The Thrifty Engineer

Flashback - ING Direct Electronic Orange Checking Account!!

2010-08-21T07:35:00.000-04:00

One year ago I was elated to finally open an ING Direct Electronic Orange Checking Account.

I blogged about it on my blog then, which is now defunct, so I figured I'd repost it today. It's sad that we dropped even further from 1.4% to a 1.1% interest rate at ING.

August 21, 2009
I'm so excited! I just opened an Electric Orange Checking Account with ING Direct! I am a huge fan of ING Direct's savings accounts because they are extremely easy to use and offer highly competitive interest rates (1.40 APY right now, which is paltry, but still great compared to brick-and-mortar banks).

So now I am excited to be able to use ING's excellent online checking account to pay my bills and be the destination for my direct deposits. Thought I'd share my excitement with you, now I'm off to play with my new electronic checking toy...

Carroll County Times Letter to the Editor

2010-07-21T09:43:00.000-04:00

My Letter to the Editor of the Carroll County Times was published today.

Responding to the O'Malley administration's plan to pay for AP exams throughout the state and the Times' editorial the following day, I discussed that AP courses are a great opportunity for high school students, but that educational opportunities shouldn't be used solely as political tools during Maryland's upcoming Gubernatorial Election.

Life is Worth Living - Angels

2010-07-20T14:21:00.001-04:00

Archbishop Fulton Sheen discusses the presence of Angels in the world and having devotion to them. Pray to your Guardian Angel!

Angel of God, my guardian dear,
to whom His Love entrusts me here
ever this day be at my side
to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton

2010-07-20T14:17:00.001-04:00

Today at 12:10 Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption, I was blessed again to have the Archbishop as celebrant. (Which I suppose is his prerogative since the Basilica is one of his Cathedral churches).

Archbishop O'Brien was celebrating today the closing of the Diocesan Cause for the Canonization of Fr. Patrick Peyton, an American Holy Cross Father often known as the "Rosary priest."

He had great devotion to Our Lady in his life and promoted families praying the Rosary together daily. He also coined the popular expression "the family that prays together stays together."

I pray for Fr. Patrick's intercession on our families, State, Country, and World that we may realize the importance of family prayer and devotion to the Rosary. Our Lady of the Rosary, Pray for Us.

Walking Humbly with God

2010-07-19T13:49:00.001-04:00

Today I marched up he hill for 12:10 Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption and was pleasantly surprised that Archbishop O'Brien would be celebrating Mass along with Bishop Madden, Bishop Rozanski, and about a dozen other priests.

The first reading was from Micah, and as Archbishop O'Brien expounded upon in his homily, the Lord makes it very clear to us what we must to do merit eternal life:

You have been told, O man, what is good,
and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do the right and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.
-Micah 6:8

Too often we worry and get caught up in what we must do to be good Christians, good Catholics, good followers of Jesus. Remembering yesterday's Gospel story of Martha and Mary, often we can be like Martha, caught up in the work to be done in the world around us when we should really be like Mary - "[sitting] beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak."

It isn't always easy to follow Our Lord, to walk humbly with him. Jesus told His Disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23.

Let us Pray to Our Father in Heaven that we might have the courage to pick up our crosses daily, and follow Jesus. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on Us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us.

What You Need to Know - Paying Your Bills Online

2010-07-19T07:35:00.004-04:00

The next time you go to mail your utility bills, consider using online bill payment methods.

While 44 cents might not seem like much, mailing just one bill every month adds up to $5.28 each year per bill! If you're mailing say 10 bills, you just saved over $50 in postage alone!

And consider this: because of new legislation, the United States Postal Service is authorized to raise the price of postage every May to combat inflation and costs. In the past five years, the base rate for First Class Mail has increased 5 cents, and chances are high that we'll be paying 45 or 46 cents per stamp very soon. (Not to mention we can probably kiss Saturday delivery goodbye).

Fortunately my college apartment includes utilities and I can make my payments automatically online. The challenge is converting my parents to online banking (semi-successful thus far) and then e-statements instead of paper delivery (God help me)!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Daily Holy Hour

2010-07-18T09:59:00.003-04:00

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was arguably the first televangelist. He had a nationally televised show Life is Worth Living that reached an estimated 30 million viewers (Catholic and non-Catholic alike).

Archbishop Sheen gave an excellent talk about the need for priests, religious, and laity to make one daily, continuous hour in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. He argues that no priest who makes a daily holy hour has ever left the church and he calls all to adore the Blessed Sacrament daily to truly change the face of the world and renew the church.

The talk is available in the right hand column of Adoration.com.

In our world today, devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament has largely fallen by the wayside and many poorly catechized Catholics likely do not know of the practice. And when some do go to adoration, in the words of Archbishop Sheen all we do is "talk, talk, talk!"

But "the poison of sin is acting in all of us" and we must do our best to honor the Lord's request "Could you not watch one hour with Me?" (Matthew 26:40). It can be a struggle to find time in our busy lives for prayer, especially an entire hour, but we have to remember that we shouldn't be making time for Jesus but building our lives around him. I plan to make a daily holy hour as often as I can with a minimum of 3 times per week until I can build up to daily adoration. What will you do?

What You Need to Know - Online Banking

2010-07-17T07:35:00.002-04:00

In the first post of my "What You Need to Know" financial series, I'm going to discuss online banking...

Online banking is a great option for computer-savvy teens and college students. We're persuing Facebook all the time anyway, so why not open a new tab in your browser and take advantage of the high interest rate savings and checking accounts available from many online banks.

Many banks like Chevy Chase Bank at the University of Maryland offer online banking capabilities to check your balance, pay bills, etc. This is great for keeping track of your spending and preventing identity theft by keeping tabs on your bank balances.

There is also the phenomenon of online-only banks which are banks without local branches, offering high interest rates because they save money not having physical locations. These banks are also relatively paperless, so your statements are free online.

ING Direct and HSBC Direct are the two online-only banks which I have dealt with, and I recently opened an account with SmartyPig because it offers a 2.15% APY rate. ING and HSBC are currently offering only 1.10% (which is pathetic considering it was over 4% when I opened my account in 2008)! HSBC, however, just sent me an email notice about new fees to transfer my balance between banks [!] so I'll be closing that account in favor of SmartyPig.

I am a longtime customer of ING, but I'm planning to move most of my savings and emergency fund to SmartyPig for the time being to get that percent in interest.

The First Post

2010-07-16T20:17:00.000-04:00

Welcome to The Thrifty Engineer!

This blog is the realization of a long-time dream of mine to have a personal finance blog, a Catholic blog, and a personal opinion blog. I've tried creating separate versions, but I think the best option now is to start with one blog and then branch out in the future.

This summer I've been reading several other great blogs and finding lots of articles that I'd like to have the opportunity to comment on. I've done the Facebook link thing, but I think having a blog would be more legit. I look forward to your comments and hope you enjoy The Thrifty Engineer!