First the good news. DW deposited my re-imbursement check from the Scout Pack for our recent campout last night. Also newly arriving in the old checking account were four small (less than $1 each) deposits.

I had signed up for two online accounts the other day and had them link to my checking account. One was a BoA checking, which will give me $75 after 3 months if I fund my account with at least $125. The other is an online savings account that pays 2.25% (paltry, but the best out there). It's Ally bank, formerly GMAC bank. Anyway, in order to link to my checking, they each made two small deposits into my checking. Total of $1.28. So the entire amount of $133.56 got sent to Kroger today, briging my total down to $4246.37. That alone will save me $1.67 in interest. Not a lot, but it all adds up.

Now for the "not so good" news. I did the math yesterday, and although my Kroger card says that my APR is supposed to be 13.74%, I figured that my effective rate is much higher. If you take where last month's bill started, subtract what I paid, and add what I charged, you get $3782.63. I paid $48.93 on this amount.

That's just over 15.5%!!!! This is because of the "average daily balance". I undestand that this is a normal accounting procedure, where they calculate what the average balance was over the last 30 days, then apply the 13.74% on a daily basis (broken into 365 "daily percentage rates"). But from a practical standpoint, from the way that it affects my budget, the balance that I carry on this credit card is being hit with 15.5% interest! I'm going deeper and deeper into debt each month. This is not the "slow and steady" that I was looking for!

So, I've decided it's time to send that balance out into the wide world of promotional offers again. I had wanted to avoid getting any more credit cards, but the benefit well outweighs the costs, which in this case is just a hit to my principles.

[Principles? We don't need no skinkin' principles]

So I'll apply for some credit cards that have "0% for 12 month" offers. I'll have to pay 3% for the "privilege" of transferring the balance, but even then I'm still ahead on the balance sheet. I'm also probably going to start transferring out that $9000 balance on the BoA card...perhaps even to another BoA card!

Oh, one other positive. We received our checks in the mail yesterday from Kroger from our bonus points. I can just hear it now...

...is that all the points a store can give? NOOO!!! What time is it! BONUS POINTS TIME!!!

[....anyone? Anyone?! aw c'mon. Some of you have kids. I'll give you a hint...it's on PBS, and features a talking dog]

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, BONUS POINTS...er...sorry...cash rebate checks from the Kroger Corporation. A total of $100 worth of them.

Add to that the personalized coupons we get (which are great because Kroger prints them based on your purchase history) which includes a "$10 off a $100 purchase" coupon, and I can send $110 to the credit card company next week!

Until next time...