I received my Big Fat payment from Ebates. That is how they refer to it. I only received $8.40 in my PayPal account, so I wouldn't exactly call it fat.

I promptly requested the money be transferred to our checking account. I will ended up sending it to the credit card we are paying off. It is currently at 0% interest, so no worries.

The specific card we are working on is the Wells Fargo World American Express card. It has a balance of $460.09. I will have this paid off before May, as I believe that is when the assess the annual fee of $175! I am NOT paying that, so I will be canceling this card very soon after. Of course, I also would like to redeem any final points we have accumulated, as well.

I'm in the process of dismantling my dishwasher. We are pretty sure now that the fix is not a simple O ring. Darn. It's probably some sort of pump. Not sure which one yet or what it will cost, but I really would like to fix ourselves, so save the labor. It could still come down to someone coming out, just not ready to admit defeat until I've looked around some more!

Did you get an Ebates payment? What will you do with yours? If you have a Wells Fargo Amex will you be cancelling yours before the annual fee is assessed? And has anyone done any dishwasher repair lately?

I must have signed up as part of a class action suit in regards to EmergenC, which I have purchased. Today in the mail I had a settlement check from EmergenC for $17.98! That makes for a super snowflake for our credit card we are paying off.

I am also sending the $25 PayPal deposit I received from Swagbucks to the other credit card. This helps meet the minimum payment that is due for the month.

In the end the snowflakes mean less debt. I like that!!

I have accumulated another $64.73 in snowflakes (extra money). And I made sure to get them sent off to a credit (0% interest) card so our debt will go down.

We have two credit cards that we are running balances on. I'm stubborn about not wanting to use our savings I guess. I have the money to pay them in full. It is just nice to have 0% interest and not have to dip in to other cash.

I sent the above snowflakes to our Wells Fargo Amex. It had a $700 balance. With the payment deducted, we owe $635.27. Less debt! And paid with snowflakes!!

The other credit card we have a balance on is our Citi Thank You Preferred. It has a balance of $661.27.

I plan to pay off the Wells Fargo Amex first so that we can close it. It also has a hefty annual fee after the first year, so we don't want to be hit with that!

While I was checking balances I decide to redeem 2,500 Citi Thank You points for a $25 Panera gift card. I figure it is good for a family lunch or night out. I will match debt reduction or savings when we use it.

Have you redeemed any credit card rewards this month? Did you pay off some debt, or accumulated any snowflakes?

I was just notified by USAA that we should expect our annual subscriber distribution tomorrow. It will be $69.19. I don't know why I look forward to this expected, but not always promised source of funds.

USAA also reimbursed us for ATM fees last month in the amount of $6.45. There was also a whopping $0.03 of interest.

When I add those snowflakes/extra funds to a recent rebate received ($8), Pinecone survey payments ($9), and a used up $5 Target gift card, I have more than enough cash to make the final extra payment on the mortgage for the year.

This means we have met the goal!! Our mortgage balance will be just under $X15,000 after I make a payment of $97.67 tomorrow.

I'm so excited to have met the goal I set out to reach at the beginning of the year. It always seemed possible, but there was definitely work involved. It paid off!

All snowflakes we accumulate through the end of the year will be applied to our savings account. We spent nearly $3K recently on tires, brakes, new timing belt and a flute. That money came from savings. It is time to pay ourselves back. I will still track the snowflakes until year end for a grand total number.

Later this month, I will flush out new goals for 2015. I'm sure some goal will include the need to track snowflakes!

Did you think we would do it? Are you surprised or not?

We are getting so close to meeting the goal of getting our mortgage paid down to $X15,000. I just made a principal payment of $53.88, which was from one eBay sale and $25 worth of Target gift earned and used for groceries.

We now only have $97.36 to go meet the goal. I know it will happen. There are lots of sources that will come to fruition before the end of the year that will be applied to the goal.

As you go to make your goals for next year, think big! Stretch your goals and then make a plan to make them happen. The journey this year to accumulate found money/snowflakes is just proof you can find money in all sorts of places to help you meet your goals.

When I was making the goal for 2014, I knew some debt would be eliminated just by making our regular payment. I figured out where that would put us without any extra cash. I then subtracted my $4K snowflake goal. After that I looked at what extra income I could apply. I know some of it was from my husband's raise last year. Based on all of that information, I was able to come up with end goal of where I wanted our mortgage balance to be at year end.

Tracking and reporting where we were on the goal each month was helpful to know that we were on track or if we were behind. If we were behind, it often motivated me to look for more cash offers, list something on eBay, or work a little harder to earn some gift cards with Bing and Swagbucks. Everything little thing added up to get us to the goal.

So, again make your goal BIG. Stretch yourself to make it happen. I will say one goal is usually easier to work on than multiple goals. So if you don't have an emergency fund established that might be the perfect place to start. If there is that one credit card or loan hanging over your shoulder, then make a plan to pay it off or way way down. You won't regret it! And as always, I will cheer you on!

Do you have a big goal you accomplished this year? Do you have a big goal for next year?

The goal for 2014 has been to pay down $13,993 in principal on our mortgage (our only debt). In November we were able to knock off $738.02 from that balance. The principal portion of our regular payment was $477.48, extra found money (snowflakes) totaled $156.82 and the remaining amount, $103.72 was extra we chose to add to our regular payment to help meet the goal.

We have now paid off $13,218.25 of our 2014 goal. We have just $774.75 left to pay to meet the goal. I expect the principal portion to be about $480. Our regular payment will also include an extra principal payment of $103.72 sent in at the same time. This leaves approximately $191.03 left to meet goal.

I already have a $40 payment to make towards that goal, so that means another $151.03 left to figure out. We have the cash to meet the goal if needed, but I'd like to find some snowflakes to round out the final amount. I expect this will not be too hard as I was able to accumulate that much in November!

Did you have a debt pay off goal this year? Are you close to meeting your goal? Will you make a goal for next year?

I had to go back to the grocery store because when we purchased wine on Sunday, they only rang up 11 of the bottles. I needed that 12 one to show on a receipt so I could redeem a rebate worth $18. Luckily they were cool about it, and rang up another bottle, and gave me the additional discount for another 6 bottles. I paid another $1.93 after that so that I can get the $18 back! Well worth it.

We have been notified by Wells Fargo that we are short in our escrow account. This is because our property taxes increased by $306. The shortage is just $244.67. We have the option to pay in full before Jan 1, or have the amount spread across the next year. Normally, I would be inclined to pay the shortage up front. However, I really expect we will be moving, thus sending in more money a larger refund check later just doesn't appeal to me. I will have the amount spread across the next 12 months this time. Because of increased taxes and the shortage, our new payment will increase by $43.78. I think we can handle that change.

We may be changing our upcoming travel plans do to weather. I'm not a fan of anyone driving when roads are snow and ice packed. It is just not safe and not worth the risk of an accident.

It looks like we will make a little money from my husband's last travel trip. A whopping $25.81. Seems like a snowflake to me! I will add that amount with the $6 I have from a refund and a Pinecone survey and send to the mortgage to meet that goal by year end.

Have a super Thanksgiving! Stay safe and enjoy those you love and care about.

The goal for the entire year is to pay down $13,993 in principal on our mortgage. Novembers payment, and a scheduled extra payment have been applied. We are less than $1000 away from our goal. Specifically, we have $915.16 left to meet the goal.

I actually thought there was an error because I was seeing that $x15XXX! But alas, it was as right as right can be. Yippee.

I did just make a little payment of $16.40 with some snowflake money that has trickled in since the end of October. That amount is included in the numbers above.

I feel really good about meeting the goal!

A few of you have asked if I will continue this goal in 2015. The answer is a little mixed, but yes I will make a goal to pay off a certain dollar amount for the first six months of the year. It will be more conservative. The odds are really pretty high that we will move. I hope we can sell FSBO, but part of paying the mortgage down was to help cover realtor costs. When you have plenty of equity in the home, it helps it not seem like a big deal. If we can sell FSBO, we will have more cash out than if we had not paid down on the mortgage.

Snowflakes and extra funds will be used to pay ourselves back for tires, vehicle maintenance, daughter's flute, senior pictures, college expenses, eye glasses and other expenses that are eating into some of our savings. It shouldn't take too long to recover, but it is important to take that step as we prepare for another move.

So again, I'm super excited about the goal and getting so close to the finish line! How are your goals for 2014 coming along? Have you thought about your 2015 goals yet?

In the month of October we paid off $1,239.30 in principal on our mortgage. All snowflakes earned this month are included in the above figure. The remainder was from our regular income.

The goal since January has been to pay off $13,993 in principal in 2014. We have now paid off $12,480.23 and have just $1,512.77 left to pay.

I know we will meet the goal. I know this because I expect this money are to be applied before the end of the year:

Nov Regular Principal $476
Nov Extra Principal $103 (11/1)
Nov Extra Principal $275 (11/15)
Dec Regular Principal $478
Dec Extra Principal $103 (12/1)

This leaves just $78 needed to make it to goal. I know of two checking rewards that will equal $250 that I should earn by the end of December...so that is more than enough. That doesn't include my normal ways of accumulating some extra funds! I would prefer not to make that $275 principal payment in November at all. I may not if it looks like I can make the goal without it.

It's fun to see a goal come to fruition. I will be very happy when is actually here!! How are your goals coming along for 2014?

Wow! I wasn't expecting it to actually happen, but one of the commanders actually reimbursed my husband for refreshments purchased on his behalf nearly two months ago. The outgoing commander still owes us $75 and that was mentioned to him yesterday.

I have deposited the check, and will make a payment in the same amount to the Wells Fargo Amex card where we just put the tire and brake purchase. It's true I could call it a snowflake, but I think we are good on that goal and this is money we wouldn't have spent if given the choice. Fingers crossed we get the $75.

I did discuss with my husband that these commanders should pay up front for costs of their own refreshments. It isn't right for lower ranking officers or soldiers to pay and wait to be reimbursed. He agreed and may do a better job handling it in the future!

I was able to eliminate quite a few things in my To File pile yesterday. Some recycled, most shredded. The rest needs to be put away in our main filing cabinet. That should take less than 10 minutes to complete later today.

One blog I'm following indicated today was the day to purge nail polish. I only wear it on my toes in the summer, so I have two bottles I trade between. Both were good last I used them. So that task can be considered complete!

Are you purging anything this fall? Are you donating or selling? Do you often have to wait for reimbursements? Do you have a way of keeping your paper files in check?

The $250 Citi Thank You reward check was applied to our mortgage late last week! Today, I also sent in another $18 in extra funds (snowflakes) to reduce the balance even further. That money was from one Pinecone Survey check and three $5 Target gift cards.

The mortgage balance is now $X16,512.76. This means just $1,512.76 left to pay down before the end of the year to meet our goal. We are right on track or even ahead of schedule.

Once we meet the actual goal amount, I will stop sending snowflakes to the mortgage. I will need to use these to offset some big purchases of late, primarily car maintenance. And there's that flute we still need to purchase. We have also been buying some new uniform items for my husband due to his promotion. Just last night I ordered a new service cap to go with his ASU (dress uniform) to the tune of $105! This stuff adds up, so I need to get some of this cash back into the bank.

I have a bid on one item on eBay, so another small snowflake will arrive before the end of the month, although I may count it towards November. I also redeemed MyPoints for a Panera Bread gift card. If I use that for an outing with friends, I will match it with mortgage funds.

If you have the Discover card, remember that online purchases for the quarter earn 5% cash back. I luckily remembered this when I ordered the service cap and some vitamins online yesterday?

What is your most recent snowflake? Are you using a cash back card for your online purchases? Are you nearing a goal you made at the beginning of the year

I've got a new post at

Your Organized Friend, with a little more decluttering I got done yesterday.

I received some mail today, one was a bill for an eye exam my daughter received last November! It shows the claim being denied with an invoice of $79 due upon receipt. It also states it is over 60 days due which implies we should have received an invoice prior. I will be calling and getting this straightened out before next months appointment.

The other piece of mail was from our dental provider indicating they are denying our claim of services in August because the dentist is not a network provider. This I did know. However, the dentist office said our insurance company is still paying claims at the old negotiated rate. I know the insurance will still cover at a certain rate, and at a minimum I will owe the difference. I need to call the dentist office to see what they know. I may need to file our own claim, which I do not look forward to.

I don't like getting bills for services I expected to be covered!

The flute refund now shows on our Amex credit card, so that is a relief that it all worked out. I didn't get a refund of shipping of course, but that I do understand.

I can finally see my husband's pay stub for the month of October. It all looks correct for the pay adjustment for the Sept 1 promotion. I look forward to seeing the one in November, as that will be even more clear!

I have a bid on an item that I listed yesterday on eBay. I actually hope it sells for a little more than the starting bid. The last one like it I sold did, but you never know with this item.

I received a $3 Pinecone payment.

See? All good news! What is your good news for today?

The flute we bought on eBay has been returned, received and payment refunded. However, it doesn't yet show on my credit card. On PayPal, it says it could take up to 30 day! Wow, that is a really long time. Luckily, there is no interest accruing on the card I used. It may show up in another day or two, at least that is what I hope!

I claimed my third $5 gift card at Target this week for purchasing $15 worth of personal care products. In all I bought six packages of feminine products (two types), two tubes of toothpaste, two deodorant sticks, and two cans of shaving cream. I think we are stocked up through the end of the year! Two gift cards have been used, the third will be used tomorrow when I get a few more items for our guests. All gift cards will be matched with a principal payment to the mortgage.

I've been doing some

fall tasks and purging a few areas of the house. I wrote all about it over at Your Organized Friend, my other blog.

The Thank You points check from my Citi card arrived today. The check is made out to our mortgage company for $250. I have put it in an envelope to be mailed in tomorrow! Soon to have less debt.

We are in the process of getting new tires for our truck. We were told they would need to be replaced a week ago when we where in. And now one of them is not holding air too well. They need to be ordered and hopefully we will have them this week. Not excited about paying for them, but we want to be safe and have working tires! We are also getting rear brakes replaced at the same time.

In the not too distant future, I expect I will also be getting new tires for our van and maybe brakes (can't remember if those were a need yet). So once I meet the mortgage goal, all extra money through the end of the year is going to help pay for these expenses. Specifically, replenishing the funds we will use to pay for them.

Once the Citi check arrives at our mortgage company I will let you know! I expect it to go off without a hitch.

I have a new post up at

Your Organized Friend about some decluttering I did.

I usually save these updates for the end or beginning of the month, but I'm excited about about where we are! The goal since January has been to pay down our mortgage by $13,993 to bring the balance to $X15,000. An even amount. We numbers geeks like even numbers, right?

Since January, we have paid off $12,212.23!! We have just $1,780.76 left to pay off. And because I know where most of that money is coming from I'm even more excited. Here's where I expect the money to come from:

$250 Citi Thank You Reward
$476 Approx November Regular Principal
$379 Planned Extra Principal November
$478 Approx December Regular Principal
$104 Planned Extra Principal December

All of those expected planned payments equal $1,687. That is $93.76 short of the goal. I also expect there will be other snowflakes to easily meet the extra $93+ needed. If there are more snowflakes I will reduce the extra principal I send in at least until January comes around again.

I feel strongly that if I didn't make this goal in January, we wouldn't be were we are now. Always make a goal! It's worth it.

I finally decided to redeem the $200 bonus from the Citi Thank You card. For awhile, I was thinking of redeeming the reward for a Lowe's gift card so we could put it towards the purchase of a fridge. That is on hold for now.

I ended up redeeming the bonus plus other points for a $250 check made out to our mortgage company. I would guess I will have it in a week. It came really fast last time. Once I have it, I will send it to Wells Fargo to reduce the principal on our mortgage balance! That was the whole point of getting the bonus anyway, so I'm pleased with making that happen.

I made an extra payment full of various snowflakes (extra money) today in the amount of $82.28. Less debt, we know I like that! It really is amazing how small amounts of money here and there add up.

In other news, the flute we purchased is being returned. It is actually in really great shape and easily worth the money we paid. Except, the embouchure isn't the right size for my daughter. She has a hard time blowing air through it. I thought since it was the same model my oldest daughter has it would work...but my younger daughter has different lips and it doesn't work for her! Our lesson teacher advised it be returned, so I'm in the works with that since I bought it on eBay. We will now buy local and give her lots of options to test out for the right fit. Luckily, she wasn't too disappointed by it all.

I am waiting for the seller to respond, and I'm slightly concerned they will deny a refund. The seller has a 100% feedback score, but seems to have something about 72 hours to request refund...and today is 72 hours. Of course, then there is another place on their site that say 14 days. My plan is to return it, insurance priority, maybe with signature and hope a refund would still be provided. At that point, I think I could contact the credit card company for a refund, showing I returned the item to them. Any thoughts? I know I could also get eBay involved if needed. I probably shouldn't jump to send back to quickly. Worse case, I could actually resell it.

Have you had to return anything you purchased lately? Do you have less debt than you had yesterday?

I sold an item on eBay over the weekend. The net profit was $23.79. Two of the items listed didn't sell, so they have been relisted and I added another one.

I really want to be decluttering this month, but I did only get to the entry way last week. I wrote a little more about the topic and some areas I may consider on

Your Organized Friend.

We are busy this month with band events and guests. It is quite enough to keep up with that, but I will do my best to dig in and find some things we no longer need. Maybe there will be more items to list on eBay!

The biggest thing I need to remind myself is that looking for things to purge only takes a few minutes each day. I'm sure I can find 10 minutes even if I have all these guests and things to get done.

In other financial news, our mortgage payment for October had $474.64 in principal reduction. Plus, we automatically send in $103.72 towards principal each month as well.

Have you sold anything recently? Do you consider October a good month to purge and declutter? I'd love to hear about any decluttering or purging you do, and even how long it took you!

My oldest kitty is 10 today! We sang Happy Birthday to her. She is clueless, but it was fun for us.

We paid $758.83 towards the principal balance on our mortgage in the month of September. This might be the least we have paid this year! I did skip a $275 payment that I have been making nearly all year. We just had a lot of expenses this month, and I need that cash. It may mean I have to make up the difference later in the year to get to my goal.

Most of the balance reduction was from our regular payment, but the snowflakes I accumulated did exceed the extra I send in to round up our payment. The break down is below:



For the year, we have paid $11,240.93 on the balance. The goal is just under $14K, specifically $13,993.00. That means we have just $2,752.07 to go to meet the goal by year end. This is an average of $917. Since the principal portion of our payment is generally $472+, the other portion has to come from extra payments and snowflakes. Prior to this month our extra payments were $378. That means I only really need $67 in snowflakes each month. I may not make as big of extra payments from income if I can get more snowflakes.

I did relist three items on Ebay yesterday. I did want to list a couple more things, but I wasn't motivated enough. It will be fun to see if I can come up with some new sources of snowflakes in the next few months.

How much debt did you pay off in September? Any amount is good in my book. Don't let my high debt pay off amounts scare you. Sending in just an extra $5 is sooo worth it, because over time it all adds up and makes a difference!

I accumulated $182.20 in extra money(or snowflakes) for the month of September. All the cash went to pay down the mortgage!

Here's where the money came from:


Also, it could have been higher if I was able to redeem some of my Southwest Rapids Rewards points. That would have been $200+. (See other posts for why I can't redeem...yet.) I also could have redeemed $200+ from our newest credit card Citi Thank You Preferred, but I'm holding off to determine if we will use this money for a new fridge.

I do have a Pinecone survey reward being transferred to my bank account and an Ooma $20 referral reward that will be counted as the first snowflakes of October.

I did make some financial moves that will generate some extra money in future months. I opened a Discover CashBack Checking account for a $50 bonus. I opened a joint US Bank Checking account for a $200 reward, as well as set up a CD at Navy Federal Credit Union which will net us 5% interest on $5,000 over then next year.

I'm happy with the snowflake progress of the past month and looking forward to those future rewards? Did you track your extra money earned this month? How much did you accumulate? Did you save it or pay down debt?

I sent in some snowflakes to the mortgage this morning. I used $18.24 in Amazon gift cards obtained from Southwest rewards and Bing/Swagbucks. I also had a $3 payment from Pinecone and earned $5 using the Ibotta coupon app. This means we now have $26.24 less mortgage debt!! I like less debt.

So far for the month of September, we have accumulated $182.20 worth of snowflakes which all have been sent in to the mortgage.

I did skip an extra mortgage principal payment this month equal to $275. I used it to pay off some charges on credit cards. Charges that are not costing us interest, but would if I didn't use that money. I'm still ahead of schedule on my mortgage goal, so that is what helped sway my decision to use the money on the purchases versus the mortgage. And I didn't really want to pull from savings! I like my savings intact.

Where are you getting your extra funds (snowflakes) this month? How much have you accumulated.

I bought 24 boxes of Puffs tissues last week on Amazon. I believe they arrive tomorrow. I'm interested to see how big of a box that is!!

Last night, I finally remembered to reorder my daughter's allergy medicine. Generic Zyrtec, 365 pills for $17.25 shipped in two days with our Prime Membership. I hate to admit but her bottle we bought quite awhile back expired in May! It seemed to still be working, but I'd like her to get the full effect of unexpired medicine.

Those purchases were made with Amazon gift cards that were redeemed with points on our Southwest Rapids Rewards Visa. So since it was free to us on purchases anyway, I made an equal payment to our mortgage. The amount was $38.93. Less debt!!

Have you ever purchased 24 boxes of tissues at one time?!

Check out the junk I got rid of at

Your Organized Friend.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on a new card that was introduced by Citi. It's called

Citi Double Cash Card. It pay 1% cash back on purchases and then another 1% cash back when you pay for them. Effectively 2% on all transactions. No annual fee. Currently, 0% interest for the first 15 months.

This Citi card now trumps the 1.5% cash back that the Capital One Quicksilver provides. The one flat rate can be nice, so that you only need to handle one card and still get cash back.

We are currently using a few different cards to get a combination of cash back at higher percentages. It can get very difficult to keep track. So I highly advise against this if you would have any trouble keeping track of different cards and their balances. I also don't recommend getting new credit cards if you would not be able to pay the new balance in full.

I will also say I'm not against people who are paying off debt to move balances to 0% cards. If you do this you need to know that nearly all cards charge a balance transfer fee of at least 3% of the balance transferred. You need to have a plan to pay off the balance you will transfer within the time frame of the 0% promotion. Otherwise, your interest rate will rise and could be higher than your original card! I would determine the balance to be transferred, add in the fee, then divide by the number of promotional rate months to determine a monthly payment. If you can meet or exceed the monthly payment you set for yourself, then you are in great shape to reduce debt and pay no interest!!

Is anyone using a 0% card to pay down debt? Did you use one in the past to accelerate your payoff?

We have less mortgage debt because of extra payments and snowflakes sent in and applied to the principal balance.

We paid off $1,214.02, of which only $365.18 was from non income sources. About half of the remainder was from our regular payment. The rest was extra payments we committed to paying to meet our mortgage goal this year.

Again, that goal was to pay down $13,993, which brings us to an even $X15,000 balance. In the first eight months of the year we have paid $10,482.10. Only $3,510.90 left to pay towards our goal. That averages $877.73 per month. No problem considering most months have been far more!

Do you also have less debt than you did at the beginning of August?

Today is payday. I paid off charges made to various credit cards, so we are back to zero on all except one. No interest has accrued on any of course!

I made a big payment towards the principal balance of our mortgage in the amount of $349.41. This includes the planned $275 we make on the loan at mid month. We accumulated $48.08 in rewards on the Chase Freedom card over the last two months. That snowflake money was included in the payment in addition to some Pinecone survey and eBay proceeds. It all adds up to reduce debt! We only have a little over $3,600 to meet our the goal of paying off nearly $14K on the mortgage this year.

I have a bid on one item on eBay. There are several items listed and most at Buy It Now prices, so one has to wait until someone pulls the buy trigger. I may change these on Sunday to get some movement on them. I want the cash for them now.

I still haven't hit $100K in my Roth IRA account yet. The market has been down recently, but it could still happen this year. And I don't mind buying some more shares at lower prices!

I hope everyone has a thrify weekend!

I used up the remaining $50 Walmart gift cards obtained from Southwest credit card rewards. The money was spent on mundane household goods, including treats for band camp.

I also made a purchase of $4.95 using Amazon gift cards obtained in this case from Bing and Swagbucks rewards.

As I like to do, I matched my spending on gift cards with a payment to our mortgage in the amount of $54.95. This will all go to reduce principal. Less debt. I like that!

We still have $50 in Amazon gift cards, around $32 on a Kohl's card and another $50 to Lowe's that we have not spent yet. I'm in no rush. If we don't need anything, we don't need to go buying it!

I'm waiting for a Pinecone payment to be deposited into my PayPal account. Once that happens I will transfer the cash in there (around $14) to our checking account so I can add that money to the mortgage as well.

Everything is moving right along! Did you make any extra mortgage payments this month? Was it a planned amount, or some extra money you found?

My husband has been using our credit cards for when he travels...that means we can accumulate more rewards! He had a trip last week and was already reimbursed for expenses. Unfortunately, he spent more than what he is reimbursed for. Only by $30. Probably, a few too many beers at the sports bar.

I paid $832.43 to the Wells Fargo American Express and $78.59 to the Chase Freedom card. It feels good to make payments and see the balances go back down. We do have balances on the cards, but no interest is accruing because I'm paying the balance in full before the due date. We also have 0% on the Amex, so a few of our bigger expenses are still there because honestly I like having my cash in my account, too. It will all get paid and I have no worries that we are spending more than we can handle.

I'm waiting for the Citi Thank You card to arrive. All new charges will go on that card to get the award of $200 in gift cards (or a check to our mortgage) after spending $1,500.

Tomorrow we are traveling to look at a college for our oldest daughter. She's not keen on this college, but I think it is good to look at several before completely deciding! I think I only looked at one. And then I transferred after two years.

Are you waiting for a credit card to arrive, or maybe a check payable to you? Do you charge work expenses and then get reimbursed? How many colleges did you visit when you were looking?

We paid off $1,431.79 on our mortgage in the month of July! (ETA: Officially only $1,395.79 was for July, as $36 was counted for June) That includes the various snowflakes listed in my previous post, the principal portion of our regular payment and two schedule extra payments of $103.72 and $275.



The goal is to pay off $13,992 by the end of 2014. To bring us to an even $x15,000 balance. So far we have paid $9,268.08 of that amount. That is 66.2% of the goal in 7 months!

I fully expect that we will meet the goal. The only thing that could hinder us is something that would keep us from sending that extra $478.72 each month. Right now I don't know what that would even be.

I'm looking forward to seeing how much beyond the goal we can get to before the end of the year!

I did end up redeeming $300 worth of gift cards with my Southwest Rapids Rewards. I can't remember the breakdown, but I got gift cards for Amazon, Walmart, Lowe's and Kohl's. I have another 20K+ points I can redeem for an airline ticket or gift cards, but I'm waiting to decide if I do want to use them for an airline ticket or not.

I also requested cancellation of my Southwest Visa from Chase. I had a negative balance on the card of just over $119, which was from a trip my husband took and had the charges reversed. (There's a blog post about it if you are really interested in those details.) Of course, I requested the funds be return to me, in addition to the annual fee.

I expect I will get a check and the gift cards in about a week or so. The check will get cash and then use the funds towards payment on another card. As I use the gift cards I will match the money that would have been spent with a payment to the mortgage.

I don't have any card rewards we are currently working on, so I expect I will apply for the Citi Thank You Preferred card I mentioned a little while back. My mailed offer is for 20,000 points after charging $1500 . The points are redeemable for gift cards and in the past I was able to redeem for a check made payable to our mortgage company, which is what I would prefer to do again today.

Today, I'm taking the girls shopping for school supplies. The needs for high school are not nearly as extensive as elementary in my opinion. Folders, paper, pens and pencils usually covers it. I will try to find a deal on tissues as those are a constant need it seems.

Are you school shopping for supplies or clothes yet? Have you applied for a new rewards credit card? Or redeemed any credit card rewards?

We had met our spending requirement for the Southwest credit card a few weeks ago. I had just paid the entire thing off, too. I was waiting for statement to close, points to be awarded (and then redeemed), and then close the account.

My husband had charged two nights at a hotel to the Southwest card. All good until a coworker realized he was charged for extra rooms. A phone call to the hotel to confirm the entire groups charges. My husband could not confirm the charge for his room was on the right card because he no longer had it in his wallet. So they reversed the charge on the Southwest card and he had it charged to our Wells Fargo Amex.

He was trying to do the right thing, but it really was all okay. He didn't need to do anything. After the charge is reversed we are short by $95 of meeting the requirement. I charged $5 yesterday at Walmart, and signed my daughter up for the ACT exam in September for a charge of $38, so I need to spend another $52 before the statement closes in about a week. It should be no problem as I know I need gas for my van and we need to purchase rock for our landscaping.

I was thinking I could charge these, make the payment for the new charges and request a refund of the hotel charge in full which is over $200. But I realized the card likely won't let me make a payment if I already have a negative balance. I just need to make the charges needed (with our regular spending) and then request the $100 plus that will remain as a credit balance. I may not be able to do this until the card is closed.

The hotel charge that is now on the other card will get paid with the credit balance received and our regular spending cash that I would have spent on the things we buy anyway, but charged to the card. Make sense?

A complication to the whole process, but it all works out in the end! I think my husband panics about charges sometimes. If he could have texted me while on the call with customer service I would have been able to verify that the card the hotel charged was correct. But he didn't do that. I'm not just mad, but I do need to keep track of where we are and get it all corrected.

Fun times with the credit card rewards!!