Another Use of the Emergency Fund: Credit Card Prepayment

Has everyone noticed that your grace period before a credit card payment is due is getting shorter and shorter. I try to pay my bills the day I get them to avoid problems. I have heard all sorts of stories to the effect that, if your payment is due on the 15th, it must be checked in by 9 a.m. If the payment arrives later in the day, too bad. These companies are not your friends.

For some reason, my vacations always begin about a day before my bills show up. Therefore, I am always nervous about getting that payment in. Many companies charge for phone payments, so I continue to write checks from my money market account, where my emergency fund resides. A few years ago, I had the idea of paying what I estimated my bill would be (plus more) before I left: prepaying.

This caused a bit of distress because money market accounts were paying some interest then--like 5%. Now that they are paying almost nothing, even that bit of distress is gone. More important, the stress is gone!

And, how pleasant to get a bill that says your amount due is 0 or that you have a credit. Rather than paying for your vacation afterwards, you can pay for it a bit in advance.

This is another area where I am thankful for my emergency fund, one of the best stress relievers entirely within your control.

Any other nifty uses for the emergency fund, folks?

Thrift Shop Shoes: TOO Frugal?

I've occasionally mentioned, here and in comments, that most shoes hurt my feet. Not for me are pretty heels or wedges. No. While the ladies in the Foreign Language Department sport 4 inch heels (They're like house shoes!), I make do with flats.

Why thrift stores? because even purportedly comfy shoes hurt my feet. At $2.00 to $3.00 a pair for nearly new shoes, I can afford to experiment.

You may wonder: How do I find so many shoes? Well, it's partly because I have small feet (6.5-7), thanks to my dear Grandma Emma. I only have one competitor that I know of: Joan and I have agreed to share. It's also because shoes have the squeam factor. I wrote about this a while back. Your biggest selection at thrifts is of items with a squeam factor, the things where people say Ewwwww. I'd never buy _______ used.

So, here is what I've learned.

1. Wolky shoes are not as comfy as they are cracked up to be.
2. Mephistos are very good!
3. SAS sandals--true old lady comfort shoes--are comfy. the sandals have an ironic edge. The shoes, well, let's say I can't go there yet.
4. Donald Pliners are great! But I can't wear the wedges.
5. Arches are SOOOO cool looking. But they hurt my feet.
6. Your feet get sweaty in crocs.
7. Those boiled wool clogs by Haflinger and Giesswein are great!
8. Shoes from places like Banana Republic, Loft, and the like are sheer misery. Ditto Talbots.
9. Tevas work OK, but the more expensive Chacos do not
10. Eccos are pretty good.

But the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn are my Chanel loafers, bought in Goodwill in a karmic moment a few years ago.

Pure bliss. Brown leather. Size 37.

A Frugal Miracle: Automotive Edition

Mr. FS and I always spend a lot in the summer. This is because we are teachers and the rhythm of our lives means that we do all the stuff in the summer that we don't have time to do during the school year. Some is necessity: visit to Aged P's on both coasts with children (around $6000/year for flights, car rentals, etc); fix roof. Stuff like that. Other expenses are optional, but eagerly anticipated, like my new kitchen cabinets of August 2008.

This summer is almost over for us. Then the IMA and Engine Lights went on in our Honda Civic Hybrid (2003). This was under my watch and I forgot to say anything! But Mr. FS noticed last night. So, he took the car in to Honda. When the courtesy van brought him back, he said, First the bad news. We need a new battery pack. They cost $2000.00.

Pause (a la Harold Pinter)

The good news is that the batteries are under warranty up to 80,000 miles.

Silence (a la Samuel Beckett)

And we have 79, 698 miles on the car!

Oh boy! What should I spend my $2000.00 on?

May I be the Person my Blog Readers Think I Am

Update on dilemma. Duchesse asked that I update on my decision re Vera Bradley backpack (not a major world problem as we know). And, as Cubicle Wall notes, these popular and often garish bags are awfully pricey for potholders.

If not for Duchesse, who is sometimes stern in her comments, but obviously nice, I would have let this slide. That is because I am nice in my comments, but basically working on being nicer in what passes for real life. I said to Mr. FS, Oh no! What should I do? He, a fellow of great moral and ethical discernment, said, Lie.

That, of course, brings up the ontological status of the blog world, something I ponder frequently. I seldom lie, but whenever I do, it backfires. I am not cut out to be a liar.

So, for purely pragmatic reasons, I called M, mother of S, wife of Anger-Management-Problem A, hoping I could leave a message. But no, M picked up, and I blurted out my news. She kind of chuckled, but she did say That's so nice.

Maybe I am nice, in reality and in blog world.

This is the last day of the sale: on-line only on messenger bags and large backpacks. Make a college girl happy.

A Conundrum in Cosmic/Karmic Frugality

Oh, the little problems we invent. You may recall that I ran into an acquaintance who sighed--as indulgent mothers are wont to do--as she enumerated all the items required for her daughter's upcoming trip to college. This family has been known to have money/unemployment problems. At the time I wrote gratefully of Miss Em's scorn for the conventional trappings of the off-to-college rite of passage. You may also recall that I wrote of cosmic frugality--when you don't personally benefit from frugal choices or information. My example was of Frugal Son's circuitous drive so he could take a carload of kids to a barbecue. Funny about Money and Duchesse, two great bloggers, suggested the term karmic frugality, so I have added that to the concept.

Anyway, one of the items on the "must-have" list of the indulged daughter (we have some history with this family and it is NOT pleasant, owing to the "anger management" problem of the Dad, which anger was once unjustly directed at an 8 y.o. Miss Em...I digress)is a genuine Vera Bradley backpack. Go to any college campus and you will be blinded by the bright patterns of these babies. Anyway, the backpack is $92.00. Today, I received an email saying that this very item is on a 3-day sale for $40.00!

Frugal conundrum. If I had the family's email, I would forward the notice, no question. But I don't. Should I call? I've never called anyone in this family. If I call. Best case scenario: "Oh, thank you Frugal Scholar! We were JUST about to buy one." Worst case: "Oh, we just bought one yesterday." Then irritation (remember, this mom was complaining about the expenses of college stuff) will be transferred to me and I may even get a comment like, "Oh, we don't really worry about things like that where dear child's desires are concerned. You are so cheap." Most likely scenario: will leave message and will not get any response.

What to do, what to do?
Any thoughts, Dear Readers? And, as always, may the karmic/cosmic force of frugality be with you all.

Keep it a Treat: A Key to Frugality

I don't know if I've mentioned quite how divine a daughter I have. Her current divine activity involves spending three weeks with her recently-widowed grandmother, who did not want to go to her summer house alone. I was under the impression that Miss Em's willingness to, as she put it, "be Grandma's boyfriend," was unusual, but many people to whom I've spoken have declared that their children--16-20--would do the same. So whatever this generation is called (Y,Z,AA???), what a wonderful bunch of kids!

Anyway, a certain amount of stress is involved, so we get daily phone calls. There are a number of areas where Grandma-family-values are different from our-family-values. One that has come up already is the issue of restaurant meals. Miss Em's grandparents were almost daily restaurant-goers in retirement. Our family, as my devoted readers must have noticed, is a cooking family. In addition to her job as boyfriend, Miss Em has contracted to do all the cooking for Grandma.

Miss Em called this morning, with the news that (surprise!) Grandma wants to go out to eat again. Miss Em said, "I want to cook tonight, so that when we go out again, it will be a real treat."

My wise daughter has hit the frugal nail on the head! If you go out to eat all the time, it ceases to be a treat. Somewhere in the Amy Dacyczyn oeuvre--aka The Tightwad Gazette--is a story that makes a similar point. Amy talked about how she took her kids out for single-dip ice cream cones. These evoked an ecstatic response. Amy said that many parents, seeing the ecstasy, would respond by taking the kids out for ice cream more and more, eventually graduating to double- and then triple-scoops. Amy took the opposite tack: she responded by not taking her kids out for ice-cream again for a looonnggg time, to keep it a much-awaited (rather than simply expected) treat.

I must say that I remain in awe of Amy's austere self-control in the frugal department. I can't quite pull it off. But I do try to keep things a treat. And it is interesting that my dear daughter is begging her grandma, "Please don't take me out to dinner! Let me cook. Let's keep it a treat!"

Dear Readers, do you agree? And, do tell, how do you keep it a treat?

Fiscal Incompatibility: Parental Worries?

For those of you parents in the audience, here's a worry to add to the list. And for those of you still searching for your perfect mate, here's something to think about. Namely: fiscal incompatibility.

After a year of worrying about the economy, I have noticed that I am still alive. And, though my retirement accounts are in the dust, that doesn't really affect my daily life. Luckily, Mr. FS and I are still employed. We don't have a scary mortgage. So a new worry has cropped up.

I have written about our family's choice of low- (actually no-) cost college for our children. I've also written about our decision to give our children the money in their college accounts when they are in their 20s (assuming they are not drug-addicted wastrels).

A sudden thought! I exclaimed to Mr. FS: What if our children's beloveds turn out to be vastly indebted? What if they decide to fall in love with the kids who said, "But Daddy, I HAVE to go to NYU. I will DIE if I don't. I don't CARE if I have to take out loans. It's worth it."

To which Daddy replied, "I just want you to be HAPPY. And, besides, college debt is GOOD DEBT. So while you're taking out your loan, I'll take one out too. It's WORTH it if it will make you HAPPY."

Just something to think about, folks. Hope I'm not being too mean-spirited here. What do you think about fiscal compatibility in relationships?