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Archive for June, 2012

Snowflakes for June

June 30th, 2012 at 03:58 pm

June was a slower month for accumulating snowflakes to add to our Christmas Fund. I'm sure it is a result of being in the moving process.

I added $41.00 to the fund broken down like this:


The new total of the Christmas fund is now $583.86. The goal is still $750, with only $166 to go. I'm might even guess that I will exceed the goal!

It isn't to late to start accumulating snowflakes for your own Christmas fund. Something saved is better than zero. Good luck and let me know how you do!

Another Gift Card!

June 29th, 2012 at 07:21 pm

I was able to snag another $5 Amazon gift card for the month of June from Swagbucks. This extra time in the hotel is worth something! Smile

I used some of my free time to call all the utilities and services we will have at our new home. I actually have to put a deposit down with our city for water. They require this for all new customers. It will get credited/refunded back after 12 months of on time payments. A little irritating considering we are always on time with our bills. But it tends to be part of the moving process. Smile

DH submitted his travel voucher with the Army. Fingers crossed he submitted it correctly. He wasn't too confident unfortunately. Hopefully, that money will arrive soon.

We definitely have lots of things we want to buy as we establish ourselves in our new home. We will just go all out and get it all done right away or try to cash flow it a bit. Undecided on that part. We just need to keep our heads out of the sand and make good financial decisions.

Closing on our home is Monday!! Everything seems to be on track for that to happen just as originally scheduled. The movers may not bring our things until after the holiday. It will all work out. We are definitely ready to be in our new home!

One More Amazon Gift Card

June 27th, 2012 at 07:33 pm

I used some of my free time hanging out at the hotel to earn some more Swagbucks. I earned another $5 Amazon gift card. I redeemed enough Swagbucks this month for $20 in AGC's! I feel that is pretty good for being in the middle of a move.

Swagbucks is free and will definitely be a huge part of my Christmas fund this year. If you are interested in joining click the ad on my sidebar!

Appraisal & Walk Through

June 26th, 2012 at 03:19 pm

Our appraisal was done yesterday. It was a bit of a surprise. I did not realize it had been scheduled. I'm not even sure that it was, but it was being done right at the same time I called my agent.

We have our walk through scheduled this afternoon. The builder and his agent will be there, as well as our agent. As of yesterday he still had not replaced the dead sod. It could be he is waiting to install closer to our closing.

Not clear yet if closing is on Friday or Monday. I hope to get this cleared up today, so I can contact our movers and get all the utilities going as soon as possible.

I received our last water bill from our previous home. It was about $40 over budget. I think it is a result of my husband watering our entire lawn several times in the last month. We had been really dry and were trying to keep the lawn somewhat green for the new owners. I guess I'll need to get used to larger water bills until the lawn is established at the new house, too.

More Snowflakes

June 22nd, 2012 at 02:54 pm

A few more snowflakes have fallen and are being added to our 2012 Christmas Fund. I redeemed Swagbucks for another $5 Amazon gift card, my third this month. I'm a little slow with the Swagbucks this month because of moving.

We were given a convenience store gift card worth $10 last month when we watched a neighbors cats. I decided to use the gift card and save $10 in my checking account.

I expect to receive a $3 Pinecone deposit in my Paypal account today for a survey I completed last night.

Another $18 towards the Christmas Fund is a good thing. Have you had any snowflakes falling at your place? How big is your Christmas fund?

Truck Loan Balance Goes Down!!

June 20th, 2012 at 07:10 pm

Our regular payment towards the truck loan was a couple days ago. We paid $31.53 in interest and $297.60 towards the principal balance.

Our new balance on the truck is $10,636.05. Right now this is our only debt since the house loan was paid off yesterday!

It is tempting to use some house proceeds to pay off this loan since it would free up a payment every month. I would at least have to continue to make payments to our savings account to pay ourselves back. Something to think about!

Mortgage Free!!

June 19th, 2012 at 09:51 pm

We are mortgage debt free!! Our loan was paid off today with proceeds from the sale of our house. It's an odd feeling. And a temporary situation. We will take on another mortgage in 10 days or so. I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

While we are in the hotel we are taking advantage of 'free' breakfasts and manager's reception dinners. And free coffee all day long. I guess it really is included in the daily hotel rate. We expect most of our stay to be reimbursed by the Army, so it's at least cheap!

DH has taken advantage of the gym equipment and we are trying to get in to use the pool, but there are lots of kids here! And everybody wants to use the pool. Smile

We did end up finding a hotel that will allow pets, so our cats are with us. We paid a flat $75 charge to cover any cleaning expenses. So far they are doing pretty well. One is more relaxed than the other. We like being around them, so it helps us relax too!

Thanks for listening to my moving adventure stories. And fingers crossed we can close by the end of the month!

Closing Today

June 18th, 2012 at 02:55 pm

We are closing on the house we sold today. We actually don't have to do much since we already signed all the paperwork.

We stayed in a hotel last night. We are picking up our cats soon. One of them needs medication so she can relax a bit and maybe not be so loud! We also need to vaccuum up the cat hair. After that we'll leave the keys, lock the door and start traveling east.

The nice thing is we are walking away with cash from the sale. And it's more than we put down. I think paying off our home equity loan a couple years ago made a big difference. The money is being wired to our bank account. I'll need to start looking into ways to earn some money on the cash.

The closing on the next home is less than two weeks away. Can't wait to stop living out of a suitcase and get back to blogging about something other than moving!

Uh Oh! No Paycheck...

June 13th, 2012 at 03:27 am

My DH is transitioning with work from an active duty post to a reserve unit. I just logged on to see his paystub for this upcoming payday on Friday as we are expecting a few pay changes. Unfortunately, there is no paystub(LES).

In this case, no paystub, no paycheck! Luckily we have a pretty good cash cushion right now, so things will work out.

His new boss did mention today that there may be a delay in pay. The person who handles it at the new unit is out of town for Army training until the end of the month. Likely this will delay pay for a whole month!!

I guess this is another reminder about having an emergency fund and cash cushion. The nice thing is because of the cash cushion, I'm not even worried. It's definitely a good thing.

Movers Arrive Tomorrow

June 11th, 2012 at 04:01 pm

Our movers arrive tomorrow to start packing our things. It is one of the nice perks of the Army. We have had to separate out some things, such as our clothes we want to wear, a few kitchen items, valuable things including pictures and files.

Our house is a mess, but we are in very good shape.

We decided to go with a VA loan this time. Our first VA loan actually. We also went with an adjustable rate of 2.75%. It will remain fixed for five years and then can adjust up 1% each year after...up to a max of 5%. Considering we have been in our home for 5.5 years and have been paying a fixed 6%...this feels like the best deal given our situation. We don't expect to be in this next location for more than 6 years.

I would have liked to rented, but the area we are moving to just didn't seem to have what we were looking for. We do like owing our home, so that we can really make it our own while we are there.

Off to cancel some utilities and fill out school paperwork!

Christmas Snowflakes for June

June 9th, 2012 at 01:40 am

I received $3 from Pinecone this morning. I also redeemed Swagbucks for two $5 Amazon gift cards. A good start for accumulating snowflakes for the month of June.

I also made a Half.com sale. However, I seemed to have donated that book. I had to refund the buyer. I suspended the other book I had listed, since I won't have access to that while we are moving.

I have a box of other things that I'd like to sale on ebay and craigslist, but those will also wait until after the move. Something to look forward to!

Booked A Hotel

June 7th, 2012 at 10:46 pm

We booked a nice hotel that will allow our cats to be with us. It has a kitchette with refrigerator, two burners and a microwave...and dishes!!

We get internet, newspapers, acess to pool and workout room, breakfast daily and manager's receptions four nights a week.

I think we will make this 11 day stay in a hotel mangagable. The Army should cover most of the stay if not all if we manage our money right!

Less than a week before they pack up our belongings. It's really hard to believe and there is so much to do still. At least we finally went to the grocery store and should have enough food for most of the time we are here with a refrigerator.

We Have A Deal

June 6th, 2012 at 01:36 pm

We now have a deal on our new home. It's new construction. The neighborhood is very close to being filled in. A ranch, three bedrooms and two full bathrooms upstairs, finished basement with large storage area, another bedroom and full bathroom. Three car garage. It's a very nice layout. We are all excited.

We are attempting to close in about three weeks. It may not happen, but the seller had another deal fall through, so some of the abstract paperwork is ahead of schedule. Our lender is definitely on top of getting our loan paperwork submitted as soon as possible. Fingers crossed it could actually happen.

We want in as soon as we can since we will already have time in a hotel regardless. Right now we are trying to decide if we board our cats or keep them with us in a hotel. We like being with them, but I want them to be less stressed too. We could likely visit too. Any thoughts or experience with this?

In less than a week, our movers should be packing up our belongings and loading them on a truck. In the meantime, we are going to paint the caulked areas on the outside of our house, throw a birthday sleepover for our youngest daughter, and try to seperate out the items that we don't want packed!!

Repairs for Buyers Under Budget

June 5th, 2012 at 02:10 pm

Remember that the buyers were wanting repairs done before closing and we were having trouble getting a contractor arranged in time, as well as, finding a good price?

We left it with the contractor we hired that the repair work was to be under $800. If the work was not finished once the limit was reached, we would complete the remainder.

The contractor arrived yesterday and completed the work in four hours rather than the 20 hours estimated. The cost was $274.40. Now that's more like it.

I think the company is losing business because they can't estimate the work well. We would have had more done, such as repairing a door and painting the nails they caulked over. Instead the door remains as is, and we are going to be up on a ladder painting.

I'm just glad our cost was less than we were expecting!!

Snowflakes for May

June 4th, 2012 at 05:11 pm

In May, I added $109.50 to our Christmas Fund. The money came from various sources: a Target gift card, Ebay sales, Pinecone and MySurvey rewards and Amazon gift cards earned with Swagbucks.

I budget $60 for water/sewer/trash per month. Our actual bill was less, so I added the excess to the Christmas Fund as well.

The current balance of the Christmas Fund is $542.86. My goal is a minimum of $750. I think I will have no problem meeting that goal before Christmas shopping season.

Making An Offer

June 3rd, 2012 at 09:16 pm

We are making an offer on a home in our new locale. It's a new construction home and nearly complete. Just some light fixtures, switches and closet doors and shelves.

Fingers crossed we can make a deal happen!