I closed my husband's Chase Southwest Rapids Rewards Plus card. I just received confirmation by secure email. We received all the gift cards on Friday. We did have a balance of around $150 that I paid late last week. This was after the statement closed and included the annual fee of $69. After receiving the confirmation of closure, I realized I will not get points for $80 worth of purchases. Oh, well I don't think those points could be redeemed for anything anyway! Just something to be aware of. I'm also glad to have that account closed as we had a credit line of $27,900. That is not a typo!

Here's part of the response we received when closing the account.

Please be assured that we have closed the account as
requested. Since the annual fee of $69.00 was billed to
your account within 60 days of the date the account was
closed, a refund of the fee will automatically post to
your account.

The refund happens automatically! I let you know when I see it on the account. I think it could happen this week. When it does I will request a check.

I'm going to tidy up my house, measure for paint and hand wash some clothes. Once I have all that done I might get some decluttering done. If I do, I will have the results over at

Your Organized Friend.

I'm still on a roll with getting my workouts in at least five days a week. I just need to really watch my calories this week so I can see results on the scale!

Have you closed a credit card account recently? What is the largest line of credit you have ever had? Is your house tidy right now? Anyone else keeping up with working out?

Remember those Ooma referral bonuses I received amounting to $100 on my US Bank Visa? Since I wasn't able to easily get US Bank to send me a check, I used the credit on my account to pay our electric bill of about $93, this month's Ooma taxes of about $4, and a trip to Subway for $9. Now I actually owe a little money to US Bank.

I will be sending that money I would have spent on those items to our mortgage since I had the referral money to cover them.

I haven't done much decluttering this weekend. I have tried to just keep up with basic tasks like unloading the dishwasher and putting things away after I use them. I have two new posts up on

Your Organized Friend that might inspire you to do a few things around you home, if you are interested.

I mentioned that I found several DVDs and CDs to get rid of in last weeks decluttering. I will be putting many of those on Ebay for sale tonight. I'm hoping for about $20 in sales if all works out. I will probably keep the listings going until the garage sale. If not sold by then someone else will get a pretty nice deal.

Do you get more decluttering done during the week or on the weekend?

Our 18th wedding anniversary is tomorrow. But my husband has to work for the Army. Boo. And this sure isn't the first time the Army has been in the way of celebrating on our day. I convinced him to take the today off so we could spend time together! I think we might use a $25 Olive Garden gift card we received last summer to have lunch out together, if he is up for that.

I'm not sure I will get any decluttering done, but if I do I will report it sometime tomorrow. My post about yesterday's decluttering is up on

Your Organized Friend. I introduced my donate bin on the blog, too.

Our gift cards from Southwest Rapids Rewards are arriving today. I was notified to expect the package by the shipper. I made our final payment including the $69 annual fee. Once I have the cards and the payment clears I will ask for cancellation by secure message online and at the same time inquire about a refund of the annual fee. I expect they will cancel and grant the refund, which will take a few days to be applied. Once it shows the return of the refund, I can request a check to be cut. That is how it has worked in the past, so I don't expect this time to be different.

Do you celebrate events early, late, or just skip if you cannot celebrate on the actual date? Do you have a donate bin in your home?

I sold our old table and chairs on craiglist for $150 yesterday! I have now seen that new $100 bill. Interesting look. I have not decided if this money is going to the mortgage or to save for some other furniture upgrades. We still have a couch and loveseat to sell for a similar amount. That money could easily buy a new entertainment center for our basement. So it is tempting to hold on to.

I also sold an item on Ebay, too. It is already in the mail. My net proceeds were $10.71. That money WILL be going to the mortgage to pay down the principal. I'm expecting a Pinecone payment into my Paypal account today or tomorrow. I will withdraw both amounts after that occurs.

I was notified yesterday that our gift cards from our Southwest Rewards are being delivered tomorrow! Just in time, since I heard both my girls mention their need for clothes. This means I can use those Kohl's gift cards!

Yesterday was not nearly as busy as the day before, but I did have an appointment in the morning. I also had to get my daughter to a late lesson last night. I did manage to fit in some small decluttering tasks, which I documented on

Your Organized Friend. I also noticed my husband must be a little inspired by my decluttering. He pulled out 5-6 shirts and a pair of sneakers he no longer wants. I think he may have put those items in my garage sale pile, too. That makes me happy!

Did you sell anything recently? Do you plan to have a garage sale this spring or summer? What decluttering task could you get done today? Should I keep that cash for a future furtniture purchase or put it on the mortgage?

I am making another big payment towards the mortgage today. Recent snowflakes that I don't want to melt total $174.97. This month has been much better than last for snowflakes!

I noticed the IRS has cashed our tax payment check. I guess that is good. Now I know everything is taken care of for this tax season.

Yesterday was busy, but I did get a chance to do some basic decluttering. To find out about that you need to

click here, to visit Your Organized Friend.

I was able to get my Mad Men DVDs watched so that has been listed on Ebay along with a Creative Memories item that was found in my daughter's closet. Fingers crossed for sales! I still may get our table sold this week, if the man that was interested on Sunday gets back to me.

There is lots of good news this morning. I logged on to my husband's Discover account and found his $150 bonus was applied. I have already requested direct deposit. No need for gift cards since I did just order $550 worth from our Southwest rewards on Friday.



Our city emailed me back this morning with our water bill amount. It was $79.29 and will be withdrawn from our account on Thursday. I usually allocate $95 for water (which actually includes a sewer debt payment, and trash). I think I will send the $15.71 difference to the mortgage as a snowflake.

Our daughter returned home from her Washington DC trip last night. She is so tired from early mornings. She sure didn't want to get up this morning. But she did it! She left here with $60 of her own money for spending. She bought a t shirt, a post card, and some snacks/food. She came home with nearly $15. She even mentioned looking at a magnet to buy that was 2x3 inches for $6. She thought it was overpriced, so she skipped buying it! I do like the T shirt she picked out.

Here's a link to the latest decluttering at our house on Your Organized Friend. Today I need to finish that project up by tackling this bin:



I don't really want to work on it, but I'm hoping it will go fast once I get going. I may time myself and see how long it really takes. Do you ever find yourself procrastinating a job because it seems like it will take a long time, but then you do it and realize it didn't take long at all? Strange phenomena.

We haven't received our water bill for the month. It generally arrives within 1 or 2 days of the first of the month. It is now the sixth of the month, and it has not arrived. I'm not very worried, but I need to know the amount so I can record the amount they will withdraw from our checking account on the 10th of the month. I sent an email this morning requesting the amount. I hope to hear something tomorrow when they are open.

I tackled some drawers in our bathroom today. It has been very tempting to do more, but I do have other things to do. A little everyday does make a difference. I wrote and posted pictures about today's decluttering on

Your Organized Friend.

Do you get your water bill by mail or email? Do you even pay for water?

I actually did get some decluttering done. I even have a lead on the table I listed. Not sure if legit yet or not.

I wrote about the chaos under the sink at

Your Organized Friend. Let me know what you think!

We bought a new kitchen table and chairs in November and I'm finally getting the old one listed on Craigslist today. I'm asking $150, which might be slightly high, but I can go down later if needed. Fingers crossed it sells soon.

I'm calling this listing my decluttering for the day. I may get to more, but for now I'm counting this. Do you have plans to declutter today? Did you already get something done?

The Southwest card statement closed earlier this week. I could see the bonus miles were rewarded. So, I went looking at my husband's Rapids Reward account. No deposit. Yet. I looked again today. No deposit. What? How long does it take? It seemed fast last time!

On a whim, I checked my Rapid Rewards account. The deposit was made there! I haven't even had a Southwest Visa yet, but I did open the rewards account awhile back when there was an offer for 2,000 miles for opening the account. I must have put the wrong rewards number on the application. Or maybe I did it on purpose and didn't remember. This will allow to actually redeem those 2000 miles along with the 53,000+ miles my husband earned on this latest Southwest Visa offer.

We will getting $550 worth of gift cards in all. I will be ordering those later today, likely a combination of Kohl's, Lowe's, Walmart and Amazon. If I remember right the Walmart cards were the easiest to spend since I could buy groceries and household items we buy everyday.

Not sure what I will get done on the organizing front today. I have a volunteer obligation later, but I still might have a few minutes to dive into a pile of things somewhere.

In fitness news, I lost 1 pound this week. I did five days of cardio and four days of lifting weights. I've been getting a few squats in here at home too. I feel so much better and I'm noticing clothes fitting much looser. This morning my husband said my face looks a little thinner. A wife does like to hear that!

Any odd things happen to you that surprised you a bit? Will you be organizing anything today? What is the one place that you find the hardest to organize or keep clutter free? Did you lose any weight this week on your fitness plan?

Today, I only tackled a pile of brochures and handouts from that college visit we had last month. There were some duplicates to recycle, as well as some maps we just don't need. I was able to reduce the pile by half. It only took five minutes. No picture, as the change is not very noticeable. I was hoping to tackle more today, but a phone call from my mom, and my husband home for lunch changed my schedule. I did get the sheets on the girls beds washed! Oh, I did find that grocery bag trick I mentioned yesterday on Your Organized Friend. I posted

the video on my blog over there today.

Our electric bill was under $100, which never happens. Turns out they only billed us for 18 days. Last month was 32 days. Not sure why this is, but it works for me. I think I will end up paying it with the Ooma credit that is on my US Bank Visa card. That will leave us with less than $7 in credit on the card, which I'm sure I can 'spend' somewhere! Once I use up the credit I will send my $100 Ooma referral money to the mortgage.

Inspired by ceejay and spring, I have begun digging deep into closets and diving under sinks. I will honestly say I was not motivated when I started, but I did get more done than I expected.

I started with the closet by our garage entrance. We store paper towels, cat food and other misc cat items, coats, brooms, the paper and plastic recycle bags, light bulbs, hats and gloves and boots. I also have a place to put odd items, such as batteries to recycle.

Here is the before picture:


I found one pair of gloves to donate. I moved the boots to the front closet for easier storage during the summer. I put the hats and gloves that were on the shelf into the shoe holder on the left (again for summer storage), I tried to dump the remaining cat food in the bag into the container, but not all of it will fit quite yet. I dumped some expired cat treats and pills (mixed in with used cat litter). I recycled the container the pills were in. Everything is just a little tidier. Oh, I also pulled a spring jacket to wash.

Here is the after:


Would you believe that I was motivated to do more after that little organizing job? I was surprised since I feel a little tired today. I became motivated after I remembered that I have several episodes of Mad Men Season 6 to watch on DVD. I received these for my birthday in November. I intended to watch them quickly and get the DVDs listed for sale by Christmas. That did not happen. My reward is to watch an episode after I complete some cleaning. In this whole process, I will get some cleaning done, enjoy some entertainment, and get an item out of the house and sold for cash!

So my reward was a great intention for sure. Instead of watching the DVDs I began a new blog. About organizing. It is kind of a passion of mine in addition to this personal financial stuff. So I'm now

Your Organized Friend over on Blogger. I have more pictures of today's organizing over there. Please come over and have a look!

Are you surprised I started another blog? What did you organize today? Are you now inspired?

I just sent off two snowflakes to the mortgage in the amount of $201.20! That money combined with our regular mortgage payment and the extra $103+ I tack on each month, will bring our mortgage down below the $X25,000 threshold! Yippee!! That means less than $9K to go to meet our mortgage goal for the year.

That $200+ is my $150 Discover bonus that I had deposited into our checking account and a check for $51.20 which was our Washington DC fundraising proceeds. I prepaid the trip in full, so the fundraising dollars came back once I had a credit balance. That is about the amount my daughter will take for spending money, but she is to take that from her own savings, since we paid for the trip.

I made another BIG payment to our Chase Southwest card today. It was just over $809. That covered a work trip my husband was reimbursed for and some other miscellaneous spending. The first statement has not closed yet, but when it does I will make our final payment. That payment will include the $69 annual fee, which I will pay. I will then close the account and ask for a refund of the fee.

I'm going to participate, as best I can, in the declutter/organizing challenge for the month of April. I did complete my goal of 20 workouts last month. I also lifted weights 10 times. I started counting calories in mid to late February. I have lost 11 pounds since then. I feel great!!

I will detail March snowflakes and mortgage principal paid in tomorrow's post. It will not include the two items mentioned above since those were not allocated until April.

Did your April begin with a snowflake? Are you joining in on the declutter and organizing challenge? How did you do with your exercise goals in March?

We have the truck at the Honda Dealer today. It was due for an oil change, tire rotation and one of the fluids replaced. As it turns out the mileage is nearly 60,000 which means it is time for some other fluid maintenance as well. We do follow the recommendations of the manufacturer and have found that it really pays off. It's another reason Honda vehicles last so long. Of course it does cost some cash! The estimate is about $400 for all the things that we are having done today.

This wasn't planned exactly, but we set cash aside knowing these things come up, so no worries. We will put it on the Southwest card and likely meet the $2000 minimum spending after that charge. I actually still have items I planned to charge on the card to meet the minimum...so it seems it could be time for a new card already!

In other financial news, I was able to cash out Bing Rewards for a 500 Swagbucks code. I have not redeemed it yet. I should just do it whenever, as I'm not keeping up with Swagbucks this month. I needed a break. I also claimed a $15 Amazon gift card from Lean Cuisine Delicious Rewards. It already arrived by email and I applied it to our Amazon account. That's another snowflake!

I'm still on track with my workouts, although a little behind on my weight lifting goal. I think I may see a change on the scale this week!

I think today will consist of some spring cleaning. We need to get that cat hair out from under the beds. And while we have the beds moved, we might as well strip off the quilts and wash those as well.

Happy Spring SA friends!

I'm still trying to base my eating on using things up. I ate the third of four prepared steel cut oats this morning. I added cinnamon only and it tasted fine. I have sugar in my coffee, so I don't want to be adding any more to my meal. It looks like I will need to eat soup for lunch. I made some for dinner last night. I used up a partial container of vegetable broth while I was making that. My daughter took soup in her lunch, but there is still some left. I will have an appropriate portion for lunch. I'm trying to count calories and it is a little hard to estimate on something homemade, but it is healthier for me! I will make chicken today to use up that barbecue sauce. I will also make some couscous. I have a bag of plain bulk couscous that my mom received from a friend and then passed on to me. It is taking forever to use up. We like couscous, but we usually buy prepared packages with seasoning. I can't seem to get the full flavor we are used to with the spices I'm adding. It has been a savings though since each box is nearly $2.

I'm back going to the gym. I even went twice this weekend. I am done with the weight I gained since we moved. My mantra is Do The Work. So when I don't feel like going to the gym. I just say Do The Work and know that I need to do it to get to my goal. I'm tracking calories in MyFitnessPal. I need to weigh in this today to see if I have lost weight since last week. Probably a pound or two. Why is it we want to lose weight fast when it took us months, sometimes years to gain it? Probably that crazy Biggest Loser show!! I think the weight loss journey will be a money saver too. I can't eat that much, thus I won't need to buy as much. Now if I could get my DH on board we would definitely reduce the grocery bill.

Not much actually money news. We bought groceries. We bought gas. Just the usual. No big expenses. I know there will be a need to buy spring clothes in the coming months, but for now it is still too cold for those.

Did anyone get extra motivated to use up some of their food stores this last week? Is anyone on a weight loss journey? Do you have a mantra?

I went shopping at Target today, primarily for groceries. I also knew they had some toilet paper on clearance for which I also had coupons. I had two coupons, so I bought to packages. I know have 48 rolls I need to store. I also found a couple hair products we use on clearance as well. Happy to get a deal on things we buy anyway. I didn't buy extras of those though.

I ate another container of the steel cut oatmeal I prepared on Friday. I ate this for breakfast with the coffee I'm working on using up. Only two more to go! This afternoon, I used up the romaine lettuce and a ripe banana for the green smoothie I'm eating for lunch. Oh, I also added the leftover coconut water I purchased yesterday. I didn't really like it plain. I sure can't taste it in my smoothie.

My girls had pasta for dinner last night. One of them finished off the sauce. The other likes her noodles buttered. I skipped dinner as I wasn't hungry, especially for pasta. Later I made a mini sandwich where I used up the last six slices of lunch meat in the container. It was just the right amount.

Today I'm making a Moroccan Lentil soup. I will use up a half container of broth I have in the fridge and carrots. Everything else in the soup will be 'new', but there will not be any partial containers left. Yea! Later this week I planned barbecue chicken to hopefully use up the bbq sauce. I noticed some dressing in the fridge that my husband uses on a certain type of sandwich, so in another week I will buy ingredients for those in hopes that he will used up that dressing. Otherwise it will just go to waste. Besides he will be thrilled to have those sandwiches again!

Did you plan this weeks menu around items you want to use up? Do you stock up on items when you see them on clearance?

I used up more items yesterday! I made steel cut oats in the crockpot with the last (expired two days ago) four cups of milk. I divided the batch into four servings. I already ate one this morning, too. I made a batch of boxed brownies to use up the sour cream. Crazy huh? It replaces the oil. My kids haven't seemed to noticed the difference! We ate our pizza last night along with two of the three remaining apples. I have to say those apples did help me eat less of the pizza.

There are still things to use up. I'm trying to focus on those things that have been in the cupboard and fridge for awhile. Some things we always use up. Like cheese and crackers. Others like milk, not so much. We have some ground coffee we received for Christmas that we used some of and then DH declared he didn't really like it. I will use it up this week, when he is not drinking coffee at home. I plan to have a mozzarella tomato sandwich for lunch...probably today and tomorrow to use up the ingredients left over from the last time we had those for dinner. Apparently some of us are getting burnt out from eating those! Not me. I think they are yummy. Although maybe a little caloric for my diet.

I have plans to put three items on Ebay tomorrow. An electronic pet, a cat toy and a series of books. I may also have a curtain panel to list as well. Worth a try to get a few more things sold. I pulled the table we listed on Craigslist last week. I had zero responses. Not even spam! I will relist when the weather gets a little warmer AND take some better pictures.

What did you use up? Is your fridge or cupboards cleaner because of the use it up challenge? Are you selling anything right now?

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?

I listed four hardback books of a series for my daughter last Friday. She sold them with a Buy It Now option yesterday. I even go the package to the post office last night. She made $36.54, which averages just over $9 a book. She's happy with the cash.

I did actually use up the refried beans and tortillas yesterday at lunch. Yummy! We did eat all the applesauce cake as well, so that is not going to waste. Our dinner was tortilla soup. There are leftovers for today. My daughter took some to school and I expect I will eat some for lunch. I finished a jar of jam this morning, but another will be opened tomorrow I'm sure. It seems things are getting under control and used up in a timely way. There some egg noodles I need to find a use for. We don't usually buy them, but I used some in turkey soup and didn't need them all. Obviously I could use them with pasta sauce pretty easily. I will keep that in mind for lunch in the next week or so.

We are having chicken tonight. I think I will bake the chicken in barbeque sauce to use up that container of sauce. We are having roasted vegetables, to include carrots, brussel sprouts and red potatoes. The carrots and brussel sprouts do need to be used up! I will pour olive oil over them along with some basil, thyme, salt and pepper. I might have some onion to include with those veggies too.

I think I have time today to make banana bread. We don't need to eat it, so I will likely freeze it for later. I just want to get the frozen bananas used up. Banana bread comes in handy for breakfast when guests are here, so I know it will get used.

Keep up the great work using up your food leftovers! Anyone use up any cleaners or personal care products this week? What will you use up today?

If you are interested in doing paid surveys for Pinecone, I have a link

here. Pinecone doesn't provide me any incentive to pass this along. I just thought I'd share the link since they sent it to me by email to refer friends and family.

I noticed my daughter used up the salsa yesterday. Now one less container in the fridge! I ate some of the leftover taco fixing for dinner last night. I think I will eat the rest for lunch today. Although there may be more refried beans than I can eat in one sitting. But I will clean up the green onions, the shredded lettuce and maybe the tortillas.

I don't plan to bake anything today as we know have banana muffins and applesauce cake sitting on the counter. We sure don't need more bake goods. I'm actually trying to watch my calories, so I will be avoiding them. I guess that doesn't help use them up if I make something else but don't eat that. I think the family will eat them though. I can freeze the muffins if needed.

Tonight I will make tortellini soup, which always has leftovers, but ALWAYS gets eaten the next day. I like when leftovers take care of themselves.

Were are having a heat wave here. It will be 39 degrees here today! Happy for the melting of all the snow. Of course, a Winter Weather Storm watch has been issued for tomorrow afternoon. That means more snow! I can tell it is getting closer to spring as I see more birds and they are singing in the mornings. Our cats have noticed this too!

Will you be signing up for Pinecone? What did you use up yesterday or plan for today? What kind of weather are you having today?

First a credit card question:
I haven't applied for any Barclay's cards because the rewards have to be redeemed for travel which we rarely do. But I'm tempted. I read that currently you can get $400 in travel rewards for spending $1000, but that the spending requirement may be going up to $3000. It seems like a good deal to jump on now. The question I have is about redeeming the rewards for travel. Do you charge the travel expense on the card and then redeem points to cover or do you book travel with points? Has anyone completed travel this way with the Barclay's card?

Other news:
I redeemed Swagbucks for $25, so that will be arriving hopefully by month's end. I cancelled my Citi Thank You Preferred card yesterday by secure message on their site. I opened this card last May and earned a $250 check payable to our mortgage company, after spending $1000. I haven't been as good about closing cards as I intended, but I was ready to let this one go. We were not using it and don't intend to.

I used up the last of a jar of Maple Pumpkin Butter today. It had about a tablespoon left, so I put it on my steel cut oatmeal this morning. I am going to make banana bread or banana muffins today to use two very ripe bananas. I will need milk for either one, so I will use more of that. The milk expires tomorrow, although it may still be good after. I just want to use it up rather than pour down the drain.

I need to decide what to have for lunch. There is leftover taco fixings from last night. However, I also need to eat a salmon filet. I might cook the salmon, but eat it tomorrow. That way I can eat up some of the taco things today.

What are you using up today? Has this been a good challenge for you or it this just the norm for you? Did you eat anything strange just to use it up?

It has been a snow day here with no school (or work since it is President's Day). And a no spend day so far too!

The plan was to eat the leftover mushroom barley soup, but unfortunately, when my daughter pulled it out of the fridge it all fell on the floor! A nice big soupy mess. This led to cleaning our kitchen floor, which it needed. We also cleaned under the fridge and inside.

While cleaning the fridge, I noticed the applesauce that I mentioned yesterday. I decided to find a recipe to use it up with. I found [urlhttp://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Applesauce-Cake-I/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe&soid=sr_results_p2i20]Applesauce Cake[/url] at Allrecipes.com. Three out of four of us liked it. My youngest daughter thought it was too sweet and spicy. I was able to use most of the margarine I have in my fridge, too. The margarine was bought when we had guests at our house this fall that are allergic to milk products, so I'm glad to have that almost gone.

In other cleaning, we did a wash load of towels and rags, since we used so many cleaning up that mushroom barley soup. Oh, and instead of mushroom soup we made sandwiches with fresh leftover mozzarella cheese, so we were still able to use something up at lunch today.

Did you use anything up today? How long has it been in your fridge or cupboard? Did you find a new recipe in order to use it?

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?

In case anyone is following along when I check our credit reports, it is now time to check TransUnion. I had a reminder at the beginning of the month from my email service. I still haven't done it, but I will. In four months I will remind you to check another report from annualcreditreport.com. That is the free service where you can check your report from each of the credit reporting agencies once per year. I check ours every four months, so that I'm effectively checking each agency once per year.

I noticed my ticker from tracking my Christmas Snowflakes has disappeared again. It seems if you don't update them they delete them. Boo. At least I tracked that information elsewhere, too!

I might have mentioned this in a post awhile back, but we had a van repair this week. The check engine light was on. It was an oxygen sensor. We had our oil changed and tires rotated. The total bill was about $377. We charged it to the Chase Sapphire card we are working towards a bonus on.

My husband has had some recent travel. He was reimbursed $178.50 for one. Not sure what his actual expenses were, but I'm pretty sure less than that. The other travel reimbursement came in the form of mileage and was nearly $340. That was way more than he spent in gas for three 150 mile round trips. Right now the money is just sitting in our checking account. I would count it as snowflake money if I knew his actual expenses, but he is spend happy when he travels and I don't have the patience to figure out the profit. I guess I should make a better effort to figure all that out.

We are going to be getting an ice storm tonight and a bigger snow storm over the weekend. I think we'll just stay inside as much as possible!

Part of me wants to complain about the work I have to do to get ready for guests. I think this is because I feel I'm doing all the work alone. My husband came for lunch and asked if it was okay if he worked out after work today...well it is if you can also help me when you are done! I need a twin bed set up in another room, wine and beer purchased, a shower cleaned and couches rearranged. It seems he was on board with that. I know he is busy with work, but if it would be nice if he could see how much work I'm doing to prepare.

I will spend the rest of today cleaning, moving sheets and blankets to another room, vacuuming the carpets, doing at least one load of laundry, maybe two, and numerous other odds in ends. Like finding my gravy boat and getting it cleaned. I'm pretty sure I know where it is!

Tomorrow is baking day. We will be making scones, pumpkin pie, a focaccia bread, and a stuffed bread. I'm also putting together a pumpkin lentil soup for us to eat for dinner which is around the time our guests are arriving. And there is some cleaning on the list, too! The girls are helping with the baking, but it will be a long day.

I'm thankful really that I have family to spend Thanksgiving with, and family that wants to drive here to spend it with us. If something doesn't get done, or something doesn't work out right in the cooking they are all very forgiving and understanding. It won't matter to them one bit. I'm thankful my husband is home to be with us on Thanksgiving, as there have been a few years where he was not. I'm also thankful for our good health.

It's all good, isn't it? What are you most thankful for?

Yesterday, I went down to our basement storage room and found enough stuff to get rid of to fill three large storage bags. The good news is, I got it to Goodwill this morning.

I listed five items on Ebay this evening. I made them three day auctions to end on Sunday. If they sell, I hope I can get them mailed out before the holiday. If they don't, I will relist on Monday as seven day auctions. This means they will end on Cyber Monday. Not sure if all of this is great planning or not. It's worth a try. If they don't sell by that time, I will give the items to Goodwill. Actually, I have a book series listed that would probably go to the used book store for a little cash.

I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my side of the family. We are unable to travel due to my husband's work commitments, so my family is traveling here. Such good family. So now, I'm planning dinner and other meals for their visit. It feels like a lot of work!

After MonkeyMama's post about the new Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus offer, I'm considering applying. My husband and I have both done this offer in the past. I'm pretty sure it has been more than a year since I applied. We can meet the minimum. I just wasn't planning to apply for two cards in such a short time. My husband applied for the Chase Freedom offer just yesterday. I know I sure would like an extra $550!

Do you serve and plan your Thanksgiving dinner? Or do you take a dish or dessert?

Here's a list of money tidbits from recent days:

I completed a Pinecone Survey today. I expect I will get my $3 payment for that later in the week. I'm also secretly hoping to get a sample!

I'm trying to convince my daughter to try purchasing glasses online. We looked at Target optical, but noticed many of the glasses are plastic frames, and she prefers the wire ones with nose pads. We will look at other local stores as well, but I think online might save us quite a bit of money!

The return I made to Lands End at the end of October ended up arriving as a check in the mail, rather than a credit to my card I originally purchased with. I read on their website that this was because the purchase was over 9 months old. Either way I got the money!

We rented a movie on Amazon last night for $2.99. Since this was gift card money used I will match the purchase and send the funds to our mortgage debt.

Our bank reimbursed us for $3 in ATM fees and paid us a whopping $0.03 in interest. I always include these in our snowflake accumulations.

I have Ebay auctions ending today. One will sell, the other four are definitely up in the air as to whether they will or not. The proceeds also go to the snowflakes for equity goal.

We turned on our gas fireplace last night. As a result we will definitely see higher bills. I'm okay with it as it seems to make everyone happy and cozy in the evenings. My goal is always to wait until November 1, so we did make it a little longer this year.

We will be making another trip to the library today. We went Friday when the girls were off from school, but they have now read all the books! They want more to have with them during the week. Libraries rock for free entertainment!

I plan to log into our banks, and investments and various accounts to update our new phone number today. This means I can call tomorrow to cancel our land line. I just paid the bill that includes the phone service for the month of November. I expect they will credit days not used to our next bill, which will only include internet service.

My birthday is next Sunday. I tend to get $100 from my parents each year. I'm looking forward to getting some new socks, a purse, a shirt or two and a fleece to spruce up my wardrobe. I will be looking for good prices, so I can get the most for the money.

Well, that is my list of money tidbits. I had more than I realized. Do you make use of your library? Do you receive money for your birthday? Do you spend or save it?

I made another sale on Ebay today for which I probably will net about $5. Happy about things finally selling this week! I redeemed Swagbucks for $25 in PayPal cash. I hope it arrives soon.

I received three Kohl's coupons in the mail yesterday. On one mailer I got 15% off plus $5 off a $5 purchase. The other mailer had a $10 off a $10 purchase! I don't think I can use the dollar off coupons together, but I hope to use the larger one and the percentage off one towards a new purse, which I will likely purchase with birthday money.

I'm still slowly decluttering this week. I need to get down into my storage room, where I'm sure I'll find quite a few things we just don't need. I hope to make my run to Goodwill tomorrow morning when I take my Ebay sale to the post office. Less clutter before the holidays feels good!

Tomorrow I hope to show you a frugal holiday decoration for my porch that I made from things I already own. Stay tuned!

My only intentional snowflake goal was to save $750 toward Christmas. We met this goal back in June. In the meantime, we have take advantage of some credit card rewards. Those snowflakes and snowballs have been applied to our new goal of reducing the debt on our mortgage. I think I initially defined that goal as $1000. And as you can see from the side bar, I more than doubled that goal. As of the end of October, we have $2077.73 that has been sent in to pay down debt. Those two goals combined and accumulated in just 10 months equals $2,828.99.

I might as well shoot for an even $3,000 in snowflakes by the end of the year. That leaves me with $171.01 to go. I'm pretty sure I can do it! In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll exceed it. Thanks Be A Wealthy Warrior for the idea!!

My first snowflake for November are: $48.22 for the Lands' End return I made yesterday and $0.44 from Capital One 360 for interest. That money is already pending payment on the mortgage. Ya know, so the snowflake doesn't melt!

I did a return at Kohl's the other night and got a merchandise credit since the purchase was on one of those gift cards I had. I then asked for a price adjustment to my Kohl's card for the amount of the credit. They couldn't apply it directly, but since I had the receipt of a recent purchase I charged to the card, we did a return and applied and reapplied the merchandise credit and another gift card. Now my balance owed is less!! In the process of repurchasing the item, I earned $10 Kohl's cash. Bonus!!

I did purchase the Ooma Telo. That's a VoiP (voice over internet protocol)phone system. There was an offer to purchase it for $99.99 with free shipping. Once we have it up and running and test it for a few days, we will notify our phone company that we want to cancel. This will save us about $27 per month.

Although, the savings won't really be saved as I expect to upgrade to a smartphone soon, and a new data plan will likely be another $30. We are going cell phone shopping this weekend. We want to check out the 97 cent smartphones at Walmart. We will check directly with Verizon, too, so we know which plan we will have and see who really has the best deal. I do know that I likely will be able to save more by having a smartphone. I can pull up coupons, use Target's cartwheel for discounts, and compare prices when I'm out shopping. That alone might lower the true cost of the data plan. I'll let you know what I get.

I was reminded on the forums about buying gift cards at discounts. I think I even mentioned a deal I did on cat food awhile back using a discounted gift card. I purchased mine from

Cardpool. However, there are many more sites. One is Gift Card Granny which combines the gift cards at many sites into one, which is great to find the best discount. Be sure to read ALL of the fine print. Generally, electronic gift cards received by email can only be used online. These discounted cards save you money before you even make a purchase. And if you combine it with a store coupon you save even more!

Our Halloween night ended with just 8 pieces of candy left. I began the night handing out two per kid because last year I only had 10 kids show up. This year was closer to 25! Big difference. I even gave away some plastic rings/toys that we found in our decluttering. Big hit!

I think I packed enough content into one post for today. Do you buy discounted gift cards for regular purchases? Did you end up with more or less candy that you started with last night? Will you make a snowflake goal for next year?

It is not snowing here yet and I'm okay with that. It is sunny, but expected to rain later today. I will enjoy the long drawn out fall weather!

I did receive my most recent $25 PayPal deposit from Swagbucks yesterday. There was also $6 in my account from two Pinecone surveys. I withdrew the $31 and expect that to be my final extra payment to the mortgage this month. I will complete that task when the cash arrives in my checking account.

I also received the offer from Ebates to add $1 to my total rebates if I claim it as an Amazon.com gift card instead of cash. I debated for a bit on this only because I do prefer cash over gift cards. With the gift card I have to spend money I would anyway and then match it with my own funds toward the mortgage. It's just more complicated. I finally decided to go for it, as I know there will be several gifts bought on Amazon for the holidays.

I'm in the decluttering phase still. I have at least 3 grocery sized sacks full of items to donate. And there was another one full of trash. This is all thanks to my youngest daughter being motivated to declutter her room a bit last night. We pulled outgrown clothes for the most part, but there was junk to toss, too. I was actually shocked she was willing to dive right in as you know how moody teens can be. I think there is likely more in there that could go, but for now this is a win!

One item found in the room declutter was a brand new pair of ballet flats we bought about a month ago. She decided she didn't like them after all. I'm glad I asked because now I have a chance to return them. They were purchased with a Kohl's gift card, so I expect I will get a merchandise credit back. I can't remember if the amount of those shoes was closer to $20 or $30. I will need to find the receipt! If I can't put the credit towards a previous purchase, then I will do a little shopping for myself. I could use socks, a shirt or two and a new purse. I don't NEED all of those, but know that a few new items would be helpful!

I'm off to declutter some more. Do you have anything you could return to the store for cash? Are you expecting any more snowflakes this month? Did you get the Ebates offer for an additional $1?