Dear Mary: One of my friends gets the cheap and fatty ground beef. She browns, drains and rinses. Another friend buys extra-lean ground meat; she figures that she gets more meat for her money because there is less fat to cook off. I am somewhere in the middle. Is it better to buy the leaner meat? Or should we buy the cheapest ground chuck and brown away? -- Kathleen, e-mail

Dear Kathleen: There is no hard-and-fast answer to your question because there are so many variables, such as the actual price of the subject types of beef. But here's an easy experiment for the three of you to conduct:

Buy three pounds of beef -- one extra-lean, one midrange and then one fat-laden. In three separate pans, prepare the ground beef, drain and rinse, making sure you treat all three of your subjects exactly the same.

Now weigh the three results, and divide the price per pound by the resulting number of ounces. For example, if you pay $4 for a pound of ground beef that cooks down to 12 ounces, the effective cost is 34 cents per ounce or $5.44 per pound. If a pound of the cheap version cooks down to 10 ounces but was on sale for $1.59 a pound, the effective price is 16 cents per ounce or $2.56 per pound. In this example, the cheap ground beef is by far the better buy. Armed with just the reduction rates of the three versions, you should be able to assess a good value quickly, even for the ground beef that is 15 percent fat.

Dear Mary: In late 2006, my credit card's interest rate was changed from a fixed rate of 9.99 percent to a variable rate of more than 20 percent.

They gave us a choice of opting out of this new arrangement by ceasing use of the card and by informing them in writing that we did not agree to the new terms. We did precisely that, and soon the card will be paid off completely. But the credit card company has not charged us one penny of interest since we opted out of the new terms! Should I be expecting a surprise once the card is paid off? -- Joe, e-mail

Dear Joe: Well, this is a new one for me! Does your statement actually read 0 percent interest on the outstanding balance? Or does it read 9.99 percent interest and for some reason the computer is not adding that amount to your balance each month? If it's the former, I'd say keep those statements for future proof. If it's the latter, I'd expect to get a big adjustment.

However, given the loose manner in which credit card companies are allowed to operate, I'd expect the worst. I would suggest that the minute you pay that account in full, you close it. We all will be eager to know how this turns out!

Do you have a question for Mary? E-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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