Penny Pinching Mom

Who Can You Trust With Your Credit Card Number?

I’ve been using credit and debit cards for some time now. I got my first credit card when I was 18. I was quite responsible with it, and ended up with two more by the time I was in my early 20s. But then I started getting carried away with them, and then I lost my job, and things just went downhill from there.

Today, I only have two debit cards in my name. After I told Hubby my story, he wasn’t interested in getting any credit cards for himself. But last year I talked him into getting one for emergencies. Now we owe more on it than we should due to the past year or so being a pretty much constant emergency, but we’ve always made the payment on time so far and are paying extra on it as much as possible.

Having a credit card can be good for other reasons, too. One of the most compelling advantages it has over a debit card is fraud protection. If your credit card or credit card number is stolen or misused, you can’t legally be held liable for more than $50 in charges. With debit cards, that number is much higher. And with a credit card, if you buy something that is defective or doesn’t do what the manufacturer claims, you can go through the credit card company to get your money back if necessary.

Still, I’m a little leery of using a debit or credit card in some instances. I’ve heard the horror stories of people who’ve ordered things like weight loss supplements and books on a subscription-type plan where you were supposed to be able to cancel at any time. Sometimes the companies would charge their cards even after they canceled, and they had trouble getting their money back. That’s not to say that all such companies are unscrupulous. I know they’re not, because I ordered such a trial on diet pills many years ago and didn’t have any problems canceling. But it’s hard to trust companies that you know little or nothing about because of the few that do rip people off.

I would imagine that it would be easier to get a refund through a credit card company than the bank through which you have your debit card. I’ve never had that experience myself, though. I’ve considered ordering a book club membership for Pumpkin that only costs $5 for the first month and you can cancel at any time, but we can’t afford to be ripped off right now, so I keep putting it off. Am I being overly paranoid?

How’s My Blogging?

Have you gotten a chance to check out my blogging at Coupon Trunk yet? If so, how am I doing? If not, why not???

Even if you’re not interested in reading my posts, I urge you to take a look at their deals and coupon codes. They can help you save on everything from acne treatments to zip drives, and I’m not just saying that because I’m blogging for them. They really have coupon codes for just about anything you can think of.

If you do happen to be interested in what I have to say, here’s a good post to start with. It’s about an online store that I find quite intriguing.

Dollared to Death

Maybe you’ve noticed that I haven’t posted much this month. Or maybe you haven’t. But if you have, it’s been because that streak of bad luck that started out at the beginning of the month has just dragged on and on and on, and I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get everything back in order.

To make a very long story short, we had three different plumbing problems, a failed water heater, and two basement floods. We went without cold water off and on for a couple of weeks, and completely without hot water for three weeks. In the meantime, we had to buy several different things to fix everything, plus had to eat out more frequently than usual, and had to travel to take showers. Not to mention the fact that Hubby has lost about a week of work due to rain. And that has left us in dire straits.

At least things are looking a little better now. I’m not getting my hopes up because I can’t stand to have them dashed to pieces again, but we’ve gone a couple of days without a major incident. Now it’s time to pick up the pieces and try to get our finances out of the red.

I would consider starting a donation drive, but we can’t afford the envelopes, postage and rubber stamps. Okay, I don’t suppose I’d do that anyway, but it’s a thought. What I am doing is trying to sell some of that stuff that’s sitting in the garage. We took inventory of it the other day, and there are a few things that should bring a decent price. If we could sell a couple of them by early next week, we might be able to pay the electric bill without asking for an extension (which I wouldn’t mind doing if it didn’t cost 20 bucks extra).

I’m also hoping to be able to do some extra work. I’ve had trouble keeping up with my regular work due to all the activity and stress, but I finally got caught up last night. If things will just remain somewhat normal now, maybe I can get stuff done.

In short, times are tough. But it’s not the first time they’ve been that way. We’ll make it through, somehow.

Win an Awesome Set of Rubbermaid Containers

I appreciate good food storage. Really, I do. Unfortunately, I’m terrible about losing or damaging my containers. I think I have about two or three of them now, and they’re the Gladware type things that you get when you buy sandwich meat. I don’t think I even have the lids to all of those.

So when I saw Kat’s Rubbermaid giveaway, I entered on the spot. Now, I could keep this to myself to increase my chances of winning, but I’m not like that. (Besides, I get an extra entry for blogging about it. ) The contest is only open to bloggers in the U.S. (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), so if you fit into that category, head on over and get your name in!

Free Chocolate Makes Me Happy

The good news just keeps coming! Actually I meant to post about this one a few days ago, but this has been such a crazy week that I didn’t get around to it. But here goes: Mars is giving away free chocolate, and lots of it!

Want some? Hop on over to the Mars Chocolate Relief Act website. Every Friday now through September 25th starting at 9:00 a.m., the first 250,000 people to register will receive a coupon by mail for a free Mars chocolate bar.

I had planned to get one today, but it slipped my mind until about 10:30. I was sure that they would all be gone, but I decided to give it a try anyway. Lucky for me, they doubled the number of coupons this week and I got in! So I’ll be anxiously watching my mailbox for the next 4-6 weeks.

I’m not sure if there are any left for this week or not, as I have no idea how fast they go. But if you miss it, there’s always next week. And best of all, each household can get up to a total of four coupons. You can only get one per week, but there will be plenty of chances to get the maximum if you love chocolate as much as I do.

So forget about your diet for a while. If you’re really worried about it, you can always offset the calories with some fat burner pills. It’s not often that free chocolate comes along, so seize the opportunity while you can!

Get Your Printable Coupons

Here’s some more good news: You can get some great printable coupons right here on my humble little blog! Over there in the sidebar, you’ll see a widget with some coupons and other special offers featured. Just click on the offer to be taken to Coupons.com and print the coupon you want right away.

Don’t see anything that interests you? Click on the “See All Coupons” link to see more. Check off the ones you want, click print now, and you’ll be whisked away… sorry, not to one of those plush Outer Banks rentals, but to print your coupons instantly.

I’m happy to be offering these coupons on my blog. I print them out and use them frequently, and have no complaints whatsoever. Just make sure your printer is on and filled with paper, and start saving!

Visit Me at Coupon Trunk!

I wanted to share this because (1) if you’re reading this blog, you’ll probably be interested, and (2) I’m just so darned excited about it! Yours truly is now blogging for Coupon Trunk!

Coupon Trunk is a great website where you can find coupon codes for all sorts of online stores. It’s very well organized, offering up listings by category and alphabetically. So if you’re planning on doing any shopping online, stop by there first to see if you can save some money!

The blog is featured on the main page of the site. I’ll do my best to keep it updated with fun and useful articles for all to enjoy. Do drop by and drop me a comment!

A Week from Hell

This week has been really, really sucky. I’m glad it’s almost over. I’m not sure next week will be any better, but at least it gives me something to hope for.

First there was my Mom’s stint in the hospital. Fortunately that didn’t turn out to be anything major, and she’s home now. But then Hubby found out he had MRSA, Pumpkin got sick for a day, and now we’re without water. Oh yeah, and the basement is full of mud because it leaks and it’s been raining all week.

I suppose I could look on the bright side. Mom didn’t need a bypass, Pumpkin and I haven’t gotten that nasty infection of Hubby’s, Pumpkin’s little illness was nothing, and it looks like it won’t cost us much to fix the water. And honestly, I am grateful for all of those things. But all this stuff going on has really gotten me into a foul mood. Not to mention putting me behind on my work yet again.

If we weren’t so broke, I’d start looking at Vegas vacations to go on. It’s going to take something really out of the ordinary to get me out of this funk, and Vegas is about as far from ordinary for me as it gets.

Free Meal from KFC, but Hurry!

I just learned about a sweet coupon deal from KFC. You can get a coupon for a free two-piece grilled chicken meal by going to UnthinKFC.com. Actually it prints two coupons at a time, and you can hit the back button and print a set of two more for a total of four.

The catch is, the coupons will only be printable until 9:59 CDT tonight, May 6th. And the coupons are valid from now until May 19th, excluding May 10th (Mother’s Day). So if you want to take Mom out for a free dinner, you’ll have to do it on a different day.

Get this while it’s hot! I just printed mine, and can’t wait to try their new grilled chicken!

Like Pulling Teeth

It’s next to impossible to get my dear husband to do anything. We got into a huge ruckus about it a couple of weeks ago. I heard that WWE Wrestling was coming to Charlotte and there were tickets as low as $15, and he said he would like to go. So I got online, checked an events calendar for Charlotte, and found out when and where it was. I checked on tickets and found that there were plenty of seats left, but the only ones with a decent view were $60 each.

I figured he would want to go anyway, but when it comes to spending money we always talk to each other first. So I went to tell him about it, and he said he didn’t guess we could afford that. Huh???

He is a huge wrestling fan, and Pumpkin and I like it too. It was something that we all could have enjoyed, and he could have put it on his credit card. But he didn’t want to do that. I was livid. We haven’t been to anything like that together, ever, no real concerts, sporting events, actual vacations or anything, and I was so sure that if I made the arrangements for something that he liked so much he would go for it.

There’s always some excuse. He said that if it had been cheaper he would have gone, but I kind of doubt he would. He hates traveling and crowds, and does everything he can to avoid both. But some way, somehow, I’m going to drag him to something one of these days. I’m still keeping an eye out for Charlotte events, and eventually I will find something that he can’t weasel his way out of.