Capital One 360!
They used to be ING.com which is when I started with them in 2005. They were taken over by Capital One a few years later.
As long as you're able to link your savings account to another bank to transfer $ in and out you're good.
There are no fees unless you're overdrawn and no minimum balances. Once you're a customer, you can have up to 25 savings accounts with them.
So I have one for Emergency Fund, Car Insurance, quarterly sewer bill, Vacation, College Funds, etc.
They also offer free checking. Again, no fees or minimums as long as you're not overdrawn. Free ATM. This is what I used as a separate checking account when I first started to pay my weekly snowball payment so it didn't blend with our regular checking account. I treat it like it's just another bill.
In the last 2.5 years I've gotten better/stronger with snowballing and now transferring to another account only delays making the payment another 2 days later. Now I just schedule the snowball payment to occur the day before payday and then on payday the money goes in and the payment comes out. Almost instant gratification.
He was like yeah the transmission oil alone is $300 yikes - he then said he could probably get it down to about $750 interesting it can drop so quickly 
. I used this same mechanic for its last service you would think they would give you a heads up that the next service is an expensive one so that you can save for it, so disappointed about that too - so now I will find a different mechanic based on that as well as they were more expensive to start with.
Car repairs are the worst. Hopefully this is it for you for awhile.Ok coming on to vent - I knew my car needed a service and was expecting about $200 but Oh no just got off the phone the first price I have been given was $980!!!!
I have googled and a few other mechanics in the area are advertising about $660 for the same service. Still more than I had budgeted for but I am going to have to pay it and that just means that paying off the outstanding primary school tuition debt won't happen now. Talk about a bad start to the new year and a set back for dumping the debt
Ok coming on to vent - I knew my car needed a service and was expecting about $200 but Oh no just got off the phone the first price I have been given was $980!!!!
I have googled and a few other mechanics in the area are advertising about $660 for the same service. Still more than I had budgeted for but I am going to have to pay it and that just means that paying off the outstanding primary school tuition debt won't happen now. Talk about a bad start to the new year and a set back for dumping the debt
Can I come on here and whine for a bit?
I posted the following on facebook. My friends were quite supportive. My family...not so much. I accidentally posted it where all could see it, instead of on a frugal group page, so I guess it serves me right:
Okay, I have all my goals set for the year and I am pretty pumped about them!! Fair warning...this will be a long post.
On the frugal front, I've decided to try something new. Well, a couple of new things actually. I'm a bit nervous about one of them, but I think it's going to be spectacular in the long run.
First, a little background. My dad always taught us to FILL the gas tank when we were filling up. Like even if the automatic shut off cut us off, he'd keep going to round up to the next dollar and he taught us to do that too. It's easier for accounting, so I'm still doing it 24 years later.
But, in December, I stopped pumping the full amount of gas budgeted for the week. At present, I allow myself $40 a week when no out of town activities are expected. But even if there was potentially room in the tank, I didn't put in more than $35. I never heard the automatic shut off for the entire month, although I usually got pretty close to the full line with $35. We generally use about half of a tank per week for regular to and fro transportation. For the first half of the month, this practice had me ahead of them game, but in the end, the extra money got used up anyway since we had two trips to Chatham/Windsor but I really liked being under budget each week, even by just a couple of bucks.
So much so, that I've decided to continue it. I'm going to pump $5 less each week than the amount I have available in the budget. If I need the money later in the week or later in the month, it will still be sitting there in the bank account, ready for use. BUT, if I still have any of that money left when the next payday rolls around...I'll be pretty excited. I think I'll add it to the vacation fund.
And since that's been such a fun experience, I've decided to do the same thing with the grocery budget. Only I think I'm going to aim for about $7 a week for that one. A dollar a day. I dunno why...it just feels right. LOL
And the BIG change is that I'm going to be paying for my groceries...
with cash!!!
I like the pay at the pump feature too much to mess with going inside and standing in line to pay, so I'll still be using the credit card for gasoline but I think the cash system benefits at the grocery store will far outweigh the few inconveniences this switch will make.
I'm a little nervous about it. I've NEVER paid for my groceries with cash. Well not for the last 17 years for sure...I've always used either gift cards, debit or credit, so this will take some getting used to.
But I am up to the challenge. So cash for food, $7 under budget for groceries and $5 under budget for gasoline.
And it all starts tomorrow! EEK!!
My dad (who lives about 250 miles from me) responded like this:
Let ne know when the carburetor freezes up from the water conensation in the fuel system this winter so I can laugh so loudly you will hear me from Chatham.
And my aunt responded like this:
The cost of all groceries is rising significantly this year so you'll be getting alot less if youre taking money from your grocery budget
Family...you can always count on them to crap all over your exciting ideas.
For the record, I knew grocery prices were going to rise (some have already) and I increased my budget accordingly. I'm still hoping to scale it back some though.
**I left their typos because I am small and petty it hurts a little less.
Can I come on here and whine for a bit?
I posted the following on facebook. My friends were quite supportive. My family...not so much. I accidentally posted it where all could see it, instead of on a frugal group page, so I guess it serves me right:
Okay, I have all my goals set for the year and I am pretty pumped about them!! Fair warning...this will be a long post.
On the frugal front, I've decided to try something new. Well, a couple of new things actually. I'm a bit nervous about one of them, but I think it's going to be spectacular in the long run.
First, a little background. My dad always taught us to FILL the gas tank when we were filling up. Like even if the automatic shut off cut us off, he'd keep going to round up to the next dollar and he taught us to do that too. It's easier for accounting, so I'm still doing it 24 years later.
But, in December, I stopped pumping the full amount of gas budgeted for the week. At present, I allow myself $40 a week when no out of town activities are expected. But even if there was potentially room in the tank, I didn't put in more than $35. I never heard the automatic shut off for the entire month, although I usually got pretty close to the full line with $35. We generally use about half of a tank per week for regular to and fro transportation. For the first half of the month, this practice had me ahead of them game, but in the end, the extra money got used up anyway since we had two trips to Chatham/Windsor but I really liked being under budget each week, even by just a couple of bucks.
So much so, that I've decided to continue it. I'm going to pump $5 less each week than the amount I have available in the budget. If I need the money later in the week or later in the month, it will still be sitting there in the bank account, ready for use. BUT, if I still have any of that money left when the next payday rolls around...I'll be pretty excited. I think I'll add it to the vacation fund.
And since that's been such a fun experience, I've decided to do the same thing with the grocery budget. Only I think I'm going to aim for about $7 a week for that one. A dollar a day. I dunno why...it just feels right. LOL
And the BIG change is that I'm going to be paying for my groceries...
with cash!!!
I like the pay at the pump feature too much to mess with going inside and standing in line to pay, so I'll still be using the credit card for gasoline but I think the cash system benefits at the grocery store will far outweigh the few inconveniences this switch will make.
I'm a little nervous about it. I've NEVER paid for my groceries with cash. Well not for the last 17 years for sure...I've always used either gift cards, debit or credit, so this will take some getting used to.
But I am up to the challenge. So cash for food, $7 under budget for groceries and $5 under budget for gasoline.
And it all starts tomorrow! EEK!!
My dad (who lives about 250 miles from me) responded like this:
Let ne know when the carburetor freezes up from the water conensation in the fuel system this winter so I can laugh so loudly you will hear me from Chatham.
And my aunt responded like this:
The cost of all groceries is rising significantly this year so you'll be getting alot less if youre taking money from your grocery budget
Family...you can always count on them to crap all over your exciting ideas.
For the record, I knew grocery prices were going to rise (some have already) and I increased my budget accordingly. I'm still hoping to scale it back some though.
**I left their typos because I am small and petty it hurts a little less.
Ok coming on to vent - I knew my car needed a service and was expecting about $200 but Oh no just got off the phone the first price I have been given was $980!!!!
I have googled and a few other mechanics in the area are advertising about $660 for the same service. Still more than I had budgeted for but I am going to have to pay it and that just means that paying off the outstanding primary school tuition debt won't happen now. Talk about a bad start to the new year and a set back for dumping the debt
