I didn't get to the gym until late today because I didn't have a car! After we picked it up, I stopped by the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical. I burned 335 calories in 33 minutes. Now I can eat dinner!

I checked my stats for the month. I have exercised 14 times this month...the goal is 20. I have also lifted weights 5 times, with a goal of 10. I really should have lifted weights today, but I can say that I did 20 squats and 20 push ups with my daughter earlier and that is definitely a little strength training!!

The maintenance on the truck for 60,000 miles came to $483+, which we did put on the Southwest card. We have now met that spending requirement. I think I will be applying for my own Southwest card next, if the 50,000 rewards points is still around. If not, I will be looking for something better.

How are you exercise goals coming along this month? It isn't too late to make a goal for the next 11 days. You can do something for your health right? Let's do it!!

It is a little odd that I don't think of our mortgage as debt in the same way I do our credit cards, or loans when we had those. I definitely don't like having a mortgage or paying interest on it, but I do just accept it as a fact of life in some regards.

As you know, we are paying extra on our mortgage debt this year. It feels good, even though I know we will not pay it off before we move. I think of the principal payments as savings in a way. Theoretically, we will get that cash back when we move and sell the house. Of course, if use a realtor, they will get a cut. And if the house were to decline in value, that would cut into that profit as well. This time around the housing market seems to be going in our favor. We likely will make a little money when we sell.

So we have made progress on the mortgage this year. We have $3,758.59 less mortgage debt than we did at the beginning of the year. We are ahead of our goal by over $260! We are definitely on track to pay off over $14K this year.

It is so fun to see the progress and actually see the steps I planned work to make the goal come to reality. It's not so hard when you have a plan!

Have you made any new goals for your money this year? How are the ones you made coming along? Are you behind, ahead or right on track?

I had to edit this post as I realized I missed our January regular principal payment of over $400 in my year to date total. Instead of being slightly behind we are ahead. Glad I caught the error. I feel even better about where we are!

We activated our Southwest credit card just last week before my husband had a trip to Chicago. We need to spend $2000 to get our 50,000 Reward points that we can claim for $500 in gift cards. We already half way there!

_$361.87 Trip expenses
_$433.10 Auto insurance 6 month premium
_$172.23 Electric Bill (cold winter)
__$63.66 Truck Fuel
___$7.70 Subway (DH)
__$55.96 Van Fuel
__$15.91 Haircut (ME)
$1110.43 Total Spent on Card

I plan to put our tax payment of about $415, donations of $150, our wireless bill of about $150, a few birthday gifts. This puts us VERY close to meeting the minimum with our regular spending. I also know we have a mini trip that will have a few expenses and that with spring break next week for my girls we will start looking at clothes. My youngest is going to need a couple things for her DC trip early next month. In other words the spending on this card is really just about a done deal!

In health news, I skipped my workout this morning to get my haircut. I'm going to do a few more things at home this morning, but I still plan to get there around noon to get a treadmill walk in and lift some weights. Tomorrow and Monday will be days off.

Wishing you ALL the best for a super frugal weekend. And Banker Gurl, I'm keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. I wish you peace.

I can finally report another credit card bonus! I feel like these are taking forever to get my hands one, even though I know they are in the works. I had to wait for the statement to cycle closed again before the bonus was available. I could see it there since last month, but it wasn't available to redeem. I was able to redeem $115.76 from US Bank Cash+ Visa card. I had this one applied as a credit. I then owed $33+ which I have already paid. This card offered a $25 bonus if you redeem more than $100. I do get the bonus, but it is a Visa Check card which has to be mailed and takes about 6 weeks to receive. Ugh! Really I am happy about the cash, just frustrated with the delays.

That reward is another snowflake, of course! I sent it in to the mortgage yesterday with $25 from Swagbucks, a Pinecone survey and ATM rebate money recently received. We have $147.27 less debt on our mortgage to pay. Yippee!!

Payday is officially tomorrow, but I have already started paying bills, including credit card balances. Yesterday, I made payments on the US Bank card, my husband's Discover, and our Target Red Card. The paycheck is pending, but will be a hard deposit tomorrow. I think I will spend a few minutes and make a payment on my Discover to get that nearly paid off. I have just another $5 to spend to meet the goal...which I think will happen when I get a car wash later today. I'm also waiting on a refund (I ended up sending that clothes washer part back, since the problem seemed to resolve itself. No more leaking. Anyway, I hoping the refund arrives before the statement closes in less than two weeks. At this rate with Discover we should both get our $150 bonuses in April. I guess I can wait until then.

My snowflake accumulations for March just may not be as high as January and February. My best chance for another big influx for this month is to sell some old furniture (sofa, loveseat, kitchen table and chairs). I let you know when I get those listed and then sold.

The gym workouts continue! I am definitely committed now. I have 10 cardio workouts done and 4 weight lifting sessions complete. I'm already planning ahead to how to fit my workouts around a mini trip we are taking early next week. My husband is on board with the counting of calories, so that is a big help. He is pretty good getting his workouts in when he can as the Army does need fit soldiers. In fact, some of them are working out three days a week at their workplace gym. It just feels good to be making progress towards a fitter me!

Are you inpatient with getting your credit card rewards? Which card do you think rewards the fastest? If you are in on the March Fitness challenge, how are you coming along?

I did get six workouts in last week. I skipped Saturday and Sunday because of guests. Although my sister kept trying to get me to do some exercise cards...my back just can't do some of those moves! I did lift weights two days last week, so only 8 more of those days to go this month. And I still need 14 cardio workouts. I'm about to leave for the gym to get both cardio and weight lifting in.

The really good news is that by watching calories and exercising more I have lost 7.2 pounds in 21 days. I have much more to lose, but it nice to see the scale change! One day at a time, one meal at a time, it all comes together in meeting a goal. This is similar to saving money, too. Although for me, it takes a little more willpower to watch my food intake. I use myfitnesspal.com to track my calories and exercise. I have logged in for 21 days straight. That part gets a little addictive. I've also been reading blogs on the site to get inspiration. As we here at SA know, reading others successes and struggles is helpful in reaching our goals.

My snowflakes are coming in slow this month. I did use the $25 Target gift card yesterday when I bought groceries. I will send that and the savings from a lower water bill in to the mortgage today. That makes $29.33 for the month of March. There are snowflakes making there way here, but the arrival is unknown for now.

Are you working on a health goal? Did you make a payment towards debt this week? Are you expecting some snowflakes soon?

I stayed up way to late the last two nights with company in from out of town. I enjoyed the time, but I am wiped out today. It sure doesn't help that the time changed!

I managed to get to the grocery store (Super Target) and used the $25 gift card in the mail, plus some coupons, my cartwheel coupons and my Red Card to save some cash. The gift card will be included in the snowflakes. I also received another $5 gift card for Target for buying two vitamins. Now I'm stocked up!

Good news on the Southwest card, is that my husband has already spent nearly $350 on his work trip on the card. That will be so helpful. I think there is another trip this month that might help with the spending requirement, too!

The bad news on Discover is that I inquired again on the $150 promotional bonus. This time they stated the time frame to meet the bonus must pass before they apply the bonus, regardless of meeting the spending requirement. Did they tell me what date that is? No. I have now inquired about this specific. I like the Discover website interface and how easy it and helpful it is to use, but the online customer service is vague at best. Not willing to offer up information, unless specifically asked. I have had much better assistance with Chase and Capital One. The bonus is earned. It will arrive. I just need to be patient!

We had limited spending this weekend. About $16 at Subway for dinner last night. And I think $3 at McDonald's as my daughter wanted a snack after she went on an outing with me. A rare occurrence, so I didn't mind that expense. Otherwise, fuel on Friday and groceries today. I like those kind of weekends. I will take them when they occur.

Did you lose sleep this weekend? Did you have any fast food, or company visiting you? Anyone waiting patiently or impatiently on money to arrive?

My husband's Chase Southwest Rapids Rewards Plus Visa arrived today in the mail. I have already activated the cards. The countdown to spend $2000 in the first billing cycle begins! We will receive $500 worth of gift cards once we meet the requirement.

The online account shows the first payment due as March 26, so based on other Chase credit card accounts, I think the statement date will be March 29. So I really only have three weeks to make purchases to likely avoid paying the $69 annual fee. Well, I will have to pay it, but I can request a refund. Does that seem right to those of you who have done other Southwest Visa offers?

Our first purchase will be to pay our high electric bill from February. A whopping $172! Crazy cold winter leads to high heating costs. I have quite a few things to charge to this card, including our tax payments, an auto insurance payment, two donations, an upcoming cell phone bill. I might be able to get my husband to pay for his weekend travel on the card...but maybe not since they do like him to use that government card. That would sure help though! Worse case scenario is to buy gift cards for upcoming purchases. I think we can do it!!

In other good news, we received a $25 Target gift card for some spending we did on our USAA card back in November. It finally arrived. Another snowflake for March!

How quickly could you rack up $2000 in spending? And what would this spending be on? Would it include a splurge or would you be able to spend that on regular expenses?

Our mortgage payment for March posted on Sunday. Seems odd, as I expected Monday. Our regular payment includes an extra $103.72 towards principal. The principal portion of our regular payment was $455.18. Yes! I like less debt.

Our goal this year is to pay off $13,992.99 in principal on this loan. I picked this amount since it stretches us a bit and makes the ending balance even at $X15,000. So far our total principal paid of $3,303.99 is 23.6% of that goal. We only need to pay off $195.25 to get to 25% by the end of the month. I already know we can make that as we have another principal payment set to hit March 15 for $275.

In other news, I made it to the gym today. 3 of 20 March workouts complete. I also lifted weights, which means I have completed one of my 10 for the month.

Did you pay down any debt in the last seven days? Do you have a specific goal for your debt pay down? Do you also have a plan to get there? Do you have a fitness goal for March?

Sidebar tickers are current as of February 28.

The Swagbucks and Pinecone snowflakes arrived in our checking account. Is it me or is Paypal getting quicker at sending money? I have already scheduled this $28 to go to the mortgage principal. Less debt!!

So that washing machine part arrived today. I did a load yesterday and no leaking occurred after. Well maybe a slight drip or two. I'm doing another load now. I wonder if all that dripping the other day was a fluke? I don't want to spend time and money replacing the part if it isn't necessary. We won't get to the part replacement until this weekend, so I have some time to contemplate it.

We are making plans to visit a college in another state over spring break. My daughter has some interest in it. Since she is a Junior this year, it is time to start looking. I attended this institution for two year but transferred to another city, same state and university system to complete. A little looking shows that my graduation, her ACT score (29) and GPA (4.0) might make her eligible for a large scholarship that would easily reduce tuition to the in state amount. My husband also has Post 911 GI bill benefits that could be used for her as well.

I think it would be best to use the GI bill benefits for our older daughter, as you never know when the benefit could be pulled or changed. I think it could virtually make her college cost zero. We then could transfer what we have saved in her ESA to her sister. Right now we have over $30K saved between the two of them. Our youngest daughter won't go to college until Fall 2018, so we have over 4 years to continue to save and for that money to grow.

My best friends son, who is a senior, just decided to attend a private school. His grades are high, but ACT was 24. The school did offer some grants and reductions in tuition. In fact, because they waiting awhile to decide the school actually offered MORE money. My friend and her husband will take out a parent PLUS loan and their son will take out the maximum student loan allowed of $5500. I think that makes their portion around $20K for ONE year. My friend said he will work all summer and have to apply all his earnings to reduce the amount of their portion. They are putting their son on notice that this is a one year trial basis. If he isn't accountable, they won't pay for this private college. Considering they are still paying on her husband's college at the tune of over $600 per month, I'm amazed they are taking on more debt. Although I shouldn't be. They finance EVERYTHING! But they do both work full time and also have part time work as well, so they do seem to make it work.

We expect my husband to get promoted this year. I expect that extra income will help us with the college costs when the time comes. I hope this allows us to at least cash flow the room and board portion of college.

It feels good to be on track to handle college. Are you saving for your child's college? Did you help them with college tuition? If so, did you take out loans or cash flow the cost?

I just ate lunch. All leftovers. I have 1 cup of tortellini soup from two nights ago and leftover roasted vegetables from last night.

Yesterday, I found a bottle of expired dressing. It was nearly gone, so I tossed it out and recycled the bottle. I ended up doing the same thing with some bottles of lemon and lime juice. One was several months expired and the other wasn't clear. It seems like we had it awhile and we aren't really using those items in cooking lately. So I didn't use them up, but it helped declutter the fridge!

I did make banana bread yesterday. I was able to use up the last of the margarine and three frozen bananas. The loaf is now in the freezer, since we didn't need more sweets to eat right now. Tonight I'm making pizza from scratch. I was going to make two, one cheese and one beef. However, my husband is going out of town, so I think one cheese pizza will cover the needs of us three girls. I will cut up a couple apples that need to be used soon to eat with it. I know that the cheese I have in the fridge will be used up when I make the pizza, too. My fridge really seems extra tidy this week.

I checked the balance of our Discover cards. My husband is less than $25 away from meeting the $750 in spending. I'd like him to meet this before the statement closes in early March. All he really needs to do is buy gas and he will meet the requirement. I'm not quite as far along on my spending, as I still $459 to meet the same spending requirement. I expect March bills and fuel for my van will make up a big portion of that.

I have decided to skip the Barclay's card. I think one of us will sign up for Southwest Rapids Rewards card next. Barclay's already increased their spending requirement to $3,000. It had been $1000. I understand it is still available if we call in to customer service. Just seems like too much of a hassle. And I know I can't get DH to take the time to call either.

Is your fridge and cupboards extra clean this week from the using it up challenge? Did you find anything expired that you felt definitely needed to be tossed? Did you eat anything expired?

My husband did end up buying flowers for Valentine's day. A bouquet of pink, green and orange flowers from Target for $17. The flowers are for the girls and I to share. Pretty for sure, but not needed. He did look cute with the flowers in hand when he walked in the door last night though!

Payday is today. I paid and recorded all upcoming bills, like life insurance, water softener rental, Roth and college investments. I paid current amounts on both Discover cards, which included our internet and electric bills. The total on those cards was just over $500. I also paid $184+ on the US Bank Visa. I left a balance of about $140 as I expect that the rewards I will receive will total at least that. The $100 shows as pending, once it is available I will redeem for credit on the account.

The good news is I was able to save about $350, which I tossed in our emergency fund. I scheduled a $275 principal payment on the mortgage. I plan to make this payment each month to help us pay down nearly $14,000 in principal this year. I'm recording that on the sidebar.

It's been a good payday! How about you...did you household get a paycheck today? Did it all work out like you planned? Any good or bad surprises?

My Swagbucks money arrived in my PayPal account yesterday, so I requested that money to be transferred to our checking account. There was also a Pinecone payment in there, so I pulled that too. That will be $28 going to the mortgage! I will likely make that payment tomorrow when I'm paying bills.

My husband's paycheck is already pending in our bank account. I like paydays that arrive on the weekend...it means we get our money a little early.

I had over $150 in cash at our house due to getting cash for fundraiser that I wrote just one check for and getting paid for that sewing work. I took all the cash plus some change I scrounged up and made a $158.65 payment on our Target Red Card. Obviously, I made this payment in the store. I still owe more on the card, but I will pay that off tomorrow when I pay bills.

My daughter has found 10 books she wants to get rid of. Preferably she would like to sell them. One series has sold on Ebay for $50 with free shipping included. She keeps her books very nice, so I think hers can sell for this amount easily. The other series isn't as clear about the price it sells for. I might try $25 initially. Maybe I can get them posted later tonight if I have boxes for them.

We really need to list some furniture on Craigslist soon. We have a kitchen table and four chairs, a couch and a love seat. I'd like to try this weekend, but I'm not sure if my husband will be on board with that. I'd like $300 for all pieces. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I picked up The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert at the library today. I'm looking forward to reading it...for free of course.

I also picked up two small bags of candy at the store today. This is for Valentine's Day tomorrow. I might make a couple homemade cards for my girls. We will have manicotti for dinner at home. That is our frugal celebration!

Do you have frugal Valentine's plans? Did you sell any books or borrow one from the library?

The advantage of having Discover it cards, is that we have access to our FICO scores for free. Yep, the real score. Not the credit reporting agencies pseudo score.

I vividly remember asking two homes ago what our credit scores were because at the time we had zero debt and were about to sign for our newest mortgage. This was just over 7 years ago. The I response I remember was 815. I now don't remember if that was for me or for my husband. It was the first time I really knew what are scores were and I knew that 815 score was good.

So you want to see what our scores are? We have never filed bankruptcy, we have credit cards which are paid on time in full, the oldest is probably about 7 years old (although we had ones in the past but closed them all at one time), one mortgage and no other debt.

Here's mine:


Here's my husband's:


As you can see from the FICO scale below we are exceptional borrowers. It really isn't hard to be a good borrower. Don't borrow more than you can afford, and no more than you can pay off when the debt is due. Pay on time ALWAYS.



I would also suggest to never max out a credit card. This reason for this is that if you have $5,000 in credit charge $1,000 you are using 20%(1000/5000) of your available credit. If you charge up a balance of $4500, you are now using 90% (4500/5000) of your available credit. Lenders prefer the lower amounts. They refer to this as your utilization rate. The lower the better! In fact, this rate is figured based on ALL of your available credit issued to you. The more credit issued, and the less you use it, the lower your rate.

I've never really been to hung up on our credit scores. I think it is just because we do borrow limited amounts of money. We pay things off and on time. We have ever been denied credit when it was important, such as getting a car or house. However, I am grateful we have the scores we have because I know we pay lower interest rates on our home (2.75% ) and are able to take advantage of credit card bonus offers.

Do you know your true FICO score? Did you get your score from Discover for free or did you pay a fee? Do you even care what your score is? Are you surprised at our scores based on all the credit cards we have been opening?

On the coldest day of 2014 so far, our snowball arrived. Cool! That snowball is the Chase Sapphire bonus of 50,000 points for spending $3,000+. The actual awards credited this month was 51,016, which is equal to $510.16.



I have redeemed them for a statement credit which generally appears the next business day. This will leave me with $42.08 left to pay which I will pay right away tomorrow, leaving the balance at zero.

Since I don't have to pay $510+ on the credit card, I made a payment towards the principal balance on our mortgage. The amount, of course, is $510.16! Yea. Less debt!!

I expect a Pinecone survey to arrive in my Paypal account today. I'm still waiting on a deposit from Swagbucks. But it seems things are moving right along in the snowball department.

I have several financial things happening on Monday that I'm looking forward to. Yes, they are small, but fun for me just the same.

1)Our Chase Sapphire card statement will close, and the bonus rewards should then be available. Once this happens I can apply them to the balance, pay the small amount remaining, and then match the rewards with a big fat mortgage principal payment.

2)Our internet bill will post to my US Bank card and I will have met the $500 in spending to earn about $125 in rewards. I don't know yet when the statement closes or how quickly rewards are given.

3)My daughters recent Etsy purchase is available for pick up at the post office. I originally purchased with our credit card. Once she has it in hand, she owes me about $80.

4)If I'm lucky, I will receive cash in my Paypal account for Swagbucks and a Pinecone survey.

5)I plan to pay a few bills and make an extra mortgage payment for the sewing project I completed.

It's the little things some times that make the difference, even in personal finance! Are you looking forward to anything on Monday?

I was paid for a sewing project today that I did for my Mom. I now have $45 more in my pocket than I did this morning! I will figure my profit for the work and send that amount to the mortgage since I consider this side gig a snowflake. I will actually keep the cash she gave me and use for flute lessons later in the month. That means I shouldn't need to pull any money from an ATM for the rest of the month!

My husband came home from work and was interested in going out to dinner. He said we haven't done that as a family for awhile. True. But I had dinner all planned and ready to go. And the girls wanted to watch the Olympic opening ceremony on television. So we saved a little cash, since we kind of made plans without him.

We made a purchase today of tickets to a concert in late May. My daughters are excited. By that statement you might expect it is some boy band, but no....it is a violinist! My parents are coming with us since it is in their town, so I purchased six tickets with fees for about $175. I put it on my Discover card, ya know to help meet the spending requirement for the $150 bonus!

That is the financial news from here today! Best wishes for a thrifty weekend.

Regular readers know we have been taking advantage of credit card bonus offers to make a little cash. All funds earned from our regular spending on these cards is going to pay down our mortgage balance. If we could get decent rates on savings accounts, we would do that instead.

Currently, we are working on spending on three cards to obtain bonus cash. I thought you might like to see where we stand on those. We both have a Discover It card that we each need to spend $750 on to receive $150 in bonus cash. I also had a special offer from US Bank for which I need to spend $500 to receive $100 in bonus cash. There is an opportunity to claim an additional $25 at the time of redemption on that card.

US Bank: $427.82 of $500
Discover(Me): $35.94 of $750
Discover(DH): $126.86 of $750

I am close on the US Bank card. I will probably pick up some vitamins at Walmart and get fuel in my van to meet the minimum spending requirement.

As for the other two cards, I expect we will be charging six concert tickets for about $150, the electric bill which is $167, cell phone bill for another $150, fuel for our vehicles and other odds and end spending. I might bump up payment for our auto insurance to meet the spending as well. I already have the money set aside for that bill, so that makes it easy.

I have a balance of $552 on my Chase Sapphire card and the money to pay it, but I expect the bonus of over $500 to be available when the statement closes on February 10. When it is available I will request a statement credit and pay the remaining balance to bring the card back to zero. No interest has accrued of course, because I would never let that happen!

That is where our credit card reward activity stands. It feels things are moving slow on those cards, but I think the main reason for that is less spending. And that is a good thing!

Make sure you read my blog post from yesterday about how to pay off debt using the debt snowball, if you find yourself with multiple debts.

I wrote a post on

Our Money Blog today about how to pay off debt the fastest way possible. In my opinion, this is using the debt snowball that many financial gurus recommend.

In the post I show some charts and an example. If you find yourself interested making a chart of your own debt, you should check out the calculator I used at What's the Cost. I used an example without interest, but obviously that is not realistic. It is fun to work with different amounts to see how much faster debt can be paid off when more money is applied each month or interest is reduced.

We personally have paid plenty of debt this way. I specifically remember using pen and paper to plan a debt snowball after we were married. I know we had a car lease (ack!), a student loan (maybe two) and a personal loan (which was consolidated credit card debt from a failed business). I think there was other debt, but I can't even remember what it was now! I do know we paid off that personal loan in about one year, and the students loans before that. It was fast! And faster than my plan stated because we kept putting more money than planned towards the debt.

Does anyone else use What's the Cost to plan debt payoff? Is anyone snowballing debt right now? Did you snowball debt payoff in the past? Do you remember how much you paid off and how fast?

That Ebates payment arrived in our checking account and I sent it right off to pay down the mortgage. Less debt! That is the first snowflake for the month of February. It's a little slow going, but I know there will be more arriving at some point.

Today feels like a good day money wise. I think this is because I paid bills and everything is under control. Our bank will transfer $57 to our Capital One savings account on Monday for our twice monthly deposit to the 52 Week Savings Challenge. Our challenge total is $238, which covers weeks 1-8 and 49-52. Moving right along on that one. We also set aside $164 for things like auto insurance, auto registrations, and Christmas. We do this at the beginning of every month.

We ventured out after the snow stopped falling and purchased fuel for my husbands truck and some groceries to fill in for the next couple days. At the grocery store we found store brand shredded cheese for $1 in an 8 oz package. We buy these at Super Target for nearly $2.50 or more. We picked up 5 or 6 packages, since we didn't know if there was a limit. I did notice the sale ends on Monday, so I may pick up more cheese before then since this is a significant savings for something we buy anyway.

My daughter bought an item from Etsy online last month. She paid nearly $85. I used my credit card to make the payment since I wanted to use the expense towards our credit card rewards spending. I decided she could wait to pay me until it arrived. At this point we expect it next week, so I will get my money at the same time. What is fun, is that I actually forgot that I would be getting that money!

I was able to set $525 aside in savings, which is similar to the amount I saved last payday. Clearly we are not spending everything we earn! Some of that money actually will get to go to the mortgage once I get the rewards and have them credited to our current balance.

I'm going to write a post soon about how a debt snowball works. I think we might have some new members and probably some readers that are not familiar with this process. I don't think anyone is writing much about it right now either. We are not actually doing this type of pay debt down anymore since we only have one debt...our mortgage!

Is anyone snowballing debt currently? If so, will you let me know, so I can refer readers to your blog when I do the post? Did you get to put extra money in savings this week? Did you find any good grocery deals?

I was hoping I could write that this month was my largest snowflake total ever. But it isn't. It is the second largest total since I began recording in 2012. I accumulated $725.45 in cash from non-income sources. Credit card rewards definitely made a difference this month. This is 18% of my $4000 goal for the year. Here where that money all came from:



As promised, I put all this money towards paying down our mortgage. As a result we have less debt! Our mortgage balance is down $1,276.53 for the month. This represents 9% of our mortgage goal for the year, so we are ahead of schedule. Love it!!

I think quite a few of you were going to track your snowflake earnings this year. Do you have a total for January? It's not too late to start keeping track and looking for those snowflakes.

Our regular mortgage payment is $1,311.28. This includes property taxes and homeowner's insurance. Because our housing allowance increased by $102 per month this year, I am adding it to our regular monthly payment to be pulled automatically each month. That makes the payment $1,413.28. But wouldn't it be more fun to round that payment up to $1,415? Yes, it would!

I canceled our original payment on Wells Fargo today. I have to wait until tomorrow to set up a new automatic payment. Their rule. While I was on the site, I went ahead and made a one time payment for tomorrow. It was for $1,418, which is our regular payment for February, with the additional principal and a $3 Pinecone survey payment.

Tomorrow I will get the new payment set up to start on March 1. If I can I will make another automatic payment for mid month for an additional $275. Yep, we really are planning to send in more each month towards principal. I'm not very confident that I can do the second automatic payment. If I can't I will simply set the payment up manually each month. I have a plan to get that mortgage principal paid down!!

Are you paying extra principal on your mortgage this year? Do you have a plan to make it happen?

My husband received some travel money today. I sent $135 to our credit card to cover some of the charges he made there while traveling. The card does have a balance of nearly $815, but I think rewards will post on February 10 for over $500. I will pay a little more, maybe $265 on payday this Friday. All the spending there is in control.

I'm going to be purchasing some items on Amazon tonight. Vitamins for the girls, and Lysine for the cats. I regularly buy these online and with Amazon Prime they will be here in about two days! I am also going to purchase a light box to help with SAD (seasonal affective disorder). I think several of us in our household could benefit from more sun type light. Worse case, I sell it used on Ebay.

Only spending today was $20 flute lesson, and mailing a package to my sister for $2.50. I almost ran to the store for more taco seasoning and sewing machine needles. I ended up just using LESS seasoning and finding another needle to try that seems to be working so far. I'm happy that I didn't need to spend on those things.

I'm in the middle of sewing some napkins for a client. Once I'm done, I might have more time to blog. I'm hoping that is tomorrow.

I worked on our taxes this weekend using FreeTaxUSA. Right now it looks that we will owe $413 to the Federal government. We are exempt from state taxes in our state for military pay, so we don't owe or receive anything back.

This is the first year in a very long time where we are unable to itemize our deductions. We were about $1000 short. I guess it is good news...we get a higher deduction than we 'earned' so to speak.

I'm still waiting on 1099Rs from Fidelity for the rollovers we did earlier this year. These will not change our taxes owed since the rollovers are in tax deferred accounts. I just need the numbers to report correctly.

I won't be in to big of a hurry to pay the government, but knowing me I won't want that 'debt' hanging around until April 15th either! I might consider paying the fee imposed to pay the amount owed with our credit card since I know we will get that money back in bonuses. Depends on if I need the payment to meet a goal. I estimate the fee would be between $7 and $10, depending on the service we use.

Speaking of credit card bonuses. I need to double check, but I'm pretty sure we have met our $3000 in spending on our Chase Sapphire card just this weekend. I activated a US Bank card today and paid our Verizon wireless bill with it. That payment already meets 34% of the spending we need to get $125 bonus.

I'm hoping we can stay frugal through the week and keep our spending low. I don't think we will need much of anything, but with three other people in this household I just never know!

Do you know where you stand with your tax return yet? Owe or refund? Any frugal plans for the week?

The exciting news here today is my husband is home from annual training! He was gone nearly three weeks. It was nice to just hang out at home together.

The second most exciting news is that the payment I made to the American Express card posted. That account is now paid in full and shows a zero balance. While we didn't need to pay this debt in installments, and luckily didn't pay any interest, it is nice to know that $150 of our monthly cash is available for other things!



As I often say, I like less debt!

Right on schedule, my husband's $125 bonus from Capital One was deposited into his checking account today. I decided to leave it in the account since it earns a little interest.

I did however send that money (took it from our checking account) and the $25 American Express reward to our mortgage this morning to pay down principal. That means the balance is lower by $125!

I generally update at the end of the month, but I thought you might like to see all the snowflakes that I have accumulated this month. A whopping $722.45!



Including our regular principal payment this month, we have paid $1,273.53 in principal. Again, I'm always happy about less debt!

Anyone else have a total of your snowflakes so far this month? Any amount is great in my book!!

I posted a tip about free tax filing on

Our Money Blog today. If you like free, take a look!

Our American Express billing statement closed on Friday. We earned more rewards, I believe from our kitchen table purchase. We had enough to redeem for a $25 statement credit. I have already requested it, but don't expect I will see it post for a couple more days.

Our balance before the credit was $150, so I just need to send in $125 to have it paid in full. The remaining balance is the last of the Washington DC trip costs. Once I have paid this off, it will free up $150 in our budget since that is what I have been paying every month. Of course, there has been no interest on this card. I wouldn't pay interest...you know that!

I will send the $25 reward money in to the mortgage since I didn't have to pay that portion on the card. I love less debt!

P.S. I'm over at

Our Money Blog today discussing my tax preparation plans.

I received the $50 rebate check for my Kitchen Aid mixer in the mail today. (By the way, I love my mixer!) I also received my most recent Swagbucks redemption of $25 in my PayPal account.

I added these to some other recent snowflakes, added my planned extra principal payment that reflects the increase in our housing allowance and rounded up $0.20 for an even $200 principal payment on our mortgage. We have now paid over $1000 in principal since January 1!!

$102.20 planned extra principal
_$50.00 Kitchen Aid rebate
_$25.00
_$18.00 Wine rebate
__$2.54 Capital One CC Rewards
__$2.26 Menard's Return

Oh, it feels good to have less debt! Did you end the week with less debt? Any checks in your mail today?

The low spending is going very well this week. I had two no spend day, Monday and Tuesday. Today I sent a package in the mail for $2.24 and purchased some grocery items at Target for $13.11. I needed more greens for my smoothies!

The fuel gauges on the vehicles are going down, but I will keep using the gas that is there and hope I can make it very close to Sunday before I need to fill up again.

Today was payday, which means the automatic deposit for the 52 Week Savings challenge was sent to my Capital One 360 account. My total is now $181, which covers weeks 1-7, and 50-52. I'm still not really sure what I'm saving this money for! At minimum, more emergency funds.

All bills are up to date, and I expect to pay off the American Express balance in a couple days. This is the card I charged my daughter's Washington DC trip to. She leaves in April and will have a paid for trip! The balance is at $265. I expect $25 in rewards to be available in a couple days, so once I claim that I will pay the remaining $240. I was already planning to pay $115, and since I have the remainder, I'm ready to be done with paying Amex. One less item to think about. And the even better thing...we paid no interest!

I applied for the US Bank offer on Monday. I found out today that I was approved. I like instant decisions better! I was also approved for the Discover It card. I still need to talk to my husband before I have him apply for the Discover, too. All of those cards will probably go pretty fast, since the spending requirements are only $500 and $750.

How many no spend days have you had in a row recently? Have you paid off a debt recently that you have been holding for awhile? Did you apply for credit recently? Was the decision instant or did you have to wait?

I have an opportunity to earn cash for a couple of sewing projects. Those are going to keep me busy in the next week or so. I will have to purchase fabric for one, but I consider it a business expense! And that purchase may not come up until next week. Side gigs such as this will likely to to the snowflakes for equity.

I did send in another snowflake payment to the mortgage today. It was $90.39, consisting primarily of Chase rewards, but including ATM rebates, interest and other miscellaneous reward dollars.

Today was a no spend day. There were opportunities to spend however. One daughter was home sick, but we had supplies on hand to accommodate her needs. She is fine now. The other daughter didn't like the yogurt I bought, but she has not asked me to buy something else. They didn't have her regular preferred flavor, and I suggested something else and she approved. It just didn't work. I'll eat it, so it will not go to waste.

I'm also tempted to buy two DVDs on Ebay of two seasons of a sitcom we like and own four season of already. I will try the library first. So really it has been just fine on the first day of the low spend week.

Did you have a no spend day? If not, what did you buy? Was it a want or a need?