I'll post of picture of my December 2015 income sources and total. Those amounted to $448.13! Ebay sales helped quite a bit, along with credit card rewards.



As for the entire year of 2015, my snowflake totals equal $2,725.47. I did have many months where I wasn't too focused on bringing in extra funds, primarily because of our move. We also limited our acquisition of new credit cards as well, so there were not many large bonus rewards.

I didn't add the cash we received from our damage claim. That was just over $1400, and could really be considered a snowflake. That would bring the total up to at least $4,135 for 2015. We also had other money come in as a result of our move, but I didn't track that well. Those payments would probably bring add another $7200. Of course, those were really reimbursements for money spent...so it's not like I have a large chunk of cash sitting around as a result.

Overall, it was a good year for finding extra funds. I hope to make 2016 even better! Will you be tracking your extra income/snowflakes in 2016? How did you do in 2015?

If it had been up to me, we would have spent $0 today. But I forgot chicken stock for the stuffing we were having. So my husband ran to the store, and he decided we also needed two bags of chips. So another $8.15 out of our account.

Our girls also wanted to spend their Barnes and Noble gift cards. They both went over by a couple dollars...so I spotted them a little cash, but they owe me about $4.

And it seems the buyer of a Wii game I sold early in December feels it doesn't work. I'm a little surprised. I'm accepting the return, since I believe I can ultimately resell it. I will verify again that it works. It originally sold for about $37, so it's not a small request.

However, tomorrow is payday, so were doing just fine. It will be time to do the budget on YNAB and get all credit cards paid!

I received a gift in the mail yesterday from a friend. We exchange when the mood strikes us. Last year I'm pretty sure I sent her something. But not this year, in part because I was simply reducing our list of obligations.

She sent me a very small jar of organic hot chocolate mix (two servings), a nice chocolate bar, and two handmade marshmallows. Yummy! It is such a simple gift, but her card and thoughtfulness are more meaningful to me than something more extravagant.

I'd rather receive simple gifts given out of love than something extravagant any day. Some of this may be that I don't like spending money on expensive gifts, so I sure wouldn't want someone doing that for me. And this particular gift is one that will eventually disappear, once it is consumed. Only the jar will remain and that can be recycled!

I have a whole list of things that I think are pretty simple that I would love to receive: lotion, handmade soap, Penzey's spices, good quality tea, wool socks, slippers, homemade foods, lavender dish soap or hand soap, and even flowers or a plant. Did you notice most of those are consumable or something that will eventually be used up or worn out!

Do you give simple gifts? Do you have simple gifts you would look forward to receiving?

Our daughter is home from college! The weather cooperated with her flights leaving on time. Classes did end before Christmas but she went with her band to a bowl game over Christmas. Our team won!

We spent money on gas for the van today (around $19), $2 for an hour of parking, another $11 at Starbucks in the airport while we waited for the flight, and $28 for lunch on the road between airport and home. My daughter didn't eat this morning so she was 'starving'. The rest of us probably could have waited, but it's all good. There was money in the budget for eating out.

We will probably stay in the next few days being together and completing our holiday celebration. Although my husband has to work a little. We still have plenty of food to last through the end of the year. I'd really like to think we are done spending for the rest of the year!!

I go through periods of time feeling anxious. It's usually the mind going through all sorts of crazy scenarios that I have no control over.

Today, I'm primarily anxious for my older daughter to be flying alone (she has flown without us, but with a group) to visit us. I think it is more about the weather as the Midwest is about to get slammed with a snowstorm. She flys out very early tomorrow morning going through Saint Louis. If the flights are all on time it will be no big deal. It's if there are delays that I'm concerned. So prayers and good vibes are appreciated in the next 24 hours.

I'm also feeling anxious about making financial plans for the next year. Some of the decisions are easy. Save for retirement and college. I think I'd really like to make sure I have a firm savings plan for all the things we want to do in the next year. And I know that some of the reason that is hard is because I don't know exactly what we want to do. What are our priorities?

So that's where I stand today. I think if I can do a little brainstorming of ideas first that will help my brain calm down a bit. And then eventually I would need to discuss numbers with my husband. It will work out. I just know that if I throw out some random goals without knowing where the money comes from and if we can save enough in time that I will probably just fail. I don't want to fail!! And no I don't really think I will fail. It's just the feeling of it.

Do you get anxious about making goals, financial or other?

I'm tempted to go shopping today. I have this idea that if I go to Target that I can get some ornaments on clearance. I usually buy one for each of my daughter's, but I didn't buy them this year. They have often come from Target because they seem to have a style my daughter's like.

And I still have the opportunity to gift them as we will not open stockings and the rest of our gifts until next week when my oldest daughter returns home.

Part of me say don't go shopping. Avoid the chaos. Avoid adding 'stuff' to our home. But I also know that for a couple dollars I'm helping build their ornament collections and that they will like them.

I will have to resist any other temptations while in the store, too! That might be the hardest part. The good news is I do not need any wrapping paper for next year. We don't need any candy or holiday themed food. We have more than we need!!

Are you doing any after Christmas shopping?

We made one final purchase this afternoon. A set of ten puzzles of Thomas Kinkade pictures. At 50% off at Micheal's, we spent $9.99 plus tax. So far, the first one is taking quite awhile, so I expect this will be very inexpensive entertainment over the next few days!

Thank you to all of you for reading my financial posts all year long. May you have the happiest of holidays!

Merry Christmas!!

I spent $145 at the music store yesterday, which I still need to record in YNAB. The younger daughter's flute was only $20 to bring back into good playing condition. We also signed her up for flute lessons. She has not been taking lessons since we moved. And originally didn't want to. She has changed her mind. All on her own!

The lessons are $25 each, payable in advance. She starts the first week of January, so that is what we paid for. The other $25 is a one time fee that goes to cover costs of recital venues. So now I need to budget in another $100 expense each month for awhile.

The older daughter doesn't have her flute back yet, so I don't know the cost. I still expect it to be around $100.

We did our grocery shopping yesterday and spent about $185. That did include trash bags and laundry detergent. We are stocked up really well for the next week or more! In fact, I expect there to be leftovers frozen. I wonder if these frozen meals may end up getting us through our No Spend Month in February!

We changed our Netflix plan for the next month. All four of us have things we want to watch and we aren't always watching those things together. We increased our plan from 2 screens to four. The price increased from $8.99 a month to $11.99 a month. I expect to change it back once we are all back to school and work after the holiday.

My daughter's both have their flutes in for repair, or really just basic maintenance. They are in at different places. The local shop here expected the cost to be no more than $65. The shop in my daughter's college town thought her flute may cost around $90 for repair. She is having a little more work done so that makes some sense.

We are making what I would like to be the final grocery run of the year. Although, I'm sure I'm bound to need a few perishables before then. It seems like a lot of food, a lot of extras we like to have this time of year. It's probably too much, but I guess it's what we do!

I'm also tempted to buy a puzzle or two. We put together one the other day as a family that we bought last year as a holiday activity. I'd like to do more, but I think we only have one other one. I'm sure these are available at a thrift store, so that would be the frugal way to shop for such items.

Do you have instruments you have to repair? How many more grocery store trips do you have in 2015? Do you like to put puzzles together?

I've earned at least $300 in cash and gift cards from Swagbucks this year, which yes is $25 a month. I probably only spend an hour at the most each day accumulating my points. And this is when I'm on my treadmill in the morning, or watching television in the evenings.

Today, I earned 36 SB clicking videos on my phone, another 4 for the daily habits, a few more playing games, and watching other videos online. And finally I took a short survey for 50 SB. I met my 100 SB goal in 45 minutes. Maybe even a little less.

It's an odd way to make a few dollars, but I find it kind of fun. If you want to join in for 2016...my referral code is

Okay, that is a very strong statement. But I had to share that I was finally successful at cooking dried black beans! It feels like a Christmas miracle. I've tried a couple times before with no success. The beans were still unedible after hours of soaking and cooking.

I know someone here mentioned that using old beans could be part of the issue. And knowing that I have neglected bags of beans before cooking, I decided I needed to try again.



And yes, fresh beans worked out just like the direction stated! So tonight we had brown rice, black beans (which were seasoned with cumin, onions and garlic), salsa and sour cream. Yummy!! And pretty cheap.

I have at least 5 cups of beans left. I have put 2 containers of 2 cups of beans in the freezer. The rest were mixed in with the leftover rice, so someone will have some lunch this week. Probably me!

I haven't made any goals or plans yet for 2015. I found out our housing allowance which generally goes up each year, is staying the same. Not the end of the world, but a bit disappointing. The increase in my husband's pay is going up by about $105 a month.

I'm going to need to adjust pay for withholding after the final pay day of the year on December 31. We had changed it so there would be no withholding for the last three months when I realized we had been putting too much in. The college benefits threw me for a bit of a loop in planning! I'll know much more after this tax season.

I know we will save for retirement and college which are set up automatically. We would really like to take a vacation. I think with YNAB we will better be able to track this and make more concentrated progress.

The good news is there is no debt! We don't need to be focused on paying anything off. Thus the major focus to save or at least pay in cash those things we are putting our priorities on.

I'll get back to you in the new year on more specific goals. Are you planning to attack any big financial goals in 2016?

Although our Christmas shopping is done, we did some shopping today for needs. At Ulta. Where the checkout line was horrendous! Not that I was really surprised. The man buying his daughter's makeup just about had a heart attack when they gave him the total! The stuff is expensive and adds up fast. I don't think they had any coupons. We were buying one liter of conditioner and a tiny bottle of hair serum of some kind. With 20% off and $6 in rewards our total was $26.49. That conditioner bottle should last me six months. It seems the shampoo lasts about twice as long!

I bought a long sleeve shirt on Land's End today. I've been wanting a gray one to replace one I got rid of last winter. Today, I was able to get it for half off, free shipping and will get a $15 credit because I used our Chase Freedom card through the Visa Checkout system. The total before the credit was $17.90. I had to throw in a child's fleece hat $3.97 to get my total high enough for the credit offer. I will donate that since both items together will only cost me $2.90!

We went out to lunch today. We tried a new pizza place here in town, called MOD Pizza. It was really good! With drinks for three of us we spent $31. We ate late, so hoping dinner here at home can be light. Oh, and the meal was in our budget!

We have plans to watch Polar Express tonight also. It's been a few years since we watched it...and I was contemplating decluttering the disc. Guess it stays for now!

We received lots of goodies (food primarily) in the mail from my parents today. Their Christmas gift to us. They know the kinds of things we like. And there should be nearly zero clutter as a result. There were some candles...which could take awhile to burn though.

I hope you are all enjoying the lead up to the holidays! If you are stressing out...please don't it isn't worth it. I have heard of too many people getting upset this time of year for various reasons. That makes me sad when it should be a joyous time. It seems to come from putting too much pressure on ourselves to please others or expecting too much of the season. We have scaled back considerably and I can tell we are all enjoying ourselves so much more!

I sold more shares of my daughter's college fund the day interest rates went up and the market went up. I'm selling to cover the cash we used out of pocket to pay tuition and housing last semester. I still need to withdraw another $2K before the end of the year. Although if the market keeps tanking, I may just forget it!

It's officially holiday break! We have no particular plans. I'm hoping we can find some low/no cost things to do at home or in the area before Christmas. I guess my husband has a few more days of work before then too!

I did buy toilet paper and got $1 back from Ibotta for the purchase. Always nice to find some savings. I have nearly $16 accumulated with

We've been looking for new furniture since we moved in. And we found it and decided what we wanted awhile ago. We finally decided to make the purchase this week. We bought three pieces of leather, a couch, love seat and push back chair (recliner). With taxes, delivery and some leather protection warranty, we paid $2,921. We receive our furniture on Monday!

I think I mentioned that we got around $1400 for damage done to some of our furniture during the move. We are applying all of that to the purchase. I'm going to throw some snowflakes at it in addition to using some savings. Eventually we hope to sell one sofa that is replacing so that should help a little, too.

The latest snowflake is $12 from Pinecone. CrazyLibLady mentioned that the $3 cash out option was back! She was right, so I used my 1200 points for $12. I expect that money in my PayPal account tomorrow. Which reminds me I had another small sale on eBay for which I probably gained $4.50 after fees. The little amounts add up!

I'm nearly done with all Christmas tasks...yes, shopping is done, wrapping is complete, some gifts mailed. Just working on the menu and getting grocery list together. Oh, and I need to send our eCard yet as well. Otherwise, I'm just enjoying the season!