Free Membership

I recently received an email, letting me know that I won a free membership in a local club.

Kevin, when you were at the Spirit of Kansas celebration you signed up at the Topeka PC Users Club tent and I wish to congratulate you on being the winner of the free one year membership in the club. As of Thursday, July 12, you have been an official member. This membership is for a family and is good for 12 months from this date.
...
- Ann Moore

I think I will go to the August meeting and checking out. Maybe I can hook up with some people who will help me with the video productions (like the mutilation of my credit card) that I want to accomplish, so that I can then get them onto youtube.

You Got to be Freakin' Kidding

(image from: Daily News)
Video here

Recently Manhattan accountant Frank Van Buren, contacted ExxonMobil to tell them when they renewed his card, that was set to expire, he wanted two. Except, for the stupidity of using credit, it sounds like no problem, especially for someone who has had an account with the company for 17-years.
Well he got the cards he requested — and then got two boxes with 1,000 cards each. Van Buren said it took hours to shred the cards, all of which, had his name and account number.

"How could you send me 2,000 cards by mistake?" Van Buren said he asked customer-service representatives.

ExxonMobil reportedly is looking into the mix-up. How stupid can the credit card companies be? Pretty stupid, but this one takes the cake.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070727/ap_on_fe_st/odd_credit_card_overload


Thanks Blogging Away Debt

Drawing for Flat Panel HDTV

I was reading Money Dummy today, and she was telling about a drawing for a flat panel TV over at Five Minutes for Mom. I checked it out, and nothing indicated that you had to be a mom or even a female to enter, so I entered myself.
I mean with this small house, I need all the extra space I can get, so I really hope I win this thing.

TV from Best Buy.

Cleaning Up

I just finished going through my link list and cleaned up all the dead and abandoned blogs in the list. A couple of the abandoned blogs hadn't posted anything since Sept. or Oct. this year. The rest sometime this year.

In addition, a number of blogs had been deleted. One site had been moved, thus abandoning her blogspot location. I followed the link to the new location and it was a dead link. So reluctantly, I deleted that one also.

If I missed any, please let me know. I want to strive to have relevant information in both this blog post and the links.

Imaginative Ideas Wanted

As my regular readers know, this past week I officially cancelled my credit card. Nothing can be charged to it ever again. So now I have been thinking of ways to mutilate the card. Others have cut their cards up, or ran them through shredders and blenders while others have flushed them down the toilet or a combination of the above.

I however want to find a unique (and possibly public) ways to mutilate my Providian card. I would like to get suggestions from each of you my readers as ways that you think I should do it. So come on, start those creative juices and give me some ideas. I really want to hear your ideas.

When I do this, I would like to find someone here in Topeka to help video tape it and get it posted on you tube. In addition, if their are others who would like to join in that day and mutilate their cards, then I would love to make it a big event.

I would like to hold the mutilation day the week of August 6, possibly the afternoon of August 11. In addition, it would be nice if the press will cover our disgust for credit cards.

So what you think? Any ideas?

Thinking Ahead

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I was thinking ahead the other day. Wondering what exactly I wanted to do, when I finally get 100% debt free. I have some big dreams. Interesting dreams. Some career minded. Others just for fun. Still others involve retirement.

What are those dreams?

1. Vacations - I would like to make it to every Presidential Library. Also I would like to make my first trips to New York, Hawaii, France, England and Germany. In addition to revisiting the District of Columbia, Atlanta (World of Coca-Cola 'KO'), and the (British) Channel Islands (This time making it to Jersey and Herm, while revisiting Sark and Guernsey. There also more parts of Canada and spots of the remain 50 states I would like to see.
   


2. Business - I would like own my own chain of stores.
   


3. Retirement - I want to save my money, instead of living paycheck to paycheck, so that I might be able to retire someday with enough to actually live on, even if I can't get my social security money back.
   


4. Spending - I want to be able to pay cash for everything, without worry about be pressured to borrow. Likewise, I want to be able to pay my bills the same day they come in the mail, rather then wondering if I will have the money to pay this months bill.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I actually have two recipes for this. But after reading about reports of some spotting left with the original recipe, I tried adding a third ingredient that seems to work well. It only takes 2 Tablespoons of the finished product per load.

3 cups Borax

3 cups Baking soda

1 cup of the cheapest dishwasher detergent (from dollar store or a store brand)

I did see a site that suggested using 2 Tablespoons (per cup of borax) of Citric Acid (Fruit Fresh) to make silverware sparkle.

Oh btw, use vinegar instead of Jet Dry in the rinse dispenser