One of the Dumbest Financial Things I've Done

Growing pumpkins is NOT a dumb thing.
It's a source of frugal fun for me.

I'm cleaning out some of my kids' stuff this week and came across a large set of children's books. Doing this brought to mind some kinda dumb financial things I've done in my adult life.

I've done a lot of dumb things. But there are two of them that stand out in my mind for costing more money than the value provided. Here's the first one. When my son was a baby, I signed up for one of those story book of the month clubs. They sent us the first 3 books for about $2 plus shipping. Then every month after they sent 2 more books for $5-something each plus shipping. The deal was I was free to return any book we didn't want to keep, but I would have to pay the return shipping. And I could cancel at any time. Anyway, I was busy with a small baby and didn't get around to canceling for many months. While we did amass a nice collection of children's books, it wound up costing a lot more than it would have if I'd bought books like Golden Books from the drug store. These monthly merchandise clubs are often financially wasteful.

The other stupid financial choice I made was before I was married. I joined a gym with a 2-year contract that wasn't remotely convenient for me. I went for about 3 months, then never made the time to go again. Meanwhile, I continued to pay off the 2-year contract, even after I'd moved out of state. In hindsight, I should have asked if there was a shorter term contract, or even a month-by-month payment. I also could have found a less expensive way to get exercise, perhaps a YMCA or parks and rec classes.

The most costly financial "mistake" my husband and I made jointly. When we originally financed the purchase of our home, we qualified for both a 15- and 30- year mortgage. As is customary, the 15-year mortgage had a lower interest rate than the 30-year one. We knew we could afford the payment on the 15-year, but we went with the 30-year out of fear something could happen and we'd have a difficult time making the larger payment on the 15-year mortgage. In the end, we refinanced to a 15-year mortgage in 4 years, paying new closing costs. This fear-based decision cost my husband and I substantially more than either of my/our earlier dumb choices. At least this "mistake" of ours wasn't on dumb stuff.

Can you look at your past and see dumb or costly financial choices? Can you see ways that you could have done things differently?

Microwave Blackberry Upside Down Cake

And for no related reason whatsoever, here's another microwave recipe. I baked this over the weekend.

Microwave Upside Down Cake

(The recipe calls for canned pineapple, but I use whatever fruit I have. The one in the photo is a blackberry upside down cake, using half the butter in the fruit layer and granulated, not brown, sugar, but the rest of the recipe as written. Peach or apple upside down cakes are also delicious.)

fruit layer

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 8-oz can pineapple slices, reserve juice

4 candied or maraschino cherries, cut in half

batter layer

1  1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup soft shortening (I use a mix of butter and oil)

1 egg

liquid from pineapple plus milk to total 1/2 cup (if baking any other fruit cake, use 1/2  cup milk only)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

In 8-inch round microwaveable dish, such as a soufflé dish or quiche dish, microwave the butter to melt. Sprinkle sugar over butter. Drain fruit and arrange in dish. Decorate with cherries.

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix in soft shortening, egg, liquid, and vanilla until smooth. Carefully spread over fruit layer.

Microwave until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (6 minutes in my turntable 1100 watt microwave). Lacking a turntable in the microwave, rotate dish a half-turn midway through cooking. Total cook time could range from 5 minutes to 10 minutes, depending on wattage of microwave. Begin checking at around the 5 or 5.5 minute point.

Remove from microwave when baked. Cool 5 minutes in baking dish. Use a table knife to go all the way around the edge of the dish to loosen the cake. Invert onto a plate and allow to stand for a few minutes. Serve warm, if desired. 

This recipe makes 8 slices for my family. I place an upturned glass bowl over the plate of leftover cake as a cake dome to prevent drying out overnight. We finish the cake on the second day, and it's still very enjoyable.