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2B Daily News – Friday, January 3, 2014 How to win the balance transfer game There's nothing fun about creditcard debt. An outstanding balance of $5,000 that is subject to 19.99 percent interest means you're paying about $1,000 a year just in interest. Imagine if that $1,000 could go directly to repaying the balance instead. You could pay it off in record time instead of stringing it out for many years. If you're carrying credit-card debt, playing the balance transfer game could be the way out of your heavy debt situation. Just beware: There are pitfalls in the balance transfer game that, if not avoided, could end up making your situation worse, not better. Playing the balance transfer game well requires financial maturity and personal discipline. Are you up to it? Should you wish to play, you'll need to adopt this strategy to come out a winner: Find a balance transfer credit card application. You want one that offers at least 15 months of 0 percent interest, has no annual fee and a small, if any, balance transfer. Search at IndexCreditCards.com. Fine print. Read the application very carefully. Know exactly what is in the terms and conditions before you apply. Divide to conquer. Once you have the account and you transfer the balance, divide your outstanding balance by the number of months in the 0 per- Double trouble. If you fail to close cent introductory period. Lock eyeballs on that number. That is the the first account once you transfer the amount you must pay each entire balance, prepare for trouble. Emergencies happen, and if you keep month for this to work. Do not use the new card. that account active, you'll find a way to use that account for someThis account is for thing. Gradually the balance one thing only -- to will creep back to what it was facilitate paying the before. balance to $0. Transfer fees. Ideally, you Cancel the account will find a balance transfer from which you transaccount that has $0 transfer ferred the balance. Just fees. They do exist, but you close it and do not look have to search. Most have a back. Yes, this could knock transfer fee of $5 or 3 percent a few points off your credof the balance transferred, it score for a few months. whichever is more. But paying off the new Pulling off a credit-card account quickly will help Mary balance transfer can offer a to recover those points. fabulous opportunity to pay Sounds easy enough, off your credit-card debt. But but let's not fool ourselves. it requires a steady hand a Paying the balance quickly strong mind. You must be is going to take a lot of focused, determined and hard work and discipline. fully committed to a strategy And there are pitfalls you that gives you the best must avoid: Switcheroo. The terms and condi- chance at winning the game. tions will state that you may not qualify for the account for which you are Mary Hunt is the founder of applying, and in which case the bank and may offer you a different account. www.DebtProofLiving.com This could be a big problem if you do author of 23 books, including her not notice and then go ahead and 2013 release, "The Smart Woman's transfer your balances to that account Guide to Planning for Retirement." can email her at that may not have $0 interest and may You also be subject to huge transfer fees. If mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or this happens, you are not obligated to write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2099, Cypress, CA 90630. accept a different account. Hunt Everyday Cheapskate Fans are up for 'Downton Abbey' starting season 4 NEW YORK (AP) — As it returns for its muchawaited fourth season, ''Downton Abbey'' remains a saga about elegance, tradition and gentility — and the pressures of preserving them. On the premiere, airing Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on PBS, Lady Mary Crawley has buckled under the weight of widowhood six months after her husband, Matthew, perished in a car crash. Inconsolable at the start of the episode, Mary (played by Michelle Dockery) dismisses their infant son as ''a poor little orphan.'' Her father, Lord Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), wrestles with business pressures: the death of Matthew and the absence of a will have thrown the Downton manor, already financially fragile, into further crisis. Meanwhile, the modern world of 1922 bears down on the Downton hidebound. Just consider the encroachment of an electric mixer, the newest threat to the culinary status quo over which Mrs. Patmore reigns in the kitchen. Even so, Mrs. Patmore remains squat, high-strung yet unbending under the pressures of keeping the Downton nobility well-fed. In a recent interview, Lesley Nicol, who plays her, recalls filming the series' original episode with Mrs. Patmore ''shouting at everybody and being horrible. As an actor you go, 'Is she just a plain, nasty piece of work?''' But Nicol says she was set straight by the series' historical adviser, who reminded her that the character is ''solely responsible for the food in that house. If you go to dinner at Downton, it's got to be the best you've ever had. Sometimes people are harsh because they need things to be right.'' That was a key ingredient for playing Mrs. Patmore, but the recipe keeps the pressure on Nicol to look authentic doing it, because ''viewers are looking for mistakes — they are!'' With a lifetime of credits that include the musical ''Mamma Mia!'' and the films ''East Is East'' and its sequel, ''West Is West,'' Nicol must rely on her acting chops to be convincing as a cook, because (she readily confesses) she isn't one in real life: While her husband likes to throw dinner parties, ''I'm front-of-thehouse,'' she explains with a laugh. ''I do the talking and the pouring of the drinks.'' It's no secret that ''Downton Abbey'' has dined out on startling success from almost the first moment it hit the air in Britain in 2010 (three months before its U.S. debut). It has gained a firm foothold in the culture, won 10 Emmys and two Golden Globes, and found a robust audience that rose to the challenge of calling it ''Downton,'' not ''Downtown.'' Last season's finale drew 8.2 million U.S. view- ers, most of them left shattered by Matthew's demise as they faced the long wait to see how the ''Downton'' elite and underclass would cope. In November there was a bit of good news for rabid fans with the announcement that, yes, next year there will be a fifth season. That news freed viewers to fret about their favorite show's fate beyond 2015: How many years will ''Downton'' carry on? Just ask ''Downton'' executive producer Gareth Neame. Everybody else has. ''We know there's going to be more than five,'' he replies patiently, ''and I know there's going to be less than 10. I don't know what happens between now and then.'' Neame is the managing director of London-based Carnival Films and a ''Downton'' executive producer who, a few years ago, put the show in motion over dinner with Julian Fellowes, the Oscar-winning writer of the 2001 murder mystery ''Gosford Park.'' Neame was a fan of that ensemble drama, set at an English country house in the 1930s where a party of wealthy Brits and their servants convened for a shooting weekend. He proposed that Fellowes create a series with the same social stratification, politesse and melodrama. Its starting point was rolled back to the eve of World War I. With Carnival (whose credits include such series as ''Jeeves and Wooster,'' ''Traffik'' and ''Whitechapel'') set to produce, Neame sold ''Downton'' to the British commercial network ITV. ''I wanted to position the show on a very broad mainstream entertainment channel,'' he says. But in the U.S., no commercial networks were biting (ironically, not even NBC, whose parent company owns Carnival Films). Neame found a buyer instead in public television's ''Masterpiece'' anthology. But it goes without saying the series caught on far beyond that — in more than 200 countries. ''They're crazy for it in China,'' marvels Nicol, who found out firsthand on a visit there: ''I've seen me speaking Mandarin!'' The Local Calendar Submit calendar items clerk@redbluffdailynews.com. to P .O. 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Bluff, 96080 or Red Bluff Corning Car Show, 5-9 p.m., Bartels Giant Burger, 22355 Corning Road, local car clubs welcome, 824-2788 Los Molinos Los Molinos Grange, 7 p.m., Grange Hall, 68th and Singer avenues, 529-0930 SATURDAY, JANUARY 4 Red Bluff Frontier Village Farmers Market, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., 645 Antelope Blvd. EBT accepted Weight Watchers meeting, 8 a.m., 485 Antelope Blvd. #N, 1-800651-6000 Los Molinos Senior Dance, 7 p.m., Senior Center, Josephine Street, 384-2100 SUNDAY, JANUARY 5 Red Bluff AA Live and Let Live, noon and 8 p.m., 785 Musick St., meets seven days a week Knights of Columbus All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast, 8 a.m. to noon, $5 adult, $3 child or $12 family, Sacred Heart Parish Hall, 2285 Monroe St., 528-1991 MONDAY, JANUARY 6 Red Bluff Al-Anon New Comers At Heart, 7-8 p.m., North Valley Baptist Church, 345 David Ave., 690-2034 Bend Jelly 4-H, 6 p.m.,Bend School, 527-3101 Community Band rehearsal, 7-9 p.m., Presbyterian Church on Jefferson Street, 527-3486 Diabetic Support Group, 6:30 p.m., St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Coyne Center, Columba Room English as a Second Language class, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Red Bluff High School Adult Ed building, 1295 Red Bud, 736-3308, same time Tuesday and Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Thursdays, free childcare from 9 a..m. to 12:20 p.m. classes in Richlieu Hall, 900 Johnson St. Head Injury Recreational Entity, 10 a.m., St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Coyne Center, Rusty, 529-2059 Key to Life, 6 p.m., Family Resource Center, 220 Sycamore St. Ste. 101, 528-8066 Masterworks Chorale rehearsal, 6:45-8 p.m., Red Bluff Presbyterian Church, 838 Jefferson St., 527-4203 Nutrition Classes, 1-2:30 p.m, Northern Valley Catholic Social Service, 220 Sycamore #101, 528-7947 PAL Martial Arts, ages 5-18, 3-5 p.m., 1005 Vista Way, Ste. C, free, 529-7950 Salvation Army Writing Class, 9:30-11:30 a.m., 940 Walnut St., 527-8530 Sons in Retirement, 11:30 a.m., Veterans Memorial Building, 529-5700 Sun Country Quilters Community Service Group, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Family Resource Center, 220 Sycamore St. Ste. 101, 5281126 TeenScreen Mental Health Appointments, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free, by appointment only, Youth Empowerment Services, 1900 Walnut St., 527-8491, Ext. 3012 TOPS Club (take off pounds Sensibly), 8:30 a.m., First Christian Church, 926 Madison Ave., 527-7541 or 347-6120, visit www.tops.org US citizenship preparation class, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Red Bluff High School Adult Ed building, 1295 Red Bud, 736-3308, same time Tuesday and Wednesday Venture Crew 1914 meeting, 6:30-8 p.m., Moose Lodge on 99W, co-ed ages 14-20 welcome Women's Domestic Violence Information and Support Group, Spanish speaking only, call for time and location, 5280226 Corning Alcoholics Anonymous, noon Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, 783 Solano St., behind the church Bingo, 5:15 p.m. early bird, 6:30 p.m. regular games, Maywood Grange, Highway 99W just past Liberal Avenue, 833-5343 Exchange Club board meeting, 7 p.m., Holiday Inn Express Narcotics Anonymous, 7 p.m., 820 Marin St., 824-1114 or 824-2090, meetings are every day through Saturday with an additional meeting at noon Mondays Sewing class, 9 a.m., Family Resource Center, West and South streets, 824-7670 Spanish Adult Education, 5 p.m., Family Resource Center, West and South streets, 824-7670 Strategies for Success, Life Skill classes, 1:30 p.m., Family Resource Center, West and South streets, 824-7670 Weight Watchers, weigh in 5:30 p.m., meeting 6 p.m., Senior Center, corner of South and Fourth streets, Kayla Deihl leader TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 Red Bluff American Legion Mt. Lassen Post 167, 7 p.m., Veterans Memorial Hall, 735 Oak St. Childbirth Class, 6:30-8:30 p.m., St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Columba Room, 529-8026 City Council, 7 p.m. City Hall, 555 Washington St. Cribbage Club, 6 p.m., Cozy Diner, 259 S. Main St., 527-6402 Fiber Arts Group, 5-8 p.m., library, 645 Madison St., 5288667, free Fun Senior Aerobics, 8-9 a.m., $1, Community Center, 1500 S. Jackson St. 527-8177 PAL Kickboxing, 6 p.m., 1450 Schwab St., 529-8716 or 2003950 Penny Bingo, 10 a.m., Community Center, 1500 S. Jackson St. Pinochle for Seniors, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., 1500 S. Jackson St., free, 527-8177 Red Bluff Derby Girls open tryouts and practice, 6:30 p.m., Tyler Jelly building at Tehama District Fairgrounds Red Bluff Rotary, noon, Elks Lodge Take Off Pounds Sensibly — TOPS, 10 a.m., First United Methodist Church, 525 David Ave., 824-0556 or 529-1414 The North State's premier supplier of stoves Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties Tues-Sat 9am-5pm • Closed Sun & Mon Red Bingo, doors at 5 p.m., early birds at 6 p.m. Community and Senior Center, food available Celebrate Recovery, 7 p.m., Bethel Assembly of God, 625 Luther Road, 527-0445 or 366-6298 Game Day, 1 p.m., Community Center, various board games, free Red Bluff Rotary Club Sunrise, 7 a.m., M&M Ranch Tehama County Education Foundation, board meeting, 7:30 a.m., County Department of Education, 1135 Lincoln St. STOVE JUNCTION Amazing Finds Green Mountain Grills & Accessories 220, FRIDAY, JANUARY 3 Over 25 years of experience Now Carrying! 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