Tuesday's tid-bit...

Monday's value meal...

Happy Labor Day everyone, since this is the weekend known for enjoying everything outdoors and enjoying the last of the Summer I thought I would keep it simple and stick with Hamburgers for the grill.  As with the hot dogs that I did earlier this Summer, you can make a burger any way you like.  My personal favorites are fresh avocado, a fresh tomato slice from my garden and mayonnaise on a Kaiser roll, or roasted green pepper with pineapple on a Kings Hawaiian Roll for a great Hawaiian burger.  I have found some other great combinations of buns and toppings over the years as well so experiment and see what you like.

So today is no basic burger recipe, how about a wine burger on the grill?  I have never tried this but when I found the recipe it sounded like something I want to try...SOON! 

The Wine Burger

•2lbs ground beef

•8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

•1/2 cup Sangria (or other red wine of your choice)

•4 slices sharp cheddar (cut at least 1/4” thick) or 8 slices American cheese

•4 hamburger buns

•Lettuce, tomato slices, pickles, onion…whatever you like on a burger

1.In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, bacon, and wine. Lightly toss until evenly mixed.

2.Form eight patties slightly larger in diameter than the buns. Remember to press lightly just until the patties hold together for the lightest, juiciest results.

3.Place one chunk of cheddar or 2 slices of American cheese in the center of four patties. Add a smear of mustard if desired.

4.Top each one with the remaining patties and press lightly together, sealing the edges.

5.Fry or grill, turning once, until the patties are seared on the outside and cooked to your preference on the inside.

6.Serve them on buns with the toppings of your choice.

 

---Main course---

$2.00 off any fresh beef when you purchase any two Snyder's of Hanover 16 oz pretzels or tortilla chips, 10 oz flavored pieces, nibblers or pretzel chips. (Coupon is about 3/4 of the way down the page.)

$1.00 off one Bull's Eye Regional BBQ Sauce

$0.50 off one French's Mustard, you will need to sign up for their email news letter.

$0.75 off one Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise (you will need to fill out the form for them to mail it to you)

$1.00 off any size Wholly Guacamole

$1.00 off one Kraft Deli Deluxe or Deli Fresh Sliced Cheese

$4.00 off three President Fat Free Feta, Sorrento Fat Free or Low Fat Ricotta, Precious Fat Free or Low Fat Ricotta or The Skinny Cheese (you get a free cookbook with this offer as well.) 

$0.75 off one HORMEL® Fully Cooked Bacon product

$0.55 off any two HORMEL® chili products

---Salad---

$1.00 off one Olivia's Organic Salad

$1.00 off  any two Litehouse products

---Vegetable---

$0.60 off three any variety Green Giant® Frozen Boxed Vegetables

$0.40 off one any variety 19 OZ. - 24 OZ. Green Giant® Frozen Bagged Vegetables

---Beverage---

$1.00 off one Starbucks Frappuccino Coffee Drink Multi pack when you create your own bottle artwork. (the link is along the bottom of the page) 

-or-

$0.55 off one Real California Milk

---Dessert---

$0.50 off two Pillsbury Rolled Refrigerated Pie Crust

$1.00 off any two Lucky Leaf Pie Filling

$1.00 off one Blue Bunny Premium Ice Cream

I hope you are all having a great Labor Day!

C.Q. 

Sunday's media madness...

As I have mentioned in the past I love to read, and as you may know, after books I love to read my travel magazines.  Although I enjoy them very much I actually get more out of reading magazines on where I live, they keep me informed on the things going on in the area and great deals I may not find elsewhere.  I currently subscribe to the Duluth Superior Magazine which is specific to my area but there is also a great publication called Lake Superior which encompasses a larger area and is great when we plan our one day adventures and over night mini vacations.  On occasion I like to check out the Minnesota magazine as well for travel ideas within the state. All the Magazine sites I like, Magazines.com, SubscriptionOffers.com, DiscountMagazines.com and MagazineBargains.com have the same price of $14.95 with-in pennies for a 12 month subscription.

So where do you live?  I have a great friend in Billings Montana and they have three publications for the state, Montana Magazine, Distinctly Montana Magazine and Montana Outdoors.  The lowest price for the Montana Magazine was at Discount Magazines, $22.99 for 6 issues,  The lowest for the Distinctly Montana Magazine was $19.99 for 4 issues, also at Discount Magazines, and a Montana Outdoors six issue subscription is $9.00 at all of the providers.  For something more localized they have a magazine specifically for her area, Billings, called Magic, it is $29.00 for the year and like the Duluth Superior Magazine it needs to be purchased through the company that prints the magazine.  Going the other direction, I have a Nephew that lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and while they don't have a magazine specific to the location he is in, there is a wonderful periodical for the Boston area called simply, Boston Magazine, you can get a 12 issue subscription for only $9.99 at Magazines.com, there is also a nice publication for the outdoor enthusiast called Massachusetts Wildlife Magazine, a 4 copy subscription is only $5.99 at Discount Magazines.

One of the other publications that is wonderful if you live in an area that they are offered is the Time Out series, they have grown quite a bit over the years and offer weekly information on Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York just to name a few in the US as well as internationally from Vancouver to Sydney to Dubai to Paris, if you are planning on traveling or just what to find out whats going on in your neck of the woods these are great and the company is growing each year to include more place.

I was also able to find some coupon codes to help you along the way, Magazines.com is offering $5.00 of a select list of magazines, use coupon code fall_5off and MagazineBargains.com has a coupon listed for 10% off your purchase using coupon code SAVE10.

I hope this encourages you to check out some of the publication in your local area and start seeing things you never knew were at your own back door.

Have a great weekend all!

C.Q.

Banking on your savings...

You may have noticed that as interest rates have dropped the fees that banks charge has gone up, and free checking is now a thing of the past.  Its important now to be up to date on the fees your bank is charging and some of the ways you may be able to avoid getting nickled and dimed to death. 

For today lets just stick with the basic checking account, things that used to be free in the not to distant past included no minimum balance, interest on your balance, a paper statement, free ATM usage and free checks.  Starting this summer with the new fees all that's going to chance.  I am going to compare the two largest banks in our area, US Bank and Wells Fargo.  First lets look at what has happened to your $100 checking account balance with US Bank Regular checking account (these fees are varied by state):

Opening balance = $100.00

$12.00 monthly maintenance fee which you can avoid only if your account stays above $750.00
$3 each statement cycle to return canceled checks with your statement

Just these two fees alone mean that if you left your $100 in the bank for just a little over 6 month you would have a zero balance.

Now lets assume you actually use your account, if you need to reorder any checks their site doesn't offer any free ones and the cost varies depending on what type of checks you need, but no need to worry if you run out before they get to you, US Bank will give you 6 checks and 2 deposits slips for $3.00.  There is no fee for using a US Bank ATM but if you stray out of their network the fee will be $2.00 for each transaction, if you do this outside the US the fee rises to $5.00 per transaction. The fee to stop payment on a check has increased to a whopping $30.00, making it a better deal to let  $20.00 check clear for the item you never received off of eBay (this is a scam artists dream).  Oh and one more little thing, just because its your money don't assume you can have it whenever you want it, there is an Excess Withdrawal fee of $3.00 for each withdrawal/transfer during the statement cycle above the three. This fee applies to withdrawals and transfers at ATMs, teller lines, by telephone or by any other electronic means.  Have a nice day....

On to Wells Fargo:

Opening balance $100.00

$5.00 monthly maintenance fee which you can avoid only if you maintain a $1,500 average daily
There is no fee for getting a monthly statement mailed to you if you do not need copies of the checks, if you would like copies of your checks front and back then it is $1.00 per month for the classic 10 per page.

Again lets assume you don't forget about your account and want to actually use it, as with US Bank you can reorder checks but the fee varies by type of check and account that you have, again, if you forget to order early Wells Fargo will provide you with temporary check, just at a little bit more cost than US Bank, you get a sheet of 3 blank checks for $3.00 and no deposit slips.  Currently there appears to be no fees to use a Wells Fargo ATM, but again if you use another network your looking at an average fee of  $2.50 in the US and $5.00 internationally.  I was unable to find the current fee for a stop payment on a check, but back in 2005 it was $29.00, my guess it the price hasn't gone down. 

In general Wells Fargo is a little bit better on price than US Bank, but fees aside I do not personally bank with either one of these banks.  As a general rule I have found much better customer service and lower fees with either a local bank or a Credit Union.  I believe one of the reasons is just plain size, with any bank as big as these two customers just become a statistic and on an individual scale matter much less.  They are more apt to look at what is best for the bank and will make them money. Case and point, a federal judge just ordered Wells Fargo to pay California customers $203 million in restitution for claims that it had manipulated transactions to maximize the overdraft fees it charged.  Instead of putting the transactions through in the order they received them they were putting them through with the largest denominations first because if it put someones account in overdrawn status then they could charge per check any other amounts that went through.  Very lucrative for the bank since they received $1.8 billion in overdraft fees in just the state of California.  You can see the whole article in the New York Times.
 
The bottom line is to make sure you read all those little pieces of paper that come to you from the bank, whether they are in your statement or mail separately or sent via email, they all have information that may potentially affect your nest egg.  If its time to start looking for a new bank or credit union take a peek at the web site Find a Better Bank, you can put in the information for your area and what you are specifically looking for and that will get you headed in the right direction.
 
Hope you are all having a great start to the long weekend!
 
C.Q.

Friday's freebie...

If you are planning on hitting some of the great sales in the malls this weekend then be sure to take the time to head over to Chili's web site and sign up for their email news letter, when you register you will get a coupon for a free order of Skillet Queso and chips.

Hope you are all looking forward to a great weekend.

C.Q.

Thursdays picture perfect deal...

The picture...

These three Northern Pike were swimming around is a shallow area of Island Lake and I was able to get quite a few great shots of them.  It was spanning season and the female is the fish in the  middle with the two males vying for her attention.  She appears to have Blue Spot Disease which appears during spawning season when the water is cooler and goes away when the water warms up some.  Biologists have no idea what causes this in the fish, it usually doesn't hurt them any, but once they have it they will be a carrier of the disease for life.

The deal...

With Labor Day weekend around the corner there are a ton of great sales out there.  Today I chose Eddie Bauer's Labor Day blowout sale.  They have just about everything for every season on clearance. In the women's section I was able to find a V neck 3/4 sleeve shirt and a crew neck long sleeve shirt both for $5.00, marked down from their original prices of $20.00 and 24.00.  In the men's section I found pocket front T-shirt for $5.00 marked down from $24.50 and a 3/4 zipper pull over fleece sweatshirt for $9.99, marked down from its original price of $49.50.

I hope you all are having a great week and have a perfect weekend planned.

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

quorum  \KWOR-um\ ~ noun

DEFINITIONS:

1: a select group

2: the number (as a majority) of officers or members of a body that when duly assembled is legally competent to transact business

EXAMPLE: The town’s charter states that a quorum of at least nine members must be present before any voting by the town council can take place.

DID YOU KNOW? In Latin, "quorum" means "of whom," which is itself the genitive plural of "qui," meaning "who." At one time, Latin "quorum" was used in the wording of the commission issued to justices of the peace in England. In English, "quorum" initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present to constitute a legally sufficient bench. That sense is now rare, but it's not surprising that "quorum" has come to mean both "a select group" and "the minimum people required in order to conduct business."

~THE REBATE~

 

This seems like a good rebate with school starting;  Buy $20.00 of 3M Post-it permanent or removable labels and get $10.00 back by mail.  Your products must be purchased before 12/31/2010 and received by 2/28/2011.  You need the original cash register receipt or invoice together with the original UPC codes from the Post-it package(s) mailed in with the rebate form.  Although not specifically stated I believe it is fine to have multiple receipts that total up to $20.00 or more.  Only one rebate allowed per household. 

 

I hope you are all having a great week so far.

 

C.Q.