So, I cooked a turkey. I’m not shopping today. And there are savings account bonuses.

That was a super long post title.

In the 16 years that Mr. FG and I have been married, we’ve never had a Thanksgiving dinner at our house. But we switched things up a bit this year and had some of our very good friends over to spend the day with us.

We had such a lovely day with them.

My friend and I split up the food prep, which worked out very nicely.

And I managed not to ruin the turkey, despite the fact that it was my first time cooking a Thanksgiving bird.

(I dry-brined/salted mine since I don’t really have space to wet brine a turkey, and I butterflied it and baked it as detailed in this post from Nom Nom Paleo.)

The turkey only had to bake for about 90 minutes this way, which freed up precious oven space and time for other baked goods earlier in the day. And the salt did indeed make the turkey really moist. The only change I’d make is to rub just slightly less salt in next time.

Anyway, we had a delightful day, and I hope you did too.

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Today is Black Friday, of course, and I am not out bargain-hunting today. I do like to save money, but I am just not the sort of person who has the patience to stand in line for something that’s available in limited quantities (the idea of waiting for hours in the dark coldness of a November morning only to discover the hot item is gone…that sounds horrible!).

Also: I hate crowds and long lines.

Black Friday is just not my thing.

And despite my lack of shopping the day after Thanksgiving, I do always manage to buy gifts for everyone on my list and stay within my budget. There’s more than one way to skin a cat!

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Speaking of Christmas budgets, Mr. FG and I start saving for Christmas in January of each year. We have a savings account at Capital One 360 (which used to be ING), and we have our Christmas budget contribution automatically sent there each month.

Having the money all set aside by the time December rolls around is really awesome, and I highly recommend it. Even if you can only put aside $20 a month, you’ll at least have $240 sitting there in a year, and that’s way better than nothing!

Every year after Thanksgiving, Capital One runs a promotion for their savings accounts, and this year, if you open up a new savings account (it has to be your first one!), you’ll get a $75 bonus if you make an initial deposit of $500 or more.

Even if you don’t have $500 to deposit, though, I still highly recommend opening some 360 savings accounts.

I have a bajillion of them (for lots of budget categories…you can read all about that in this post.) and I love ’em. The multiple accounts make it so easy to neatly put money into different categories, such as Christmas, automotive repairs, home maintenance, and so on.

It’s super easy to set up automatic monthly transfers, and I like how the money is just enough out of reach…it’s accessible if you need it, but you can’t just grab it on a whim (transfers to your local bank account take a few days), and that’s a good thing for savings accounts!

In addition to my multiple savings accounts, my children each have one of their Kids Savings Accounts for their long-term savings.

Among other things, Capital One is also offering a $125 bonus for opening a new checking account.

(I do have a checking account with Capital One, but I don’t really use it as a my main checking account, as I find it to be handier to use my local bank. I opened it a few years ago just to get the bonus. 😉 )

So, the two account deals are:

• Open a new savings account, deposit $500 and get a $75 bonus.

• Open a new 360 checking account, make five purchases or deposits, and get a $125 bonus credited to your account.

Once you open an account, if you refer two friends this weekend, you can get another $100 bonus if they open accounts. So, if you and your pals are in need of savings accounts, this could be an awfully lucrative weekend for you!

(This company really does pay out these bonuses. I opened my first savings account with them way back in 2001 when they offered a bonus, I opened my checking account with them for the bonus, I opened kids savings accounts when they offered bonuses, and all of them have been promptly paid into my accounts.)

I hope you love your accounts as much as I do. Happy saving!!

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The Capital One 360 deals are only good through December 2nd, and these types of bonuses usually only pop up once or twice a year, so go snag them right away.

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