It's been 12 long days and I'm still waiting for the arrival of my new debit card and checks from the new bank. They apologized and said they were slammed due to the onslaught of new customers. I should have requested for them to overnight the debit card like my co-worker did. Never thought it would take over 10 business days for a debit card. I feel like I have two banks but no money. Good thing I'm a pro at NSDs: 10 of the last 15 days have been.

On a bright note, the interest from the old account posted. As soon as Thursday's direct deposit posts I will close the old account with an exact check to the new.

RIP CBoN!

My favorite grocery store (Smith's) is running a General Mills sale this week. Buy 10 mix & match items, get 50 cents off each item (which are already on sale for a good price).

I downloaded some coupons from shortcuts.com to my shoppers card and also printed some from coupons.com that matched the sale.

Hamburger Helper was on sale for 80 cents a box for selected varieties. The 50 cent off promotion brought them down to 30 cents per box. My coupon was for 75 cents off any three boxes.

Final price = 5 cents per box.

We don't usually eat Hamburger Helper but I can't pass up that kind of a deal.

Following the Great Bank Failure, I've successfully switched banks to one offering a money market account paying 2% APY. That's as good as anything found online, with the added security/convenience of a brick & mortar.

My bank was different from other failures in that no one bought it. Nevada State Bank has been brought in as a "paying agent" to facilitate the transition. NS Bank employees are onhand in the lobby to sweep in customers. Unfortuately, most of these customers do NOT know that NS Bank ranks only 2 stars on Bankrate.com. (The failed bank had been 1 star for some time; that was my heads up.)

It's sad that people don't research rates and will just go with what's conveniently forced in front of them.

In answer to a comment on my last post:
I wrote a check to myself to open the new account. It cleared within two days: a very smooth transition.

I have submitted the change order for direct deposit. Won't know if that's successful until next pay period. I'll need to keep the old account open until then, just in case. Once I know for sure that's in place, I will close the old account.

Since they are mailing people checks on the last day, I'm not certain whether I need to officially close the account in person or just draw down the funds to zero with one final check to my new account.

The same employees are working day in and day out until the end. I had assumed the place would be swarmed with agents in sunglasses. My favorite teller said they've been so busy since the failure that he hasn't had time to think about what to do next. Their insurance will run out within a few weeks. My BF offered him a contact who may have some work available.

My no-spend days have been training for situations like this. Since the failure, I've had 5 NSDs in a row. I broke that trend today to pay a dentist bill while my debit card still works.

I'll feel better once I receive a new debit card for the new account, but the dust is starting to settle.

My beloved bank died Friday.
Only had 2 credit cards and one brokerage account tied to checking so the transition to a new bank shouldn't be too overwhelming.

The account paid 4% interest monthly, so there had been no need for a separate savings account. I've been researching rates and am leaning toward opening a savings account at Discover, which is paying 2% now. Same rate as what they are offering on a one-year CD, but without tying up the funds for a year. Can't find anything better so far.

I feel sad for the employees; they were always friendly and helpful, and knew us all by name.