I need to talk with my husband first, so this idea isn't yet a done deal. I'm considering increasing the deductible on our homeowner's insurance from $1000 to $2000 or more. The savings could be over $150 per year. It's not a lot of savings, but it is money we could keep in our pocket. We do have nearly $20K in our emergency fund so I don't have any concern in meeting the deductible. Why pay more than we need to, right? Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea?

I just wrote a new post on

Our Money Blog about reviewing expenses. It's likely something you all know and do anyway, but I think it is a good reminder to really look at where our money goes.

Today was a no spend day. No purchases were made online. School is on again for tomorrow. I have now completed seven days of green smoothies. Yippee!!

I set up my challenge money to automatically transfer to my Capital One 360 account. And right on schedule, a couple days ago, $57 was deposited. This can be considered deposits for week 6 and 51.

The balance in my Challenge account is now $124. I did start in early December and have larger amounts going into the account than those starting from week one or two. So far this goal is on track. Yea!!

I'm having my green smoothie for dinner while the girls have pancakes. That will make four down, 27 to go!

Today's frugal happening was unplugging the last of the holiday lights that were on a timer outside. The only outing was a trip for our weekly groceries. I expect we will not be going anywhere for a couple of days with the really crazy cold temperatures heading this way. That will say on fuel for the vehicles, but I'm sure we will be using plenty to keep the house warm. Ack!

What is the balance of your 52 Week Savings Challenge account? Is your money in an account, or in cash? Did you do something frugal today?

Our regular mortgage payment posted yesterday. The principal portion was $448.88. Yes! Less debt.

I just sent off the snowflakes we have accumulated in the last few days. A big snowball of a payment in the amount of $151.43!

Here's where those snowflakes came from:

I update my tickers at the end of the month, so you won't see a change there for awhile.

In other goal news, I have had three green smoothies. Just twenty eight days to go. The last two days I have had pineapple in my smoothies, which I found to be very refreshing!

How are your New Year's goals coming along? Progress yet? Are you still working on goals? At least one financial goal is a good start. If you work on one you can be very focused!

We almost always eat at home with food we have purchased from the grocery store. That will be the case tonight. And it will require preparation to cut up and season vegetable that will be roasted in our oven. Yummy!

We only have a couple night a week where dinner needs to be quick. I try my best to plan for those with something very easily prepared. It might be pre-cooked in the Crockpot, something needing to be thawed, or a simple sandwich. These are so much healthier than the majority of take out food, and far less expensive. I know I could be a better cook and meal planner, but I try not to sweat my imperfection knowing I'm doing pretty good spending less and eating healthier than many.

Since the groceries were purchased Monday, and all I did was clean more windows today, I can officially declare it a no spend day! That is good news. The bad news, or frustrating news is we are still waiting on my husband's travel payment. I noticed on the website that end of fiscal year travel payments are usually delayed. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

How often do you eat out? Would you say you eat at home more than eating out? Do you plan ahead for those crazy busy nights with simple meals? What is your go to simple meal?

I've had a cold for over a week now. The lack of energy has been awful. I made it to the gym yesterday and today, but only did cardio exercise for about 20 minutes. After that I was wiped out!

After a little rest today, I did some clean up in our garage. I seemed to handle that just fine. Clearly, it wasn't as strenuous. The lack of energy is leaving many things undone around here. I'm feel this week will be the crawl back to getting those things done. Next up is a load of laundry. And then if I still am up for it, homemade biscuits.

I expect today's spending only to be for the flute lesson, a $20 bill in my wallet will take care of it. Tomorrow, I will stock up on needs that have come up since my last shopping trip: hair mousse, a cat collar, a loaf of bread, fuel for the van and it seems one other thing.

I hope all of you are well and stay well. It's no fun to be sick.

Just noticed my Snowflakes for Christmas ticker has disappeared. I still have the coding in my blog settings and it looks correct when I compare it to the other one. I tried to copy and paste to get to the TickerFactory site, but I'm just taken to the main set up page. Does anyone know if these tickers expire if not used for awhile?

Our over the air antenna is in the attic and working! We get all the stations we are suppose to. The picture is so much clearer. My husband thinks we might need an amplifier, but we are going to wait and see.

The cable boxes are boxed up and set aside to return to the service provider. The next step, is to set up our Google Voice phone number through the internet connection. That will be done tomorrow. If all goes as planned, I can cancel phone and tv service by the end of the week!

If you are interested in knowing which broadcast television stations you might be able to receive in your area, check out the

FCC website. We are receiving all the 'green' stations and one 'yellow' station. Since several stations broadcast more than one channel we have 23 channels plus a radio station. The last thing I will add is that we are receiving several stations that are over 70 miles away. We purchased an antenna that would pick up this distance.

I'm happy to report I have been using my gym membership after a summer lull. The girls have been in school for 5 days and I made it there four of those days. I really hope I can stop and ultimately reverse my weight gain. I feel pretty positive I can.

Are you exercising? Is your goal maintaining or losing? Do you pay for a gym membership? Or workout for free in some other way?

I mowed the lawn yesterday, thus quite a bit of walking. I also spent nearly an hour digging in the dirt. We have a section of our lawn that still needs sod installed (we were told this week). I am digging out the crab grass in this area. We could (maybe should) have used Round Up to kill it, but at this point it is too late with sod arriving soon. I still have about four to six square feet to finish this morning. I actually like to dig in the dirt...is that weird?

We did spend money yesterday on fertilizer, grub control (don't like finding those when I dig), and a new spray nozzle. I think we need to find a new place to buy fertilizer though. It was nearly $35 a bag, for just 5000 square feet. I think I seen them for less than $20 before. Oh well. It's done this time.

We also bought 4 gourmet cupcakes and a bunch of asparagus at a local indoor farmer's market. We spent $8 on the cupcakes and $3 on the asparagus. The asparagus was just cut at 1130am that morning and we purchased it around 3pm. These were our Father's Day treats. Both were very yummy!!

We also made our trip to the grocery store spending about $125. This included hair conditioner, toilet bowl cleaner, wine and a new pair of ear buds for our youngest daughter. The rest was food. I did use quite a few coupons...at least $10 worth if I remember right. This should last us until we leave for vacation.

Have you been getting outside now that the weather is warmer? Are you out for exercise, relaxation or both?

My low spend experiment did have me looking at all the food we had just to come up with something to eat. There is still plenty of oatmeal, cream of wheat and quinoa in the pantry, but I'm the only one that eats it. It will take me some time to make it through that stash, but I will work on it, so that I don't waste it.

I received a magazine in the mail today with an

article about food waste. American's through away 12% of all food purchased, and 25% of vegetables purchased. Yikes that is a lot of money down the drain.

Even if you aren't looking to keep your expenses low like I did the last two weeks, at least consider what you are buying and throwing away!

Any ideas on how much food, if any, you are throwing away each week? Do you throw away a bruised apple, or just cut that part off? I cut it off and eat the rest.

I ran across

this article on Yahoo today, where the couple paid off $50,000 of debt in one year by living on less than half their income, living with their parents, and having a grocery list of ten items.

The grocery list of ten items was: eggs, milk, bread, chicken, salmon, broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus, berries and oatmeal.

Could you live on just these ten food items for one year? I actually think I could. Just not sure about the rest of the family!

Found this quote on Facebook today, just seemed to resonate with me. It seems to apply to anything...personal and even financial.



Make today great!

I'd rather be happy about money than sad and frustrated with it. Money is a tool. Not an end all happiness destination. Happiness comes from within. There are many happy, yet financially poor people. And there are many sad, yet financially rich people. I'd like to be both happy from within and financially rich. So far it seems to be working...not that we are rich in some circles, but definitely rich in many others.

I saw Suze Orman on CBS this morning. I'm not always a big fan of her, however, I did like her

little video about how to be financially happy. Easy enough I'd say!

Are you financially happy? Are you on your way there? Do you agree with the three keys Suze laid out?

I had a disconnect day, or a day unplugged from my computer yesterday. Looks like it was a good day to be off the computer with the site not running correctly! I did try to post Monday night about my plans for my disconnect day, but the site didn't accept my post. I did learn SA was changing servers.

The morning was productive. I did get to the gym. I did get meal planning done, and a grocery list made. I then made it to the store before lunch, which is rare for me these days. The rest of the day wasn't as productive, but probably needed rest time. I spent time reading a book and took a nap! I did talk to one of my daughters for what seems like quite awhile in the evening...she was in a good mood and I was 'available'. That is a positive!

I did run into a few minor problems without my computer. First thing I realized as I made my breakfast, was that I could not log into the computer to record my calories. I did write them down in the morning, but failed to write the rest of the days calories down.

I wasn't able to look up the ingredients for a recipe that I keep online, therefore, I wasn't able to purchase those items at the store. I will be making another trip later in the week for those items.

I had planned to work on my sister's lap quilt. I've never made one before, and the idea was from a blog online. I have the materials, but really wanted to look up the beginning steps. Since I didn't have access, I left that off my to do list.

We received a bill for our newspaper subscription in the mail. We originally signed up and paid with airline miles. I believe this is a one time offer. The prices seemed high for 7 days, so I wanted to see what the other options were...but one can't do that on a disconnect day.

Luckily, none of these were life and death emergencies. Life went one. It was calmer, more focused, but maybe less productive than I originally thought. Do you think you could disconnect from the internet and your computer for a full day? If you have done this experiment before, what did you think of it?

It's been five months since I worked out in a gym and it shows on my hips and thighs! I did some walking this summer, and last week I did some mini workouts with the Wii, a YouTube video, and the one workout DVD I own.

Today, we joined a gym. We paid for a year in full and received 6 months free. For 18 months, for two people, including a processing fee and tax, we paid $745. That works out to $41.39 per month.

It was the best deal we could find for our area. We checked out three different gyms. We also waited a bit to join and it seemed the offers got better the longer we waited!

I used our current Chase Sapphire card to pay for the membership. That will help us get to our $3000 spending goal we need to meet to get the next $400 bonus offer.

Are you a member of gym? How much do you pay? Or are you super motivated with free exercise options? If so, what kind of exercise do you do?

My $200 CitiDividend Reward check arrived today in the mail. Time to close that card! I'm going to attempt closing online. Those funds will just be saved for now. There is a move on the horizon!

I was paid another $3 for a Pinecone Survey. Those have been plentiful this month. I'm also trying to earn lots of Swagbucks today...it is the site's 4th Birthday.

I've kept up on the green smoothies. Only two more days to go until the end of the month. I might actually need to run to the store for more greens before Wednesday.

Oh, and I have a Goodwill run to make. I found a bag of things that don't need to move with us. Lots of cleaning and organizing will be happening here.

I have yet to make my smoothie yet today, but it will happen. I need to drink it just to get enough calories in for the day and to offset the chocolate eggs I ate!

My smoothie will have banana, mango and romaine. I'm trying to use up what I currently have on hand before I buy more of anything else.

My youngest daughter has been drinking smoothies, but not of the green variety. She likes hers with milk (or almond milk), banana and mixed berries. It turns out very purple! I'm happy with that change for now. Greens can come later.

In financial news, I was paid for another Pinecone survey today and then took another survey for them today as well...so another $3 will be on it's way on Monday. Just more that can be added to the snowflake total this month. Yipee!!

I purchase my vitamins online at iHerb.com. The company sent me an email today stating that I could offer new customers $8 off their first order through February 29.

Use this

link for the coupon. You can receive free shipping for orders over $20. I think this is before the coupon, but not sure.

I just purchased my daily vitamin, NOW Liquid Mulitvitamin, from them yesterday. I can swallow small pills, but larges ones are difficult, thus the liquid. These seem to absorb fast too.

If I were to buy my preferred vitamins at the local health food store I would pay at least $22. At the iHerb website, I pay only $14. I think I have paid even lower a few times!

The site offers more than just vitamins, but soaps, teas, shampoo, supplements for many ailments, as well as flour and nutritional bars. It's worth looking at if you buy any sort of health product. Just see if it might beat the price you are already paying!

What kinds of things do you order online just to save money?

I did have my green smoothie today. It was a repeat of Tuesday's with the banana, romaine and mango. I didn't get yesterday's in. Oops!

Skipping 5 days of this challenge last week seems to have messed with my motivation. I'll keep tying to get one in each day until the end of the month.

I did fall off the green smoothie wagon for about 5 days. My last smoothie was Wednesday. Then I was ill and not up for a smoothie. I've felt better for a few days, but a smoothie still wasn't quite right.

Today's smoothie was 24oz and about 225 calories:

1c. water
1c. romaine
1c. frozen mango
1 banana

Yummy! As usual.

I'm a bit under the weather and don't think I could tolerate a smoothie today.

We submitted our original seven locations to move to, including to stay here, but found out my husband was denied all seven options. He was given five new options that would be better for his career. We are a bit shocked, but will grieve the loss and move forwards.

The five new options must be ranked and turned back into his career manager tomorrow. Luckily, DH is arriving home tonight so we can talk a bit face to face about our decisions.

The five locations we are choosing from are:
Charleston, WV
Los Alamitos, CA
Fort Hood, TX
Milwaukee, WI
Jolon, CA

I think we are leaning towards Texas as our first choice, but we could end up living in any one of these towns. Feel free to comment about what you know of these areas. All insights are appreciated and welcome.

Now, I'm going back to bed. And hope I feel better in awhile to pick up my daughters from school.

Officially, half the month of February is over. I have had 15 green smoothies. I don't know that I've noticed too many changes, but none of it can be bad for me.

I've read stories where people who have had green smoothies for a month or more have had moles fall off and hair change back from gray/white to normal. And there are even bigger changes such as diabetes reversal (type 1 & 2) and elimination of allergies.

Today's smoothie was like yesterday but with banana and celery added. Total calories for 24 oz is 205 calories.

1c water
1/2 banana
2 ribs celery
1/2c crushed pineapple
1/2c frozen mango
2c spinach

Only two more weeks to go! I would like to incorporate this into my regualr diet, however, I expect I won't be announcing it everyday here. Unless my few gray hairs go away.

I apologize if you are bored with the green smoothie posts. It's part of the accountability. I must report what may be the mundane, but that which leads me to my goal. The goal: A green smoothie everyday for the month of February.

Today's smoothie was one of the best yet. I added in more mango, but left the banana out. And yes, I still have bananas. Unlike last week. This one again made 24oz. It is approximately 162 calories. Leaving the banana out helps with calories, too!

1c water
2c spinach
1/2c crushed pineapple
3/4c frozen mango

This one actually looks bright green, too!

I had my smoothie for breakfast this morning. A few new ingredients made it very refreshing! This one was 24oz and 257 calories.

1c water
1.5c romaine lettuce
1 leaf of kale
.5c spinach
.5c crushed pineapple
.5c frozen mango
1 banana

So yummy and creamy!! I was using up some miscellaneous greens thus the odd amounts. It all worked though.

Has anyone tried a smoothie with greens yet? Anyone? Just curious!

Ugh...second time posting. First one was lost to oblivion. Will that ever get fixed?

I missed having the bananas in my smoothie, but they are first on my list for today's grocery store run.

Today's smoothie was 24oz (again) and 299 calories. The peanut butter was added in at the last moment to cut the citrus of the orange. It seemed to help.

1c water
1 1/2c kale
1c frozen mixed berries
1 cara cara orange
1 T peanut butter

This smoothie was actually a bit chunky with the kale. I think I needed to blend longer. I'm looking forward to getting some different ingredients for this weeks smoothies. I'm thinking mango might be good with some of the greens to add sweetness. Any other ideas?

I'm still out of bananas. I must say I really like them as my base for smoothies. I will be at the store today and they are first on my list!

Today's smoothie made 24 oz (again) and was 299 calories. The peanut butter was a last minute addition, with the hopes it would help mute the citrus of the orange.

1c water
1 1/2c. kale
1c frozen mixed berries
1 cara cara orange
1T peanut butter

I must not have blended long enough. The kale was a bit chunky today. I did get my greens in though and for that I am happy.

Now to make my list for the store!! I'm think mango with greens might be a nice choice. Any other suggestions?

Without Be A Wealthy Warrior, I think I might have fallen off the green smoothie wagon by now. It's nice to have someone to be accountable to with any goal. So even though this is generally a financial blog, this challenge is an example of how accountability can help one reach their goals and intentions. In this case, it happens to be a health goal for me.

Today's smoothie was interesting, but good. I'm out of bananas. I didn't even realize it until I went to go make my smoothie. I really do prefer them in my smoothies, but it worked without. The half apple was left over from my daughter's lunch. Why waste it right? I added peanut butter because I ate this as a very late breakfast and I was VERY hungry.

This smoothie was 24oz and 264 calories.

1c. water
1c frozen mixed berries
1 1/2c spinach
1/2 gala apple
1 kiwi
1T peanut butter

I'm curious. Other than blogging here about finances, do you find other ways to make yourself accountable for other goals? Which ones? Tell me about it.

I can't believe it's already been 10 days of green smoothies. It's going so fast. I've love most of the smoothies I've made. I did find out I don't like parsely and now possible celery. I may just need to cut the amount of celery down.

Today's smoothie is 24oz and 269 calories:

1c water
1c frozen berries
1c spinach
2 ribs of celery
1 banana
1T chia seeds

It's pretty good and very purple today. I guess it's a purple smoothie with greens!!

This weekend, I really want to make my girls a smoothie with even just one leaf or two of spinach. Just to see if they can tasted. Should I do this on the sly or let them in on it?

I did make my smoothie today for part of my lunch. I actually skipped the berries today. This one ended up being the most caloric so far at 300 calories.

1c water
2c spinach
1 banana
1 pear
1T chia seeds

It was very good. Fresh and green!

I made my final 2011 Roth contribution today in the amount of $2,000. I made one for DH too. However, it is going to get rejected. I accidently used an old bank account that is closed as the funding account. Oops. I called Vanguard. They said they can't cancel and it will get rejected. I need this contribution identified for 2011, otherwise, I'd just run it through again, but right now with the transaction I just did he's maxed out for 2011.

And this was a reminder, that DH and I really need to authorize each other as an agent on our accounts. Which ironically, I could do online!

The customer service rep wasn't going to talk to me. I completely understand for privacy and security. I've even worked in the same role. Luckily, I just needed to know how the reject would happen and if there was anything they could do. And they can't...so I will just wait for the reject. I likely won't be able to make his contribution until next week now.

So I kind of made our final 2011 Roth contributions!! Has something like that happened to you before?

I made my green smoothie for lunch and it was not the best one I made. I don't think I'm a fan of the parsley or I just needed more fruit to balance the greens in this one.

Today's smoothie once again made 24oz. It is equal to about 240 calories.

1c. water
2 large ribs of celery
1 kiwi
6 smaller leaves of kale (maybe 1c)
1/4c. parsley
1c. frozen mized berries

I was able to drink it and it has kept me full this afternoon.

Our federal tax refunds is pending in our checking account this morning. This means our Roth contributions for 2011 will be fufilled! Do you think I should send in the whole amount ($2,000 each) or split it up over the next two months?

I made another green smoothie today. Very similar to yesterday, added parsley and left out the chia seeds. Total calories for 24 oz is 210. Most of those calories come from the fruit in this one.

1c. water
1c. frozen mixed berries
2c. spinach
1/2c parsley
1 banana

I found a

blog by the auther of the book I mentioned yesteday (Green for Life). It has lots of information about green smoothies. I haven't read the website, but the book is packed with excellent information, so I would guess great information on the website, too.

I have to buy jeans for my youngest daughter. She's 11 but still gets holes in her jeans! Ugh. I'm picking up two of her favorite pair at Old Navy today. I'm fine with the purchase, but frustrated that she crawls around on the floor so much!!

Swaggers: I'm just 43 points away from another $5 Amazon gift card. Those points add up fast. Do you all know about the computer on the slider bar (home page)? It's worth one point to click and you can click it at least 10 times!! I click the computer and then click on the banner on the website that pops up, right now it's a Micheal's ad.

Oh, and I've lost nearly 20 pounds since late October!! I've been diet (and regular) soda free since January 1st. It feels so good.

Let's hear about your goals/resolutions. How are you doing on them so far?

I made my smoothie already today! Yummy.

This one is 259 calories and makes about 24oz:

1c water
2c spinach
1c frozen berries
1 banana
1 TBP chia seeds



It does look more brown compared to yesterday's smoothie because of the berries. It is much sweeter and more appealing to drink, too!



If you are interested in the health benefits of a smoothie, you should look for the book Green for Life, by Victoria Boutenko. It is on half.com for about $3.

Let me know if you try one, I want to know what you think!