Tweaking

Every afternoon when I pick up my daughter our banter includes, “What’s for dinner?” Today, in opening my emailed daily thought from Real Simple I saw that it had 18 time-saving tips attached. One I liked is to put the kids in the driver’s seat answering the question of “What’s for dinner?”

I think I will try putting each kid in charge of planning a meal one night a week. Of course, I might have to put some stipulations on my son because I can predict that he will take the easy way out and say, “Pizza.” We live too far away from Danville to order carryout, but we eat a lot of frozen pizza. Sometimes, the kind we buy, Red Baron, is on sale for $3.33 each, so that’s not too bad.

The real simple tip says the rules are a different menu every night and only one pasta dish per week. A dish duty signup is part of the plan.

Anyway, I’m going to try this experiment of putting the kids in charge. We’ll see how it goes.

We’ve been printing a lot of honor rolls lately in The Advocate and I’m sure those earners of good grades expect some type of reward. One I just heard about recently is a free scoop of ice cream at Graeter’s. This store has four Lexington locations, Palomar on Harrodsburg Road, Tates Creek Road, Romany Road and Helmsdale Place.
The scoop is offered to students in kindergarten through eighth-grade. It’s a “promotional” scoop, which is smaller, than what you would pay for. Children have a choice of a plain sugar cone or a cup.
Bring in the report card to have it initialed.
Even kids who didn’t make the honor roll are eligible. All you need is one A or an equivalent to an A. Homeschooled students can participate if they show their report card.
When asked many children take advantage of the honor, the clerk I talked to simply, said, “Tons.”

The forecast says get ready for maybe 6 inches of snow. That prompted my husband to stop putting off buying a set of tires. They look really nice. They should. And for $700 you get three free oil changes. He told me about a few other perks, but I guess I couldn’t focus after I heard $700. Wow.

In case you’re postponing buying tires, you might want to act. The tire store clerk told my husband that the price of tires probably will rise three times this year because of an embargo on tires from China. In the long run, the embargo is good for us because it saves jobs at U.S. tire plants.

Hey, I don’t get many comments, but “When did we get so boring?” was the one my girlfriend — my alleged best girlfriend — offered on my post about children’s clothing. I always call her with my doctor questions so maybe a medical post would be more intriguing. My mother, who I share a birthday with, recently had a stroke. She was 41 the day I was born, so now she is 87. A couple of weeks after the stroke, she had another one. She knows some things and not others. For instance, she can’t remember how to flush a commode, but my dad decided they would make their annual journey to Florida. When they arrived at the condo, she immediately noticed that the old shag carpeting had been replaced with berber. I bet my dad didn’t notice that.

Here is the big medical tip pertaining to my mother’s condition. She had to get a primary care physician, so when she went to the office visit, she couldn’t even remember her name. The doctor determined my mom had a serious urinary tract infection, which causes senility in older people. I didn’t know that. They put my mom on antibiotics and she is much better.

I’ve always said if I’m doing as well as she is at 87, I’ll be pretty happy. She’s someone who always looked younger than her age and acted it, too. I know this is the beginning of my mom’s decline and I’m sad about that. But if your elderly relatives ever start acting senile, think about checking for a UTI.

Jennifer Brummett, mother of a 1 1/2-year-old, has some observations about how different brands of baby clothing fit. Here are her thoughts:

I’ll tell ya one of the greatest things ever: Okie Dokie “grow with you” pants. Okie Dokie is a JCPenney house brand, and these pants feature an elastic waist and, like, cuffs at the bottom (only they’re like sweats — they’re tapered in to conform to the ankle) that can be turned up if the baby is shorter, and turned down as he grows. They’re great “romper” pants, and I have several pairs in different colors for Beckett.
Brands that I think tend to be small: Gerber and Child of Mine (a Carter’s branch) and some Carter’s items
Brands that I think tend to be a proper fit  but with little or no room to grow: Ralph Lauren, OshKosh, Old Navy (although Old Navy does make nice, stretchy, two-piece jammies that are great)
Brands that I think have room to grow, have good stretch or might even run a little big: Tommy Hilfiger; Baby Gap; The Children’s Place; Gymboree
In addition, Gap has a “range size” as I call it — in other words, items are 12-18 months or 18-24 months. My big boy can wear 18-24 months stuff — but not straight 18 months stuff. He’s too big.

Gap is my favorite, and the best place to find it is online, at eBay — recycling clothes is always a good thing.

Gymboree DOES make items — pants, specifically — with an adjustable waist, making them more appropriate in the “room to grow” list. I just put a pair of these on Beckett this morning.
Shoes

For indoor shoes, BTW, I’m quite partial to Robeez (found at Kids Alley) and Jack and Lily (a Canadian brand. They make really, really, REALLY cute shoes with soft, suede-feeling soles. I haven’t tried any of the harder-soled Robeez, but I’m looking for a bargain!

For kids walking, Stride Rite makes a number of styles, sizes and colors. I liked SR b/c my son has EXTRA-wide feet, and Stride Rite makes extra-wide shoes.

Twila Montgomery of Danville, who is mother of 1-year-old Parker, shares a few ways she has found to save money.

Gas drops at Dollar General Store are $3.75 for an ounce compared to $8 for 1⁄2 ounce of Mylicon. The Equate brand is about $6 for 1 ounce.

Montgomery also likes the Fisher Price and Gerber items at the Dollar General stores. When buying clothing, she makes sure it’s on sale.

“Kohl’s has a line of clothes called Jumping Bean and will have each piece for $4.”

As far as equipment and clothing, she shopped for big items at yard sales and borrowed from friends.

“When my son was not using an item, I sold it on Craigslist and used that money to buy an item we needed.”

Diapers are a major expense. She buys them in bulk at Sam’s. Making her own baby food was another avenue for savings.

“I made my own baby food when he was on stage one foods. I steamed or boiled vegetables and blended them in a Magic Bullet and froze them in ice trays for easy single servings.”

She didn’t rely much on baby food.

“Once he was eating bigger foods I stopped wasting money on the expensive foods made by Gerber and bought similar items in adult foods.”

For formula, she bought the Parents Choice brand from Walmart for $13 a can compared to $26 a can for the same in Enfamil.

When eating out, she skipped the kids meal at restaurants. “I just let him eat off our plate.”

If you have more baby savings tips, e-mail me at emily.toadvine@gmail.com. I’m also interested in how senior citizens save money. If you have some tips, e-mail or call me at (859) 936-0352.

I attended a land auction near my house and while I didn’t have any money to buy the land, an older man did. He didn’t have any plans for the land, but he reasoned that it was a better investment than letting the money sit in the bank.
For those of us who don’t have stacks of money, but who would like to earn a little bit on what we do have, two local banks are offering a good interest rate on checking accounts. The catch is: you have to go paperless.
Bluegrass Bank on the Danville bypass is offering 4 percent on this type of checking account and Farmers National Bank, which locations in Danville and the surround towns, is offering 3 percent.
There are a few other criteria. For instance, you need $100 to open the account.
Farmers has opened almost 500 of the new accounts, which it labeled Performance Plus Checking, since March. Traci Jones, senior vice president in charge of retail banking at Farmers National Bank, said they started offering Performance Plus Checking in March, but didn’t advertise it until a couple months later. The bank thought it would be an attractive product for younger personnel who work out of the area, Jones says.
“We can afford to pay more interest on the account because of the actions of the customer saving us money.”
One of the stipulations for the account is the debit card must be used for 12 credit transactions a month.
Jones says using the debit card costs less than when a paper item is used. The bank earns more interchange fees from a credit action.
Another criteria is at least one direct deposit or an automatic transfer from the account. This saves money because the bank doesn’t have to process the item with staff.
An attractive perk is the bank will refund all ATM fees for people who have to use other banks’ ATM up to $30 a month. They also throw in a free order of checks a year.
Now I don’t have to worry about this, but anything more than $25,000 in the account only earns 1 percent.
If I fail to meet the criteria, than the default rate is paid on the entire balance, which .1 percent.

At Bluegrass

Bluegrass Bank has many of the same criteria for its ABC Checking Account, which stands for Added Benefits Checking. For instance, any amount above $25,000 earns the minimum NOW rate.
Melanie Wilson, customer service supervisor at Bluegrass Bank, says there are four criteria: Direct deposit or automatic debit, such as paying an electric bill; 10 debit card transactions; one bill pay transaction where manually go in and approve payment; and sign up for e-statement.
Bluegrass made the offer when it opened in March, and Wilson says about 250 people have opened this type of account since August.
The account comes with a free debit card, unlimited check writing and free boxes of checks. All foreign ATM charges are refunds. Online, the account holder sees monthly image statements, which shows images of checks.
So if you’ve been puzzled about some way to earn interest and have access to the Internet, these accounts might be worth checking out.
If you have any pros or cons to add about this type of banking, e-mail at emily.toadvine@gmail.com or comment at my blog, http://kyvoice.com/amnews/tweaking.

Megan Gregory Walz, who graduated from Danville High (‘93) and Centre College (‘97) now lives in Louisville, but is bringing her custom jewelry to her hometown. W & M Custom Jewelry, which offers handcrafted, one-of-a-kind necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, will have a trunk show 5-7 p.m. tonight at Jr’s General Store on Fourth St. Walz sent photos of some of the beautiful jewelry that she and her business partner, Becky McClelland, made. Walz says the business focuses on providing special gemstones and vintage pieces combined with the highest quality of sterling and vermeil findings.
Walz says the company’s designs can be found in several exclusive boutiques in Kentucky and Tennessee.  www.wandmjewelry.com

Walz says making the connection with a Danville store was not hard. Even though she moved to Louisville after graduation, she often visits her parents here.

My co-worker and friend Jennnifer Brummett passes along this info: The best place ever for gift wrapping of all kinds and quick, easy, inexpensive party decorating is The Dollar Tree, hands down. I bought some really pretty tissue paper for gift bags, a few tiny gift bags, plus bags for wine bottles. And, of course, everything is a dollar. They have SOOOO much. It’s totally worth a look-see.
As far as decorating goes, The Dollar Tree also offers party necessities, such as invitations, banners, plates, hats. I didn’t want to go big and fancy for Beckett’s first birthday because — hey, he’s a year old, he didn’t care. So I bought a few cute things there (his family supplied some more stuff, but that’s a totally different thing).
If you’re looking to give cute, inexpensive goody bags to your child’s class party there are lots of cute things available — seasonal and not.

Here is a thought of the day I receive in an email from Real Simple magazine:

“Buying something on sale is a very special feeling. In fact, the less I pay for something, the more it is worth to me.” ―Rita Rudner

These tips for businesses come from a newsletter from Blaine Staat, Liberty’s chamber of commerce coordinator. I thought they merited sharing.

Marketing Tip of the Month
Say “Yes” instead of “No” on your store signs whenever you can.  Consider the following typical signs that people might see when they walk into a store:
“No Smoking”
“No Checks w/o 2 Forms of ID”
“No Returns After30 Days”
Compare that with:
“Yes!  This is a Smoke-Free Store”
“Yes!  We Accept Checks (with 2 forms of ID)”
“Yes!  We Allow Returns (within 30 days)”
It’s the same information, except now it’s positive, not negative.  You’re telling your customers what they can do, instead of what they can’t.
In those cases where you must say “No”, at least let your customers know that you would if you could.  Apologize first:
“We’re Sorry! No Public Restrooms”
Afew carefully chosen words can make all the difference!

Amen. I know the attitude of store employees can make all the difference. If they are friendly and helpful, I feel better about shopping there. If I feel like they could care less, I might take my business elsewhere. With all the temporary help hired this time of year, I sometimes witness this “I could care less attitude.” We’ve all got some Christmas shopping to do. Hope the experiences are positive ones. If you have any great gift ideas, please contact me.