Peer pressure, bullying and social norms

I frequent a popular sewing blog.  A couple of weeks ago, I commented that I would "like to see more sleeves in our clothing" noting that I was frequently cold in air condoned situations without sleeves.  I also noted that some ladies may need a little cover on their upper arms.

I was surprised at the response I got.  The blog author was gracious in responding that her preference was sleeveless but she was working on some designs that included sleeve options.  The response from another reader was not so gracious indicating that she didn't care what other people thought about her arms.  Interesting.  I still can't figure out why this person, that I don't know, felt the need to be so argumentative.  I guess any opinion that was different from theirs was 'offensive.'

It got me thinking about our society as a whole.  Bosses and coworkers bully employees into working excessive hours fearing loss of a job or retribution.  The political correctness police threaten to label every one who disagrees with them a "racist" to quiet and diminish their voices.

Even a old fashioned chain letter or the current equivalent on social media - the ice bucket challenge - dares you not to conform at the risk of embarrassment or bad karma.

We're so concerned about children being bullied but we need to start thinking about how we're bulling other adults on a daily basis.  The ability to be anonymous on social media has caused an explosion in this bad behavior.  Just check out the comments on any news story on line.  Even if you disagree, there's a nice way to say it without bulling and insulting.

Remember two important rules:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  If you don't have something nice to say, say nothing at all.

Passive income

We recently moved our money from the mega banks into a regional credit union.  From my calculations, we're looking at a fair amount if passive income from the change.  

Wells Fargo and Bank of America had free checking but paid virtually no interest on the money in their accounts.  The credit union offers a small dividend if you meet certain requirements.

We're not going to get rich but our checking is now earning more money than our cd was at BOA!

Menu and goals for the week

First the menu:  

Monday - Chinese chicken with vegetables, lo mein

Tuesday - Beef Roast with mashed potatoes and broccoli

Wednesday - Jambalaya with double smoked beef sausage

Thursday - salad or leftovers

Friday - choice not taken above

Goals for the week:

1.  Make two doctors appointments - half done

2.  Pick up prescriptions - done

3.  Catch up on laundry - done and dishes caught up, too!

4.  Stay on track with hand quilting - making good progress, should be able to roll again on Thursday - done

5.  Pre-planning for some Christmas gifts (sewing) - done

6.  Better grocery list for this weekend

      a.  More use of freezer and pantry items

      b.  Use coupons and buy sale items

      c.  Reduce food waste

      d.  Take lunch four times - almost there

      e.  Reduce dollars spent

7.  Make hair appointment - done

That's one goal per day.  Some are pretty quick and easy, others not so much.

Now, one item I wanted to address this week is the cost of food.  I do 80-90% of my grocery shopping at Publix.  Generally, I'm very happy with quality, cleanliness and customer service.  I have small issues with selection as there are several items I have to buy elsewhere.  Historically, I've accepted that Publix's prices are slightly higher than average but buying driven by sales and prudent coupon use made Publix slightly less than average price wise and sometimes a real bargain.

Because of some health issues, we trying to eat better by reducing our fat and sodium consumption.  Making these changes really affected my grocery bill.  I am sometimes able to modify packaged items (I replace half of the seasoning package in RiceaRoni Spanish rice with non-salt seasoning to reduce sodium) but most of my choices have been changed to items specifically lowering fat and sodium.  As a result,my grocery bill is now significantly higher than last year.

Yesterday, I was shocked at the price of some items.  For example, low sodium deli ham is over $10 per pound - that's about a .50 jump in the last week or two.  A beef pot roast was $5.99 a pound with a significant layer of fat.  Just weeks ago, I could have purchased steaks for that price point.  Finally, a hot house cucumber was only $1.99 the last time I purchased, over $2 this time.  I'm not sure what was driving this price hike since the media has been warning of price increases for weeks.

As a result, I will be rethinking how I can produce some low cost meals to offset these prices.  A good example is my menu choice of jambalaya this week.  The Zadarains mix is the lowest sodium prepackaged rice mix. I will use some no salt added tomatoes and add some beef sausage from the freezer.  No additional out of pocket.  

Meat is definitely going to become a side and not the star of the meal.  I have ordered a box of Zaycon Foods chicken breasts.  These are looking like a real bargain at less than $2 a pound.

Dump the big banks - phase two

Yesterday, I stopped by our second big bank to pull the plug.  (I still have a cd that doesn't mature til next month there but everything else is done.)

To make it an even better week, I pushed the button to pay off a student loan today.   

The new credit union account is already paying more interest than the mega bank with no threat of service fees for low balances.  Yippee!

I really feel like I have accomplished something this week and getting our list if debts pruned is exciting.  It's slow but steady.  

I was running some numbers today and under the MOST optimistic of circumstances we "could" be completely debt free in about five years.  Of course, something always happens to slow that progress down.

This week's menu

Sunday - rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans

Monday - ham steak, beans, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes

Tuesday - spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and bread with garlic cheese spread

Wednesday - teriyaki salmon and chicken, fried rice, egg roll

Thursday - salad

Friday - to be determined

Another red letter day

I've been busy the last month transitioning our finances into fewer accounts.  We're closing our accounts with the mega banks and consolidating into credit union accounts.  

I closed the first mega bank this past Friday and will close the other this coming weekend.  

Because of this and DH changing jobs recently, we've not been as aggressive with our debt repayment.  (We tend to be cautious when changing jobs to ensure that we have plenty if cash.)

Well, that changed today when I submitted a payment that will payoff one of our credit cards!  Yippee!!

As soon as that clears, we close the second mega bank account and move it.  My plan is to payoff a student loan at the end of the month - next week.  After that we start rolling that money we've set aside for debt repayment into our other balances.  Every day, we get a little closer.

In checking some statements this afternoon, I've discovered that our smallest school loan is actually a hundred dollars less than I thought.  I will also be paying this off next week at the end of the week.  

How I saved $15 on my prescription

I take several drugs for migraine headaches.  Last year (2013), both medications had become available as generics and my insurance would cover them (after jumping through some hoops) at a $10 copayment each.

This year with all the changes to health insurance, we have no company's on medications unless they're preventative.  With preventative drugs, we pay a portion on the cost and that amount is applied to our out if pocket amount but not counted towards our deductible.

It's very confusing.  For one drug, I filled it in April at Walgreens and my cost for nine tablets was $36 using my insurance coverage.  Costco advertises it for $19.68 (no insurance) but the nearest one is a headache in itself!  

I used a website called GoodRX and it will tell you who has the lowest price in your area.  You present the coupon to the pharmacy.  My price at Publix was advertised at $19.42.  Honestly, I didn't think they would take it but it was worth the effort.  

To my surprise, Publix honored the coupon - although my price ended up being $21.60 instead of $19.42 but close enough.  I saved $15 over the Walgreens price.  

I'm not sure if this will be counted towards my out of pocket costs or not.  I'll have to look into that but since I won't fill this more than a couple of times this year, it won'take much of an impact either way.

Why don't you see if GoodRX could save you some money?