Grilling, Take Two

I am pleased to report that Grilling, Take Two was successful. This time, we used a new batch of real wood chips instead of charcoal, and used lighter fluid to get the fire started. The fire burned nice and hot, and we were able to get our burgers grilled to perfection. The weather was nice enough that we were able to sit outside and have a backyard picnic. Tonight’s menu:

Cheeseburgers (1/4 pound of 85% lean ground beef each, mixed with Worcestershire* sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper, celery salt, and just a hint of sugar! Grilled and topped with jack cheese, ketchup, and tomatoes.) Baked beans Dill pickles Ruffled potato chips

And to top it all off…

S’MORES!

With temperatures pushing 70F, it was a very nice dinner.

• A benefit of spending time in Massachusetts is that it’s not too hard to spell Worcestershire.

By Peter | 06.02.2005 | 07:20 PM | Permalink | Categories: Married Life | No Comments

Keep Scrolling

One of the perils of having a two-author blog is that one author’s long posts (i.e. mine) can force another author’s long posts (i.e. Becky’s) further down the page, and beyond the limits to which people typically scroll.

So this post is just to let you know that if you’ll keep scrolling past my most recent posts, you’ll see two nice, fresh posts that Becky made earlier today, and that I wouldn’t our readers to miss! Thanks!

By Peter | 04.11.2005 | 05:39 PM | Permalink | Categories: Married Life | No Comments

AT LAST!

Sorry for the title in all caps, but that’s how I feel about this:

This is the snapshot of our MBNA credit card account, our last remaining high-interest revolving debt. Yep, that’s right… after almost three years of hard work, we’ve finally got that high-interest debt monkey off of our backs.

I was pretty irresponsible with credit during my college years… I had two major credit cards, two store credit cards, and an Apple Loan from MBNA (which I had used to buy my PowerBook, Airport Base Station, and a bunch of other stuff when I realized I could access the credit line using checks). All of my cards and lines of credit were racked up to the max. I would just use them to buy whatever I wanted, without any clear plan on how to pay for everything. I think I realized that I had a problem, but wasn’t willing to deal with it, and I liked all of the stuff that I got with the credit. I just kept paying the minimum payments, and the debt just sat around and accrued interest. It wasn’t until I married Becky that things started to change. Having a financial responsibility to another person was a big wake-up call. With Becky’s help, and some careful planning, we started an aggressive plan for paying off the high interest debt I had accrued. We paid off the highest interest cards first, throwing as much money into the balances every month as we could possibly afford. Becky helped by teaching me to curb my spending habits, taking charge of food and grocery planning, watching for bargains, coupons, and cheap things, and helping enforce a savings plan.

Sure, I do occasionally have those pangs of wanting to go out and buy the latest and greatest gadgets… but I’ve learned that those are pretty irrational, and with some careful planning and budgeting, I have been able to buy some nice stuff without incurring any debt (the new camera, for example). I have also developed a much better ability to be content with what I have. My computers might be 4-5 years old, and they might not be able to run the latest software, but can they do the things I need them to do? Yes, they can.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we’re never going to use our credit card again. A credit card can be useful, as long as it is used responsbily. Don’t carry a balance from month to month. If you do charge something that is more expensive than you can pay within the current billing cycle, pay it off as quickly as possible, and certainly pay more than the minimum payment. Check to see if your card offers any promotional interest rates - for example, if you can get a 0% APR for three months, go ahead and buy that bigger-ticket item, as long as you have a plan to pay it off before the promotional period is over. Otherwise, you are going to be slammed with interest charges.

We do still have a fair amount of student loan debt kicking around. However, the interest rate is pretty low, and we’re on a fixed schedule for paying it off, so it is not as big of a concern. Granted, it is a pretty big chunk of money that we’re paying every month, but the education it helped us attain was well worth it. And of course, now that we’re no longer making huge payments to MBNA, we have the option of sending those funds over into our student loans - or savings accounts or other accounts as desired.

Anyway, this whole thing is really to say a big “Thank You” to Becky, for helping get our spending and debt under control. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

Update I should mention, by way of full disclosure, that we do still have one debt account other than our student loans… this is the credit account that I got through my dentist when I had to get a root canal. But it is 0% interest for a full year, and we do have a solid plan for paying it off, so this won’t cause any problems for us. Besides, it’s good to keep your teeth healthy.

By Peter | 03.23.2005 | 11:36 AM | Permalink | Categories: Married Life | 4 Comments

I ate the whole thing!

Becky and I just got back from a nice Friday night outing. First, we had dinner at Bennigan’s, which is one of those places we go only if we have a coupon or some other incentive. In this case, we had a coupon to get the “Big Irish Deal” - their “Big Irish” hamburger, plus unlimited french fries, for $7.99. Plus, if you managed to eat the whole hamburger and all of the fries, you could win a free dessert for your next visit. Well, I am quite pleased to report that I did manage to consume the whole burger and most of the fries (Becky nibbled a few). I believe that the burger contained two 1/2 pound beef patties, plus lots of American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles, and an extra bun in the middle. In fact, it was actually quite a decent burger. And I don’t feel too bad after having eaten it. I didn’t take advantage of the unlimited fries, because I ended up being full (!). I did, however, get the coupon for a free dessert on our next visit (aha, another ‘incentive’!).

After we were sufficiently satiated, we went to Market Basket for some much-needed groceries. I did a bit o’ photography, and tossed the photos up in the Grab Bag. (The Grab Bag is sort of our equivalent of the flickr photostream… a bunch of random photos that I don’t feel like putting in their own albums, arranged in reverse-chronological order. Start on page 1 to see the most recent photos.)

By Peter | 03.11.2005 | 08:33 PM | Permalink | Categories: Married Life | 1 Comment

Send her some love

My dear wife is home sick for the third day in a row today. She has a pretty awful respiratory bug that has had her up coughing every night, and feeling crummy during the day. She finally got a decent night’s sleep last night after I got her some NyQuil, but she’s still feeling pretty rotten.

Won’t you be kind and send her some well-wishes? I’ve disabled commenting on this post, so please drop her an email or an IM directly. If you don’t know her address or screen name, you can find that information on the Contact Us page linked from the top left corner of our site.

By Peter | 02.25.2005 | 09:55 AM | Permalink | Categories: Married Life | No Comments

My (Self-Assigned) Title

Chief Purchaser Of Unnecessary But Nonetheless Yummy Grocery Items

I think that the proclivity that caused me to assume this title is something that I picked up after 20 years of living with the King POUBNYGI, my father (Mom, I am sure you can chime in with some examples…). Becky is usually far too sensible, health-conscious, and thrifty to make such purchases herself, so the extremely difficult task usually “falls” to me.

Tonight I picked up a bag of “Hint of Lime” Tostitos, a package of AriZona diet iced tea mix, and two half-gallons of Edy’s ice cream. (Side note: at Stop and Shop, there is almost always at least one brand of ice cream that is on sale. This time it was buy-one-get-one-free for Edy’s ice cream.)

A POUBNYGI’s job is never done.

By Peter | 02.16.2005 | 08:43 PM | Permalink | Categories: Married Life | 5 Comments

Things I Love About My Wife

She has a smile that can make me happy under any circumstances. She packs lunches for me in the morning, whether she feels like it or not. She is fair and considerate and listens to all sides of a discussion, rarely taking a side herself. (She is always on my side, though…) She knows a million and one ways to cheer me up and make me smile. She uses the word ‘w00t’ both in writing and in verbal communication. She likes Taco Bell as much as I do. She is always on the same wavelength with me humor-wise, which is a pretty rare feat. She can cook, knit, sew, quilt, and write HTML code when the need arises. She has such a broad base of knowledge that she can start or participate in a conversation on pretty much anything. The things she doesn’t know, she admits, and is genuinely interested in learning about them. She has taught me the importance of saving money, spending less, being frugal, and shopping for bargains. Through this she has also helped reshape our family finances, moving us towards a debt-free existence. She has opened my mind to the world of musicals. I’ve seen/heard/enjoyed more in the past few years than I ever did in my the years before. And I tell you, it gives me a lot of fun songs to sing along to. She remembers pretty much everything. I’ve been trying to pick up some of this ability from her… but though I am improving, I daresay I’m quite glad she has the kind of memory that she does. She made me a ‘Vote For Pedro’ T-shirt (some of you will get to see this very soon…) She made me an iPod cozy. How flippin’ sweet is that?

Becky is just plain awesome in every single way. I don’t think I could possibly tell her that enough.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.

By Peter | 02.14.2005 | 12:00 AM | Permalink | Categories: Married Life | 1 Comment