Text Edit Question: How Do I Create/Save PLAIN TEXT??

Question

I've been using Macs now for over a year, and this is still an annoying quibble that I haven't sorted out. I don't know if this is the right place to raise this question or not, but there don't seem to be any other places for it, so it goes here.
How do create and save a simple, plain text, no code, no embellishments, file using this "TextEdit" program?
I'm familiar with Notepad in Windows. Used it for a million things for years and years. All it would do is "plain" (i.e. ascii) text. No frills whatsoever.
No I guess TextEdit is the Mac equivalent of Notepad? But it wants to do both "plain text" and "Rich Text Format," and apparently I haven't learned how to keep them separate.
I created a new file. I told it to make the file "plain text." Then I typed some stuff, saved and closed the file.
But when I reopened the file, I found all this crap in the header:
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf949\cocoasubrtf330
{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;\f1\fnil\fcharset0 LucidaGrande;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;\red41\green81\blue169;}
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww9000\viewh8400\viewkind0
\deftab720
\pard\pardeftab720\ql\qnatural
\f0\fs24 \cf0 \
And all these slashes and other code-type crap that makes the actual text I typed unreadable.
So, somebody, please, tell me: how do I create a simple plain text file like I used to be able to do with Notepad, and not have to worry about it being all garbled when I go to re-open it.
Should be easy, but it's not.
--PS

Answer 1

If I format fonts, even in a "plain text" document, am I going to wind up with code again when I reopen it?
Not unless you save it as rich text.
Why is a "plain text" document even offering me bold and italics or any other kind of formatting?
Why would someone wanting to write plain text use bold or italics options? On the other hand, I'm sure many people would like to print and compose formatted text now and then even when they prefer to keep TextEdit in plain text mode for most of their work.
I miss notepad. All it did was plain text. No options to confuse things. Where is the Mac equivalent of THAT??
Try TextWrangler