wonder just how many US Cellular customers didn't have the $10 discount put on their account??? And just how many actually caught it since you get so used to paying the same amount every month...)