PocketCoinage

Heirloom Tomato Plants in Yogurt Cups

For the longest time, I’ve been saving the single serving Stony Field yogurt cups.  Back when I lived with my parents, their township did not recycle #5 plastic containers, so I was looking to send the cups back for recycling.  The Preserve company transforms these yogurt cups into other products such as toothbrushes and plates.  Somewhere along the way two years ago, hundreds of plastic yogurt containers moved with me to my new home.  Once I moved out, I became interested in gardening and decided to start some tomato plants indoors.  Soon it was time to transplant almost 100 seedings to larger containers.

This raised a new dilemma for me.  I was looking for a way to be green and not purchase more plastic to just be tossed away after one use.  Then it just hit me, I should repurpose the yogurt cups for transplanting!  They are the perfect size and I do not need to spend more money on flower pots.  The cups will be getting a second life, and possibly a third (or more) if I get my containers back from family and friends.

Here is how I prepare the yogurt cups for transplanting:

1. Wash out the cups with hot soap and water to remove any excess fruit and yogurt.
2. Dry the cups well and place them into storage until use.
3. Just before transplanting, use a mild bleach solution (approximately 10 parts water to one part bleach) to sanitize the cups.
4. Rinse and dry the cups thoroughly.
5. Drill four holes in the bottom of the cup using a 1/8″ drill bit (or other means).  You can stack about 5-6 cups together to get the job done faster.
6. Start transplanting!

This will be my third season using yogurt cups for all my transplants.

I was never one for carrying a balance on my credit cards.  Everytime the bill came in, I would pay it off immediately.  The problem with me was I had way too many cards; From store brands to your standard Visa and Mastercard.  I had about 6 in total all with different due dates.  This just made my finances more complex.  With the complexity came more stress, “Did I pay that credit card off?” So I decided that enough is enough and I closed out all three store cards about three weeks ago.  Let me tell you, it was very liberating!

Funny Story
Just yesterday I decided to cancel two more credit cards: my Visa and Mastercard.  These by far were the most fun to cancel because of the representatives’ responses.

The first representative at Bank of America told me, “What?  You can’t cancel your card now!  It’s springtime!” That was pretty comical trying to keep me on as a customer.  Being that it’s springtime has nothing to do with closing my credit card, but okay.  The account was closed and we had a nice chat about the weather between Maine (where she was located) and New Jersey.

The next representative at Wells Fargo was very boring. He brought up the fact that my “score with them would be lowered”.  One can only imagine that would be my credit score; I told him that was fine.  Once the account was closed, he told me to “feed the card to my dog” and that it was as good as “feeding him chocolate.” With his monotone voice I could not tell if he was joking or not.  However, you can clearly tell he doesn’t enjoy his job.

Right now I am left with one credit card that I have open for “just in case”.  I do not plan on using it, but there could always be a time between now and when my emergency fund exceeds that credit limit.  I’ll feel more comfortable about getting rid of it once I have my student loan paid off and my emergency fund built up.  Overall, I have not used any credit since December; everything’s been on a cash basis.  It really has kept my spending under control.  When I would charge things with the credit card, I would find that I would purchase more goods.  Which, in return, didn’t give me the leverage needed to pay down my student loan debt as quickly as possible.

More Reasons to Close the Cards
Canceling the cards was not only for personal relief, but to relieve some future financial burdens.  Once I heard about what these big banks are planning, I decided it was for the better to closet down the cards.

According to this WalletBlog.com article, “…Bank of America recently announced plans to apply $59 annual membership fees to about 5% of its credit card customer base.”  The worst of the news came from my grandma.  Bank of America is currently charging her $4 for each check image printed on a statement!  She incurred $12 in fees last month for doing something your normally do with a checking account: writing checks!  This weekend I will be taking her to a local community bank and patronize their business.  At least they still have a soul!

Have you been used by the mega banks?  If so, do you still do business with them?

As I type this up, I’m looking at my messy desk and wondering when I will straighten things up.  Even thought I have been off for over a week now, I couldn’t stand to be sitting up in the office going through papers.  We had some wonderful weather the past couple of days and I wanted to take advantage of it.  I even had the opportunity to do something new: horseback riding!  This was something that I have never done before.  After this wonderful experience, I will be doing more of it.  I guess I will need to allocate more money towards experiences!

Getting back to my desk, just because it’s messy doesn’t mean that I am not organized.  I like to look at it as an “organized mess”.  I have my upcoming payment pile and my paid bills filed.  The rest of the mess is junk mail to be shredded, receipts, notes, and the box to my new cell phone.  One of the hardest things about personal finance is staying organized and keeping up with it.  There are many ways to get organized, stay organized, and even become proactive.

Making Time
I feel one of the biggest obstacles to getting organized is not making time to get organized.  We come home from work, very tired, and just start making little piles of junk that we plan on looking at a later date.  Well, we do, but then it feels like it takes hours to go through it all!  Well, that’s because it does.  I have months of buildup and it can take me quite a few hours to get through the mess.  I keep making excuses to not do things, “Well, the shredder will make too much noise and wake someone up.”

Try to take 10 – 15 minutes a day to tend your personal finance life.  Remember the old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  It takes many, many, small steps to reach a goal.  Staring with the end in mind can help you build that solid foundation to take you where you want to go.

Organizing Yourself
After working some time in your schedule, decide how you’d like to organize yourself.  This will probably be the most difficult part.  Here are a few that I have tried:

• Stackable Paper Bins
• Three-Ring Binders
• Digitizing Paperwork
• Electronic Billing
• Electronic Payment
• Electronic Debit
• Filing Cabinets/Bins
• Google Calendar with Reminders

The single most useful tool that keeps me on my toes is Google Calendar.  I have it configured to alert me 10 days before a payment is due plus it syncs with my Android phone automatically!  This has been a lifesaver on many occasions, especially when the work days seem to blur together.

When bills come in, they get filed in the unpaid pile.  Once I pay them, they then get transferred to a three-ring binder.  This binder takes up little space on my bookshelf and works better than filing it in a cabinet.  I have about 2-3 years worth of statements stored here.  I phase out older statements by scanning them to my computer and saving them as PDF files.  This allows me to search the document for certain keywords in the event that I need to refer back to it.  This allowed me to move from three file bins to just one.  Just make sure you store backups of your paperwork in a save place.

Going Electronic
I’ve been paying my bills online.  From the mortgage to my local alarm company, ING Direct allows you to pay others from their website; even if the company doesn’t accept an electronic payment.  ING Direct will send out a real check to the company on your behalf and they do not charge you for postage (except if it’s mailed overnight).  You can even send your friends money directly to their bank account using the Person-2-Person payment feature.

Let’s not forget e-statements!  They are usually in PDF files that you can save to your computer.  This can save you time and energy by not having to scan in statements or file them away.

How do you stay organized with your busy lifestyle?