Pinterest Test Drive | Paper Pom Poms

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

My son's hockey club had a Fun Fest this past weekend at a local park. Each team could do whatever they wanted to try winning a team spirit award. I wanted to make decorations but not spend a lot of the team's money to do it. I liked the idea of hanging pom pom poofs from the canopy but I didn't like the prices I was seeing at the party supply stores for the pre-made ones. Naturally, I turned to Google and Pinterest to find a DIY version.


I ended up using this one from Kristen at Big Box Detox. I loved the way mine turned out but it is not quite as easy as it looks in the tutorial. If you give this a try, here are my observations:

*Cutting through that many sheets of tissue paper is tougher than it seems. The paper might tear if you're not using your sharpest scissors.

*In the post, it mentions using pipe cleaners in place of yarn to tie off the center of the paper. Don't. Instead, use the pipe cleaners to make a nice loop at the end of the thread. The pom poms will be easier to hang.

*I had two different sizes of tissue paper 16 1/2 x 24 and 20 x 20. The smaller sheets were much easier to work with. (The orange paper is from Target, the blue from Party City)


*Make your creases as sharp as possible. 

*Tie the center firmly, but not too tight.

*After you make the fan and tie it off, separate the fan blades a bit. This will make it easier to peel up the tissue paper pieces with as little tearing as possible.

tissue paper pom pom

If I do this again, I'll try three colors instead of the two. I also think I'll cut the tissue paper in half and try making mini poofs. Happy crafting!

I Paid Off My Credit Card! | Frugal Friday

Friday, August 10, 2012

Yesterday, I reached a mini milestone. I paid off my credit card! I'm so happy right now. This is my personal 'mad money' card, not our joint card, but still. It has a zero balance! I paid it off with money *I* earned and that feels pretty damn good.


For the last few months, it's been so tempting to keep going with only making the minimum payment. I could see the balance going down, so why not? But, in keeping with my 40 Before 40 goals, I made myself add more even if it was just $10.

Before I made the last payment, I made a phone call to my bank. If you're about to pay off a card I strongly suggest you ask these two same questions.

Banks are starting to close inactive credit accounts and I wanted to make sure mine wouldn't do the same. I asked if, once I paid the card off, would they close it citing non use of the card and do they consider the annual fee as the card being used? The rep hadn't heard anyone ask the second question and she checked with a manager before answering.

I learned a few important things from that call:
1. At my bank, they will not close my account without notifying me first. 2. They do not consider the annual fee as the card being used.
3. I have 12 months from the time the card is paid off to use it again before they will notify me that they will close the account.
4. When I use it again, there is no minimum amount I have to charge. In the words of the customer service rep, "you can buy a pack of gum if you want to."

I have a pretty good credit score because of this card. There's no way I want to put that in jeopardy by having the bank indiscriminately decide to close the account because I'm not actively charging on it.

As far as I'm concerned, credit is a necessary evil. When I got my first card back in college, I had no idea how to use them. That came back to bite me in the butt. I've made a to educate myself about different types of cards and credit scores. I'm passing on that information to Tyler as well. Hopefully he'll be much smarter about it than I was and not have the same credit rating highs and lows that I've had. Next up, tackling the joint cards. But for now, I'm celebrating! (not by shopping though!)

What credit lessons have you learned? 
Have you paid off any cards?
 
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