I ask because recently I’ve been particularly worried about this one credit card account I have. It was literally the first card I got when I decided to try reestablishing myself credit wise.

This means I had to pay an annual fee for the card and a pretty high interest rate. It was something I felt was necessary though since nobody would extend credit to me otherwise.

Well just the other day I got a notice from that credit card company about how the account terms are being changed. The annual fee is going up and so is the interest rate, big time. It’s been five years since I accepted that car and I actually forgot just how much I was paying them to extend credit to me!

Since accepting that credit card offer I’ve improved my credit tons and I now have several lower APR/ no annual fee cards that are a much better deal. I quickly decided that this first credit card is something I don’t need to be paying for any longer and am closing it.

Well, this all got me thinking about how much N and I are unknowingly throwing away on bank fees and interest charges each month. I was scared to sit down and figure out the exact dollar amount but I also knew that if I didn’t we wouldn’t truly see how much we can cut back and even save if we make some small changes.

Let me tell you adding it all up and listing it all really does put it in perspective folks! It also really helped me to see which accounts we wanted to focus on paying down first. Throwing less money away is always a good thing right? You gotta take those blinders off first though.

Plus, once it is all listed you can go through it and see how the interest rates and owed balances are looking. Available balances and interest rates are two very different things, just because you have the money available to spend doesn’t mean you should.

Listing your monthly interest and fees paid will also help you see if you are using high interest rate cards too often or if you have too much charged to them. It will help you determine if you should be paying more towards one card as opposed to another. It will also help you to see if certain cards are just charging you too much in comparison to all your other accounts. Ignorance is bliss… but it is bliss you probably can’t afford right now!

Are you convinced yet? If so you can use this free spreadsheet right now to plug in your own information. It will figure totals for you over a 6 month period, then you can print it out and keep it as a reference if you want.

I am also curious to see how much individuals are paying each month and how all my readers average so I made an anonymous survey I hope you’ll take.

It is just asking for your January 2009 numbers, no personal information. It’s all recorded on a spreadsheet and then I’ll share the anonymous values with you all in another post so you can see how you compare to other readers.

In these times of economic hardship everyone is looking for ways to cut back and to save money. Watching your monthly budget and spending trends is a simple and obvious way to find areas that you can cut back. How much interest and fees banks charge you is a big one many people overlook!

The post How much do you pay to banks each month? Take a closer look! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Before becoming pregnant I was digestive tract issue free, these days I am feeling like someone inflated me with air and it is not moving.

Here is what I am experiencing. I am having major heartburn that can be temporarily alleviated by drinking a glass of milk. It seems everything I eat causes it and laying doesn’t make it any better. This is the least of my concerns though.

More importantly I am feeling really, really bloated and like I need to burp but am unable to. The pressure in my stomach presses on my ribs and makes laying uncomfortable. Sometimes drinking a sprite helps but these days it is just making me bloat more. This has decreased my appetite lots and even makes want to vomit.

Also there is the intestinal gas that just doesn’t move either and causes major abdominal pain. Like debilitating cramping. I am “one who can’t pass gas” right now and I don’t think that is good. I don’t know if my intestines are being crammed around already or what. Do I need more fiber or water or is it just gas? I haven’t got a clue but the pain and bloating is making me insanely uncomfortable.

Do you know of anything that could help that is safe for me and little Tater Tot? Yeah we nicknamed the unborn baby Tater Tot because that is what I am craving these days. Is Metamucil safe for pregnant women, what about simethicone (the active ingredient in gas pills)? The internet says they are but isn’t there a more natural way to relieve these symptoms?

Any ideas, thoughts, recommendations, remedies or advice would be great. All this pregnancy stuff is new to me and I would love to manage the symptoms and be more comfortable. Looking forward to your suggestions and ideas!

The post Need some pregnancy advice guys… TMI alert. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

The strange thing is that he has this nifty wordpress.com stats display in his dashboard mine does not and I can’t figure out why…

Anyone have any idea what is going on here?? What am I missing?

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UPDATE-

After chatting with Teeni and Witchypoo about all this I searched and found the plugin page: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stats/ It says that once you have your API key in it’s all automatic. The catch is that you have to install the plugin– duh! So I guess I just was confused because when I set up greenpreferred.com

I didn’t install the stats plugin it was just there, or I am just loosing my mind and I did install it and just for got. Ugh, well thanks to my Witchypoo and Teeni for their emails and patience.

Now I can see what strange ways people found my blog like Witchypoo in her How they found me post.

The post wordpress.com stats on my self hosted (not hosed) blog? appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

We get the keys to our new place on 2/25 and need to be out of this place my 2/29.. It’s nice to have a few days to make the transition although I wont be able to spend my time blogging on those days cause I’ll be making trips back and fourth in the car trying to move loads of boxes.. Oh, well a bigger place is good so it’s worth it right?

Oh, I almost didn’t mention that my man got offered a promotion. I can’t list the specifics because it’s not official yet and I don’t want to blow his cover but basically got offered better/ more air time position that ideally should pay more and further his career more… We are excited about the possibilities but like I said it’s not official yet so we aren’t counting our chickens before they hatch.

Okay, so back to the point of my post.. We are moving again. I have become the little moving experts since I have moved every year for the past 8 years or so..

I am very anal about having all the moving/ utility documents with me (and not packed away) during a move. We have the best luck with utility companies, NOPE! It seems everywhere we move to has something that was not turned on or transfered as we requested. either the phone line doesn’t work or the electricity is not on or the satellite dish doesn’t get installed till 2 weeks after we are in the place… It’s always something so having that documentation on hand really makes getting it solved easier.

I am looking for little tid-bits of advice still though, do you have any?

The post Moving tips? appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

If you have moved once or twice you know how much of a pain moving can be! I think the most stressful situations are dealing with the utilities! In our most recent move we had problems with almost every utility we had to transfer! Our dish network service was supposed to be connected on moving day but the technician came about 5 hours earlier than the scheduled time, nobody was home because we hadn’t receive the house keys yet so they didn’t turn on our service. It took them 2 weeks from our move in date to finally get the satellite connected. Our DSL was a similar issue.. We had a phone line problem when we moved in, could not get a dial tone. We contacted the phone company got the run around, when a technician was scheduled and came out they did not fix the problem but they did charge us an $85.00 fee for the visit. A month later we replaced our DSL router, had a new modem replacement sent and were back in business.

Moving is a tricky process that requires much planning, research and time. There are several sites that provide moving checklists and other helpful moving information. One of the sites I found is called movers. You can compare movers prices, services, get quotes and estimates.

If you are going to be moving you should check out their moving tips or the moving checklist where you will find information such as scheduling your utility transfers in advance, researching/ picking a moving company, scheduling a moving truck, clearly and thoroughly labeling your boxes and many more great moving tips and ideas.

The post Moving is hard work! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.