Mom's frugal time out (from the dog!)

I have a dog, a toy rat terrier, who loves to be loved. She makes you love her by being in your face everyone moment of every day. She follows me everywhere, because obviously, I am the mom of the wolf pack. Notice I didn't say alpha dog, because I would most certainly leave that honor to all 12 pounds of her.

When I need a break from this beloved creature, I attempt to find her rolled up rawhide bone, it's at least 8 inches long. Instead of going to the local pet store and buying expensive treats, I make my own, and the dog loves them.

I keep a jar of $1.00 store peanut butter in the refrigerator. Then I take a teaspoon and try to fill in every available hole in the bone. In addition, I usually smear a bit of peanut butter on top of the bone for her to lick off easily.

The end result...a dog who barks incessantly while I am refilling her rawhide bone. Then I hand it to her and she prances out of the kitchen with the bone and hides quietly under the table for an hour. When she's done, she drops in and says hello. And believe me, peanut butter breath smells a lot better than her usual doggy breath.

Frugal home computing

Hi everyone! It's frugal home computing time, so please excuse the lack of postings through the summer.

If anyone has the answer to this one, please let me know.

My son and I are manually handing off the DSL modem back and forth, because it is Houston summer time and we need to conserve the dollars for our electric bill. I ordered the megaconglomerate's wi-fi DSL modem and that cost me $130.00. It came with an offer for $$ off to have a geek come hook it up for me. Unfortunately, we did not have the $$ for the geek, either. The lack of instructions for the whole setup was thoroughly frustrating and I refused to play mega's "sock it to me" game. End result: We shipped it all back and I'm refusing to pay the bill until proper credits are made to my account.

So here's my dilemma: I've got wi-fi on my PC, so how can I hook up to the internet for relatively cheap at home without having to network my two home PC's? Would cable modems hooked into our TV cable system be a cheaper alternative overall?

Any help is appreciated.

Cheap, grime-busting degreaser

Here's a simple formula for degreaser that I have made up myself. I'm not saying it's perfect for everyone, yet for degreasing countertops that my teen coats with pizza makings, I count this one as a favorite.

NOTE: IMPORTANT SAFETY RULE...never, ever, under any circumstance, DO NOT MIX BLEACH AND AMMONIA. You will create a vapor fog that will lock-up your lungs and potentially cause you further harm.

Simple Home Degreaser

• (1) 32 oz. empty spray bottle
• 2 oz. of lemon ammonia (this is usually found at the bottom of the cleaning solutions at your local grocery store & it's only 99 Cents for 32 oz.)
• 1 tablespoon of your favorite Dawn Dish Detergent (without bleach!)
• Hot tap water to fill the remainder of the bottle

Put the top back on the spray bottle and gently shake the solution. Spray on countertops and wipe down as usual. Or, spray your kitchen sink again after you have cleaned it, and you will have a sink that is much easier to clean the next time.

Questions, comments, or concerns? I'd love to hear from you.

New car blues...

Attempting to buy a car...I am on vacation this week and have the time to go out and play the car game...I attempted to buy a new car the old fashioned way. Although I had already been "pre-approved" via an internet application on one of the large car review websites.

July 1, 2007

2:00 p.m. - Walk into dealership and ask for salesman - get his underling instead. Sit at appointed desk and wait for 15 minutes.

Thoughts...Amazing how in this day and age, with all the electronics we have, how the car dealerships still attempt the old bait and switch routine when you go to buy a car.

2:15 p.m. - Salesman sits down with me and begins interview process. He still won't divulge an interest rate to me.

Thoughts...I didn't know that car dealerships still operated this way, or that we women were so far down on the societal totem pole that we still needed a man to go with us to buy a car.

2:30 p.m. - Walk the lot

So the car salesman walks the USED lot with me (I refuse to buy anything but a Japanese vehicle), and finally we find a 2007 Toyota Xion that I would like to test drive. There is no price tag on the car at all. Next we go for the test drive, where I get totally hooked and want the car.

3:00 p.m. - Back at the dealership, salesman heads to back room to crunch the numbers.

3:15 p.m. - Salesman wants more info

3:30 p.m. - Salesman presents financial terms, I gasp for air, and politely decline 16.8% interest rate on offered car.

Here's the reasons that this auto dealership wouldn't grant me a lower cost loan. I have a low credit score.

In addition, I'm a contract worker continuously employed by the same high profile firm for the last 3 years. The dealership refuses to call my employer directly to verify my employment, or the 1-800 number that I offered that professionally verifies my employment.

Salesman comment..."you're a single woman, how do you support you and your son on that income?"

Hello, are we in the dark ages? I've been doing this for the last 11 years, and I'm not homeless.

I believe this is the way this particular auto dealership works. They are not interested in what the customer wants, they have banks available that want to offer high interest loans.

Luckily, I have a reliable vehicle that I almost own outright. The last payment will be made this month or next, depending on how high my electric bills are this summer.

Will I try to buy again? Yes, most definitely. Except this time I will not allow myself to be jerked around. Finance rates will be disclosed to me before I ever get to an auto dealer's lot. And, regardless of my credit history and single household income, 10% is the max I will allow myself to be held to on a loan. And that car I own will definitely be sold by me to the highest bidder available, not at $2500 less than what it really sells for.

And if all else fails, I'm going to learn to be the best Honda repairman a single mother could ever be!