this and that...and a question for you

So, we're going to try to be financially responsible this year. We're not horrible, but it's taken us years to become as responsible with money as we are (and we could definitely still use some work). This afternoon, I'm working on updating the budget and on balancing the books.

I've closed one of my credit card accounts, leaving me with only one! (Yes, this thought excites me.) I thought it would be difficult, that the company's representative would try to talk me into not closing the account, but that just didn't happen. Thanks be. I'm not sure what kind of negative effect closing the account will have on my credit, but I'm just not willing to keep an account open just to play the credit rating game. And, having the account open presents too much of a temptation, although it's a temptation we haven't fallen into in a while. The account was basically an annoying little bill (monthly fee for checking my credit...ha!) every month. A waste of money.

Now, if only I had a super-high-paying job that still allowed me the time to keep Pic out of school, I could pay off my biggest debt and all would be well in my financial world. I'm okay with the long term nature of that debt, though.

My goal for us is that we become those people who can actually set a goal and save the money to reach that goal. I'm mainly thinking in terms of travel here. We have never been those people and I've always been a bit disappointed in us because of it.

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Now for something completely different: I masticated a burnt peanut today. The shell was pretty dark and the peanut itself basically looked like a black bean, but I figured, "What the heck. How bad could this be." Ugh, ack, blech! Disgusting! I'm just using my experiential wisdom here to benefit anyone who might be reading this. Prego*.

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Enough of that. I'm pretty sure that our microwave broke yesterday. We barely use it anyway and we keep it unplugged when we're not using it, so it's not even good as a clock, but I'm not sure that I only want to have a rangetop and oven for heating food. So, what experience do you all have with toaster ovens? I've kind of wanted one for a while, but I really didn't want to own a toaster oven, a microwave and a toaster. I'm thinking that if we do get a toaster oven, we'll rid ourselves of our toaster that I can no longer clean all of the crumbs out of.

So, toaster oven? Thoughts, please.

Grazie.

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* Yes, I know, it looks like I'm suddenly interjecting pasta sauces here, but "prego" is "you're welcome" in Italian. Seriously.