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This is an open letter to the unopened mail in my home.

Dear Mailbox and Letter Piles:

Yes. I am ignoring you. You’re full of it. It being: bills,
checks, notices, warning letters and coupons and other junk. I am addressing
our relationship because dealing with unopened mail is the fourth item on my
list of 14
Declarations of Financial Independence.

Freedom from late fees tops my 14 Declarations of Financial Independence. And I've found one frugal path to financial freedom after sweeping the white tile floors in my apartment. I see money-saving connections between sweeping, bill-paying and late fees.

Daily Sweep

I have to sweep every day or else face increasing tracks of dust and dirt. Likewise, financial management is a daily chore and failure to pay bills on time can leave dirty tracks on my credit record and a trail of expensive late-fee penalties. You can rack up late fees from:

There are no Dixie Cups in my home for political, financial and environmental reasons. I am saving money by using recycled glass jars instead of paper cups.

Here's how it works: After I finish up spaghetti sauce, pickles or whatever, I run the empty container through the dishwasher. Recycled and re-purposed old glass jars become new drinking cups, and I have dozens of them. And that means, I'm saving a small bit of the environment and saving money.

A package of 450 5-ounce cups costs about $22. If each person in my family uses 2 cups a day, here's the math:

I am a blur in a financial relay race. In the first leg of the race, a shortage of time led to the second leg of the race: a shortage of dollars. And faced with a time crunch,  I passed the baton and  took expensive shortcuts.

Here's how my time crunch sprinted into a money crunch:

Step One: One night, low on time and energy, I fixed a frozen pizza and made a fresh salad for dinner.

Step Two: Running even lower on time and energy, I bought a bag of pre-washed, pre-cut salad and a frozen pizza.

Step Three: (Weeks later) I called the neighborhood pizza place and ordered a takeout meal: a large pie and a gourmet salad.