Boo... Interest rates are falling.

I don't have much in my online savings account at Emigrant Direct, but I sure did like earning 5 percent interest on it! Unfortunately, the mess in the mortgage market and falling stock prices have spurred the Fed to cut interest rates. That's bad news for anyone with a savings account.

I watched my Emigrant Direct interest rate go from 5 percent down to 3.5 percent in a month! Boo.

Unfortunately, there isn't much any of us can do about it, except cross our fingers and hope the Fed doesn't cut rates anymore. It's awfully hard to get motivated to save when your money isn't making any money for you!

Some handy reading

I ran across a blog called the Simple Dollar today. I thought his 31 days to fix your finances plan was worth reading. Also, check out the author's compelling story of growing up poor and all the financial mistakes that led him to start his blog.

"31 Days to fix your finances"

Watch your Bank of America Credit Card!!!

I just ran across this article in BusinessWeek. Apparently Bank of America is brazenly raising interest rates on many of its credit cards. Those affected received notice in the mail, and instructions on how to opt out, but in a letter that was most likely tossed. Some folks are seeing their rates go from 9 percent to 29 percent for no reason!

So if you have a BofA card and carry a balance, keep your eyes peeled.

Here is the article:

"Bank of America interest rate hikes"

Free DVD rentals, really...

Inspired by the "Seven painless ways to save $100 every month" story in the Pussycat archive, I've been getting all of my DVDs from my local library. I'm lucky, they have quite a selection and let you keep them for 7 whole days. Turns out I've rented 18 DVDs for free since October. It costs about $2 to rent a movie for ONE night at the local video store.

So it looks like I've not only saved about $36 in rental fees, I've also managed to avoid late fees. Let's face it, I never make it back the next day to return the movie. And, I got to see a lot of the movies I managed to miss in the theaters. Not too shabby.

If you, like me, are on a budget, it's time you perused the video section of your local library. You can't beat free!

Saving money on groceries?

I always used to roll my eyes when I'd hear about people keeping detailed notepads logging every price at every store for the items they buy. Well, I may have to become one of the converted.

I went to Aldi's for the first time tonight. I needed a lot of pantry-stocking basics and a friend of mine swears that shopping there has cut her grocery bill in half. That's nothing to sneeze at, especially if you are on a budget.
At first, I wasn't impressed. The prices seemed very similar to those at Wal-mart on most items.

But the small savings must have added up. At the checkout, I paid a little less than $54 for an entire cartload of groceries. I'm guessing we can eat on that stuff for more than a week. I even bought "luxury" items-- meat and fish, which I don't normally cook at home. Geesh.

Maybe it's time for me to start that price book-- although it probably won't be as detailed-- so I have more than a vague idea of what things cost.

Just from some preliminary calculations
Cereal at Aldi's, about $1.66 a box. At the store where I usually shop? about $2.50 a box. Hmmm. Almost a buck a box saved on cereal. I eat a lot of that...
Milk for all that cereal? Actually 50 cents cheaper at the regular store than at Aldi's. Good to know.

It may seem like small change, but I'm convinced that you can in fact nickel and dime your way to riches. And I think I migth have to start paying more attention to those nickels and dimes...

$55.97 closer to a tiki bar!

Thanks to some craft sales and another Amazon book sale, I'm adding another $55.97 to the Tiki Bar fund. It isn't a lot, but it sure feels good to make some progress! I've also decided to raise the Tiki Bar Fund savings goal to $1,500, since I'm almost half way to my original goal of $1,000.