For Savings You Can Crow About, Get Creative With This Kind of Chicken!

About the cheapest type of meat you can buy is chicken leg quarters bought in five or ten pound bags. I eat a lot of that, even though I don’t like dark meat.

I won’t eat meat from thighs or legs off the bone. I just don’t like the taste. But at 70-80¢ a pound, it’s a good, cheap source of meat. So, I buy it in bulk, cook it enough so I can easily strip it from the bones, then put it in freezer bags and freeze it. (Don’t use the thin-walled plastic bags.)

I currently have about four pounds of such meat in my freezer. With this meat, I will do the following:

• Chop it, cook it on the stove top with barbecue sauce and make myself a chicken-meat sloppy Joe.
• Put some teriyaki sauce in the bag, leave it in the fridge overnight and use it for stir fry.
• Slice it, cook it a few minutes in a little olive oil in a frying pan, add mushrooms, paprika, sour cream and cooked noodles to make chicken stroganoff.
• Cook it the same way except this time add mushrooms, sour cream, grated parmesan cheese and either fresh or thawed, drained frozen spinach, a little basil, and a little garlic powder to make my version of chicken florentine.
• Layer it with spaghetti sauce, cheese and spinach for chicken lasagna.
• Chop it fine in my blender (I have a grate setting) and use it to make chicken spathetti.
• Chop it up, brown it in a pan with a little olive oil, some corn, black beans, onions, a chopped tomato, and a little red chili powder, add some sour cream, then use this mixture to fill steamed tortillas. (Add cheese and a few avocado chunks before you wrap the tortillas.)

In short, if you also don't dig dark meat, just disguise the taste with sauces, spices, herbs or marinades and you can make a number of delicious, meaty dishes….with the meat costing a fraction of what beef, pork or even white-meat chicken would.

Plus, if you precook it in bulk (I'll cook ten pounds worth in the oven) strip off the bones and store it in one-pound bags in the freezer, you'll have meat you can thaw and use in a few minutes. That can cut a surprising amount of time off your cooking, especially if you make double batches and freeze half to create your own microwaveable frozen dinners.

So...save money....save time....with cheap chicken!

Take Care When Using Craigslist...Well, Just Take Care, Period

I think Craigslist is a great site, but you do shop at your own risk. The "flagging" system helps somewhat, but you still need to be careful.

Case in point? After writing my previous post on hunting for used cars, (see below) I was rather idly browsing through a list of small trucks of Craigslist and, curious, sent emails requesting mileage info to the sellers of two suspiciously inexpensive vehicles, a Nissan Frontier and a Toyota Tundra.

Here's what I got back from "Mark Johnson" on the Frontier.

Hi,I am selling this car because I am being dispatched to the Gulf of Aden.I will be there for more than a year and I’ve cut the price because I must sell before July 30th.The car is in great condition, no rust, no electrical or mechanical problems. I have a clean title ready to be signed. It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad .The car is in the Billings MT, and in case it gets sold I will take care of shipping.Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Now, if you've ever used the car/trucks section of Craigslist, you'll notice a warning at the top about how any offer to ship a car is "100% fraudulent. So the Billings, MT bit was a red flag. I mean, who's going to sell a vehicle at a very cheap price and also offer to ship it free from Montana to Dallas?

But it got better. I opened the email reply to my inquiry about the Tundra, also listed with a suspiciously low price.

This time, the reply was from "George Lucas" --now there's an original name.

Hi,I am selling this car because I am being dispatched to the Gulf of Aden.I will be there for more than a year. I’ve cut the price because I must sell before July 25th.The car is in great condition, no rust, no scratches. I have a clean title ready to be signed. No electrical or mechanical problems. It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad ($3500) .The car is in the Dallas area. in case it gets sold I will take care of shipping.Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Yes, a late model Toyota Tundra for $3500. This time, he was offering to ship the car from Dallas, which is interesting for someone advertising in the Dallas/Fort Worth area....Dallas is 50 miles away and one would assume that the Tundra could be driven that far, no?

And don't you love the implication that he's in the military?

I replied to both posts with the word SCAMMER in 36 point bold type. I tried to go back and flag the ads, but they're already gone; obviously, other people had no problem figuring out that this guy was a crook.

So watch for these people. They are out there, doing their best to ruin a good thing. Read those warnings on the uppper right of the Craigslist page so you'll know some of the tricks scammers pull. Then flag them if you find them.....and never let your hopes for a great deal override your good sense.

Before You Go Shopping for A New (Or Gently Used) Set of Wheels

For those of you checking out the “cash for clunkers” (CFC) option, a few extra pieces of information:

1) This option really only makes sense if you truly have an old clunker, something along the lines of Quartermain, my GMC van. (Don’t tell him I called him a clunker!) At 15 years old and 260,000+ miles, I doubt his trade in value would be over $2000, so it would make sense for me to use the CFC rebate option and get a $4500 allowance for a new van or truck. If you have a car that can be traded in or sold for more than the $3500-$4500 CFC allowance, you’d want to go that route. Any “clunker” used for the CFC incentive will be scrapped, so it’s an either-or deal: trade-in allowance or CFC rebate, but not both.

2) If you’re wondering what kind of mileage rating your potential “clunker” has—and if it will qualify you for the CFC rebate—try this website: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/. It provides info on mpg ratings for a variety of cars, new and used.

3) To check out the prices of new or used cars online, try these sites. (Remember, the CFC rebate can only be used for new cars.)

- http://www.edmunds.com/ provides prices, reviews and ratings of both new and used cars. There’s also a handy feature that lets you get an idea of how much any particular model will cost to own and operate over its lifetime and a Search feature that lets you find specific makes and models for sale in your area.

- http://www.motortrends.com/ also provides reviews and information on both new and used cars and a local Search feature. (Both the Edmunds and Motortrend sites seem to feature only cars being sold by dealers.) There’s also a page that will let you know what rebates or incentives are currently being offered by car manufacturers and dealers.

- http://www.craigslist.com/, the on-line "classified ad" site. Just make sure you select your local city or state in the right hand column before searching. Also, be cautious when responding to ads for “owner” sold cars; there are scammers out there who pose as car owners when they’re actually dealers, and even some who’ll try to pull a version of the classic Nigerian scam by promising to ship you a car if you’ll just send them the money. You'll also see a lot of ads repeating as they're posted day by day.

A few last suggestions:

- Do your comparison shopping before you actually start looking at cars. Knowing what your target make and model sells for in your area will help you know if you've really found a good deal.

- Before going to look at used cars (which are usually sold with little or no warranty) ask your mechanic to give you some tips on checking a car for basic defects, (oil leaks, worn shocks, etc.) so you can eliminate cars with obvious problems. Then ask his cost for examining a car that passes that initial once-over. Most mechanics will check a car for a reasonable fee, and knowing that you’ll have the car examined before you buy it will deter crooks who are trying to palm off a junker. I’ve never bought anything but used cars in almost forty years of driving and I’ve never had an honest seller refuse to let me have the car examined.

- Take a friend with you when you go to look at a car, especially if you’re buying one from a private owner. The presence of a witness will often come in handy and it's safer when there’s two of you.

- Check with your Department of Motor Vehicles and see how car titles are handled in your state. (Each state is different.) Make sure you learn the difference between a “clean” title (meaning that the seller owns the car outright ) and a title that shows that the car comes with some kind of lien that must be paid off before you’ll actually own the car.

- If you’ll have to get a loan to buy your car, check rates and fees with local banks, savings and loans and credit unions for the best terms and prices. If you find good financing, see if you can get prequalified for a loan. There’s nothing worse than finding the exact car you want at a great price and either having to accept a dealer’s high interest loan, or having the deal fall through because you can’t qualify for a loan.

Good luck!

These Folks Just Never Give Up!

Well, I see the crooks are still busy.

I received this little communiqué in the form of an email a few minutes ago.

Dear Customer,

American State Bank carrying out a major system upgrade. This upgrade became necessary following recent security threats. Consequently, in the next few days, you may notice temporary interruption when using online banking to access your account. To experience a smoother and more secure online banking, please update your information in our records. The link below will guide you through the process:http://secure-banking.online.com. Please note that this one time exercise is mandatory for all American State Bank customers. For security reasons, we may suspend your account if your information is not updated.We sincerely regret any inconvenience.

Susan Flinn
Head of Online Banking

My computer, rather intelligently, put this email in the Junk Mail folder. Unfortunately, it’s something a little more sinister than junk mail. It’s a scam, and a nasty one.

Clues? This thing is riddled with them.

First, I know what banks I have accounts at and American State Bank isn’t one of them. (By the way, there's a ASB logo graphic on the original email and it's meaningless. Anyone can swipe such a logo just by copying it off the real bank’s website.)

Then there’s the line about “recent security threats” designed to scare anyone who receives this email into responding immediately. Scammers love to scare people into acting without thinking, so this is boilerplate scam language.

Next, we have the call to update my “information” in their records, so that I can experience “more secure” (another scare phrase) online banking. I don’t do any online banking, (this kind of thing is one of the reasons why) so that’s another red flag. What kind of information do they want me to provide? I'm willing to bet it's exactly the kind they could use to steal my identity.

Then notice the link provided. (I’ve removed a few letters from the link to keep anyone from accidently clicking on it and going to the crook’s website.) The link itself doesn’t even have the “secure” https --note the s--prefix that real financial institutions use. (The use of the word “secure” in the link is meaningless.) I’m tempted to click on this thing—I’m sure this link will take me to a webpage where I’ll be asked for information that a thief could use—but I won’t because the webpage might also be armed with a virus or worm that could end up on my computer.

Finally, it says that going to that link and typing in—what? Name, address, social security number—is mandatory. If I don’t do it, they’ll suspend that fictional account of mine. Another classic scare tactic.

Sorry, Ms. Flinn. Ain’t gonna bite on your hook.

If you receive something like this, neither should you. (If it’s for a bank you actually use, call that bank first.)


P. S. I went to the real American State Bank website, and here’s the first thing you see. The red coloring is theirs.

EMAIL SCAM – URGENT

Some community residents have received an unauthorized email appearing to come from American State Bank. The message encourages readers to click on a link claiming to be secure and provide their bank-on-line password information. If you receive this email, please do not respond or click on the link. It is a fraudulent email and could allow for criminals to obtain your personal financial information. If you have already received this email and provided your personal information, please contact ASB Customer Service immediately at 1-800-531-1401. A representative will help you determine preventative steps such as closing your account, deactivating your debit/credit card and/or changing your Bank-on-line passwords.

Frugal and Flexible

One of my favorite mantras is “When in doubt, cheat.”

Not cheating in the sense of being dishonest or crooked. I’m talking about looking for other ways to do things when the usual, common, regular or “normal” methods don’t work.

Or, to put it in different words: “There’s always a way.”

If you need something and don’t have the necessary money, don’t give up. Look for another way to get what you want. See if you can find cheaper methods or materials to use. If you really look, it’s surprising how what seems unattainable is actually in reach.

Case in point? My new desk.

My office is in what was originally a 10 x 10 bedroom. I spend a lot of time there and was getting increasingly frustrated by what I had in the way of workspace, an old 3 ½’ x 5’ army surplus desk, a large desk, but still too small for my needs.

My printer was on a rickety little table off to one side and I had to slide between the desk and the wall to get at it. My binders sat stacked on another table in another corner, my file cabinet was off to one side and the desk itself was always covered with piles of paper and stacks of files. Since the desk’s height was made for pen-and-paper writing, it was too high to me to comfortably type on my laptop. To handle my monthly bills and check my bank statements, I had to go to a different desk in another room.

It. Drove. Me. Nuts.

I wanted one of those sleek, wrap-around corner desks. I actually wanted two, one in each corner, with a section in the middle to connect them, a lower section, for my laptop.

I checked a few office supply stores and some catalogs. Just one of those desks would cost at least $250. To get what I really wanted, I’d need two, and even then, they wouldn’t reach the full length of the room.

I can't afford $500. So...."find a way.” Was there a way to get at least get 80% of what I wanted at 50% of the cost?

Of course.

The first thing I noticed about those desks was the basic shape…a square with one corner cut away in a curve. I sat down with some graph paper and started calculating what I could fit in my 10 x 10 room. (Tip: You’ll save a lot of money if you graph first and cut wood later.) A 4’ x 4’ piece would fit in each corner, leaving me with space for a two-foot wide central connecting section for my laptop. I could make those two corner sections out of a 4’ x 8’ piece of wood, yes?

Yes! A call down to Lowes, followed by a trip, and I’d bought and had Lowes saw in half (for free) a 4’ x 8’ length of that handy material, medium density fiberboard, or MDF. Cost? $26.

But before I turned my living room into a workshop, I had to solve a much tricker question. What the heck was I going to do for legs? There'd be lot of stuff sitting on this desk. Laptop, printer, TV, VCR, binders, a bill-paying station….I needed sturdy legs. I also wanted legs that I could easily remove, so I could disassemble the desk to store or ship if I needed to.

You can buy wooden legs that attach to plates screwed to the underside of the table surface. I looked at ‘em and wasn’t impressed. They seemed flimsy, unreliable and were nearly $12 apiece.
I needed eight legs. I didn’t want to pay $96 for them.

Here’s where the flexibility comes in.

I started wandering the aisles at Lowes. Was there anything I could adapt to use for legs?

Thick-walled 1” PVC pipe? Difficult to solidly attach, too hard to disassemble later. 2” dowels? Same problem. Pieces of wood? Too clunky and too expensive.

I found myself in the plumbing aisle, and suddenly pulled up short in front of the rows of 10’ lengths of galvanized pipe. Now those looked strong!

120” each. I needed 28” legs. I could get four legs cut from each pipe, at a price of $45 for eight legs.

But how to fasten them to the tabletop?

$2.65 each for round, four-screw flanges. One to attach each “leg” to the MDF, one on the other end to serve as a foot. Very solid. And Lowe's would cut the pipes and thread the ends for me, free.

I now had all the pieces. I got to work. Saw, drill, attach the flanges to the MDF, screw screw the pipes into the flanges, then four coats of enamel paint on the top. Add a piece of scrap wood in the center, bolted beneath the other pieces to give me a lower area for my laptop, and I have a new desk.

With more than 10 extra square feet of surface area, with my laptop sitting two inches lower, a lot more open space in the center of the room, it’s much more efficient and comfortable. The only thing I would change would be to cut the curves a little shallower, for even more surface area.

Cost? Less than $160.

I like it better than the desks I saw at the stores. (None of them is my favorite shade of green.) It’s bigger than those desks. And it cost almost two-thirds less. Win-win-win.

When you want something--and can't really afford it--look around. See if you can adapt something to your needs.

Keep your eyes and your mind open. You’d be surprised at the money problems a little flexibility can solve.

Do you have any stories of ways you've handled a problem like this by "repurposing" something? Leave a comment and share your ingenuity with others!

Maybe You CAN Buy a New Car....Soon!

If you’ve been wishing you had enough down-payment cash to take advantage of the current dip in car prices, wait just a little longer. Your old fuel gulper may soon be your ticket to a great deal.

Congress has just passed a “cash for clunkers” bill that provides incentives for people to replace their gas guzzlers with higher mpg cars. Trade in a car getting 18 mpg or less and you can obtain a rebate voucher for $3500 that you can use to buy a car that gets at least 22 mpg. Find a car that gets at least 10mpg more than the one you have now and you can get a voucher for $4500.

Do you own a SUV, minivan or a pickup truck? Get a voucher for $3500 if you trade it in for something that gets at least 2 mpg more than what you’re driving now, or $4500 for one with a rating at least 5 mpg higher.

(There are a few more conditions involved. First, your gas guzzler must be over five years old, in working condition and registered for at least the past 120 days. So buying a wreck for a few bucks and having it towed to a car dealership ain't gonna work.)

Make a great deal on a new, high mpg car and that incentive could end up paying as much as one-third the cost. That could really shrink your monthly payments.

Now, if you want to pay a little more and effectively cut your gas costs in half, you might try one of these cars. Some of them boost ratings of 50 mpg or more.

Start by doing a little research now to determine what your needs are and what kind of car will meet them. But just make sure the President has signed this bill into law before you sign on the dotted line.

(Me? Though tempted, I’m not quite ready to trade in Quartermain. Yet.

Not...quite...yet.

Don't tell Quartermain I'm even thinking about it, or he'll wait until I'm on the most remote country road possible, in the middle of the night, when it's raining and I don't have my cell phone...and then he'll die on me. Just to teach me a lesson. Very touchy creatures, old cars.)