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Making Financial Changes

June 16th, 2020 at 03:27 pm

Yesterday, I switched our cell phone plan to their lowest cost unlimited plan, which ended up saving us about $22 a month. I did have to switch to paying our bill with our checking account. I had been using our US Bank Credit card to receive 5% back, however the math still worked in our favor to switch. I think I had seen this offer before, but the math didn't seem to add up in our favor. I'm wondering if something else changed or if I just didn't do the math right last time!

I may close the US Bank credit card if I can figure out if another one of our credit cards gives 5% back on internet. I think one of them does. That will be the only charge going to that card, so I'm interested in consolidating if I can and still be getting decent cash back.

We also get Disney+ for one year for signing up for our new cell plan. We will use it I'm sure, but I wasn't wanting to add another streaming service when it first came out. The value of that is $6.99 per month, so definitely a nice bonus.

The other financial change is setting up some new Certificates of Deposits. I'm not thrilled with the rates as they have fallen. But I we have a lot of cash on hand and I have to have it earning something! I opened one for $25K, and will probably open a second one in a week or two for a similar amount. We decided we didn't want the a large $50K CD, as the interest rate doesn't benefit us. Instead we will have two $25K CDs, as a way to keep our options open a bit. I locked one today for 1.25% with Navy Federal. I unfortunately missed their last 'special rate'.

I started a batch of sauerkraut yesterday(first time ever) and today I began working on growing a batch of sourdough starter (also my first time). We all can grow and learn anything at any time.

Have you found a service to change or stop recently? Have you ever made any fermented food?

Posted in Saving, Healthy Living, Income | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Making Financial Changes”

  1. LifeBalance Says:
    June 16th, 2020 at 06:38 pm 1592332739
    1592332739

    As much as you have in cash, it's worth chasing rates to get even a slightly higher one. I did notice that Ally lowered their savings rate to 1.15% I think. I do appreciate that they notify me when the rate changes, regardless of the direction.

    DH went through a learning to make wine phase, but that ended after a couple of the bottles blew their corks during fermentation, resulting in a stain on our dining room ceiling that still needs to be repainted. His wines were hit or miss for taste anyway, so I think it was an expensive hobby that ran its course.

    I have a friend that was planning to try making kombucha after we had some homemade samples at a spa. I'm not sure how that turned out for her.

  2. Lucky Robin Says:
    June 20th, 2020 at 05:54 am 1592632483
    1592632483

    I've made fermented pickles and I used to help my mom make sauerkraut when I was a kid. I tried making sourdough starter once, but it turned pink and smelled bad. Not my shiniest moment.

  3. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    June 25th, 2020 at 12:58 am 1593046686
    1593046686

    Have you looked into Kasasa checking accounts at all? They are a bit of a pain, since you have to do so many debit transactions per month - but they pay a much larger interest rate than anything else. I have one that pays 4% up to $40,000 (they dropped to 3% for one month, but I think they're back to 4%) By keeping your cash in something like that, you have a lot more flexibility than in cds.

  4. creditcardfree Says:
    June 25th, 2020 at 01:22 am 1593048159
    1593048159

    Thanks FT, I will look again, as I know you mentioned it before. I'm not a fan of all the hoops honestly. I'd have to think through how I would meet those obligations, and if were to have more than one account at different banks that would mean more transactions. We do get rewards on our credit cards, those transactions would take away from those rewards. As I write this I think there's a calculator somewhere that would help me figure all that out.

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