Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

I did receive the $100 bonus on my Capital One 360 Checking account right on time as promised. I have sent it in to be applied to the principal balance reduction!! Ah, I love bonus money.

One item I put on Ebay has a bid, so it will sell on Sunday night. That just means I'll have less stuff, and less debt because that snowflake is going to the mortgage, too.

I deposited a check into our account yesterday using the mobile feature. In my rush, I indicated the check was for $30, when it was really for $60. Oops! Luckily, the system caught it overnight and my account was adjusted for my error already this morning.

Our taxes on our home are increasing. I knew this would happen. Our home was a new build and valuation and taxes lag behind. I've been saving $300 a month in preparation for this. My calculations show I need to send in $1,654 to meet the banks standards for our escrow account. Our payment will need to increase as well to accommodate the increased taxes. I sent an email to the bank to see if they agree with my calculations and asked them to run the analysis. I'll update you when I hear back.

Did anyone else go for the Capital One checking bonus offered at the beginning of July? If so, did you get your bonus yet?

I posted earlier today about making another principal payment on our mortgage...check it out if you want the details!

I had an automatic email reminder from myself earlier this month that I needed to check our credit reports. Specifically Equifax. I finally did that today. Everything looks just fine. All those new credit cards are showing up!!

I used the free service,

AnnualCreditReport.com offered to everyone in the United States. You do have to provide your social security number, address and confirm some information about credit you currently have or had on the secure site. I had to identify our mortgage company, payment amount, the truck loan lender and that payment amount. We paid that truck off earlier this year and I already forgot what the payment was! I had to look it up.

I check one credit agency once every four months. You can choose to get all three reports now and then wait one year to look at them again. At least for free!

Do you check your credit report on a regular basis?

I just made another principal payment to the mortgage in the amount of $42.15. This was an accumulation of snowflakes in the last two weeks. There was an interest rebate, Ebay proceeds, Swagbucks cash, and a Pinecone survey payment. It really all adds up.

Tomorrow I expect the CapitalOne 360 Checking account bonus of $100 will post to my account. I'm looking forward to that big snowflake!

It feels good to be making a dent in the mortgage balance, even if just a little bit at a time.

I was able to redeem some Swagbucks today for a $25 deposit in my PayPal account. I hope it arrives before the month end so I can count it towards this months snowflakes and send in to the mortgage.

I listed a few things on Ebay last night. Specifically a few Creative Memories items. I only made two small scrapbooks of our two Disney vacations. The last one was 4 years ago. If I make another vacation album it will be digital! Apparently this is the way Creative Memories is going forward too. They discontinued many items recently and thus there is lots of demand on Ebay. I figured I might as well get rid of them now while there is some demand. I'm hoping for about $20+ from my items.

I took the girls to Panera Bread for lunch. It was completely spontaneous, but fun since we don't get to do that kind of thing often and it is much harder to do during the school year. Spent about $20.

I think tomorrow may be a no spend day!

Yesterday I needed to get groceries. I tend to shop at SuperTarget as it is the closest and I'm used to their setup. I often, but not always, go online to clip/print coupons from their website. I did that yesterday and found two that I was able to use. At the same time, I clicked on information about Cartwheel, which I understood to be a smartphone app. It is that, but those of use without them can still use it!! I loaded coupons onto my Cartwheel and was able to print out my discounts which had the bar code the cashier needed. What is really interesting is that I ended up with discounts I didn't even load! Have no idea how that happened. I saved $2.36 because I printed off the Cartwheel savings. I did use my Red Card too and saved another $4.67. The other coupons were a savings of $2.50. And I got another $0.35 off for using my own bags. It all helps!!

We made a trip to Menard's to return an item we didn't end up using. When we bought it I was pretty sure we wouldn't need it. We should go with our gut on those types of things. At least we were smart enough to return it for a refund, which was $13.90.

I received a $10 coupon from Kohl's in the mail. I will definitely use this later this week for some new undergarments. I will try to stick to the $10 if possible.

Did you return or sell anything recently? Have you used Target's Cartwheel yet?

The only thing in my mailbox yesterday was a check! I wish every day was like that. Although I'd settle for a deposit into our checking account everyday, too. The check was a return of a utility deposit that we were required to pay last year to have our water turned on. A nice $60 back in our pocket.

I know they told me it would be returned. I just didn't make a note of it anywhere. My husband thought I was probably tracking it. Well no, once the money is gone, I don't expect it back.

I know you all will expect that I will put it towards the mortgage. I'd like to do that, but we have just spent quite a bit recently. There was also an unexpected expense of a rental car of $110 to get my husband to a school. The government won't reimburse as it was not authorized. The airline had to route him to an airport two hours away!! I'm sure he will check with the airline today about compensation on his way home, but I'm not holding my breath with the airline providing compensation. That $60 helps soften the blow on that charge. That's my thinking on it right now...I may decide to throw it at the mortgage in the end.

I received my $25 from Swagbucks yesterday and redeemed my $3 from a Pinecone survey, which should arrive in my PayPal account today. I will then transfer that money to checking. That money will go the mortgage as soon as I have it!

I'm about ready to make a change to our home phone. We will buy an Obi adapter for about $40 that will connect to our internet. We then plug our regular phone into that. The provider will be Google Voice so we can make local and long distance calls for free. Google Voice does not provide 911 service, but Anveo provides that for $12 per year, which is all we will pay after the initial hardware investment. That is a huge savings!

We currently pay $30.76 monthly for our home phone, which includes all those taxes and zero long distance. If we do use long distance we are charged $0.14 per minute. I use my cell phone if I need to call long distance. We get very few calls on it, but it is nice to have since all of our cell phones are based in another area code. We can't really port our current number to Google Voice without a lot of work around, but we can pick a new number for free which I have decided is just fine. I will need to notify family, schools, and service providers of the new number. A bit of a pain, but worth it for the savings.

We may also invest in a tool that crimps CAT5 cable so we can have our internet router, and OBi system upstairs rather than the basement. We lose some processing speed by having it in the basement. Our house is already prewired with CAT5 and coaxial cable, so we just need to pull out the cable from the wall and put on the adapter plug(RJ45). I might not be using all the right terminology, but I do know what the plan is! The tool is about $15.

I'm excited about all of our possible changes and reducing our bills. I now just need my husband to be home long enough to make these decisions and help me make the physical changes.

I know some of you have already ditched your landline which is a great savings! Does anyone use VOip at there home? Do you use Google Voice? Tell me about your experience.

Here's what I've been doing:

Volunteering my sewing skills to hem marching band pants. The band only has 180 members, so it didn't take long with many hands. Turns out to have been fun and free entertainment with some nice ladies.

Confronting the neighbors (2 adults and four kids) playing basketball after 10:30pm on a week night. The hoop and driveway are really, really close to my daughter's bedroom. I hope I don't have to do it again. Ick!

Earning my daily Swagbucks. I'm honestly getting a little tired of it, but there's an addictive quality that I can't yet let go of. Waiting for my last request of $25 to be deposited in my PayPal account. Only 500+ Swagbucks away from the next redemption.

Completed a Pinecone survey. I cashed out my payment earlier today. I think it should be in my account tomorrow.

Today is payday. I need to pay bills and get that Southwest card paid off!! I keep seeing lots of money going out in our future. Band picture (only $7), Band jacket(?), pictures for youngest daughter, fundraisers(!?), driver's ed, at least one tree for the back yard...I hope that is it. Not sure. I really would like to buckle down and spend NOTHING!!

I will keep today a no spend day since I have cleaning and bills to take care off. No need to do anything else, but make a trip to pick up my daughter from the last day of band camp.

I think I will also gather some items to take to Goodwill tomorrow. I know I have things in the basement that have already been set aside for that, I just need to do it!!

Little bit of everything, huh? Have a frugal day!!

We have emergency fund money and some 'house' money that I want to earn better interest rates on. I have several possibilities I will be talking to my husband about. The biggest problem with earning these rates is the hoops we have to jump through to get them.

The best rate is 3.20% at a bank local to our state. It is a rewards checking account. We can deposit up to $25K. We will have to make 10 point of sale transaction with the debit card issued to us per month, in addition to 3 automatic withdrawals to third parties (or as an alternative one direct deposit). That interest rate would allow us to earn $800 on $25K in one year.

The next best rate is 3.0% at a very local bank, that I could walk to in five minutes. It is also a rewards checking account. The maximum amount that can earn that interest rate is $10K, with 0.1% for balances over $10K. This account also requires 10 point of service transactions, and one deposit or one automatic withdrawal.

There is also a

deal with Bank of the West. No special interest rates, but cash bonus up to $150. To get the $100 we would need to direct deposit $250 each month for I think at least two months. To get the $50 we would need to use the debit card 10 times each month for two months, each transaction has to be $3 or more. This one seems a little complicated, for a low return, but I think it could be done.

And BeAWealthyWarrior has mentioned the NFCU offer on her blog that is also a possibilty to earn 3% on $3000 for 12 months. There are hoops to that offer as well, including a regular direct deposit for 12 months to a checking account. Although once set up that one would be easy. I'm just realizing that I actually do save $300 a month for property taxes. I could just move that plan there for the next year. Now that I thought of that I'm getting a little more interested.

The auto withdrawals that these account require are too big of an issue because we have plenty of things that are on auto withdrawal...investments, water bill, electric bill, gas bill, water softner rental, our mortgage payment, cell phone bill, and tv/phone bill.

I'm really not ready to give up our USAA account as our primary bank, part of that is because I know all the account numbers! Ha. However, to keep the initial principal intact and earning the great rate, I would need money to go into each account to cover the ten debit transactions and any auto withdrawals that are set up.

I was thinking we could take advantage of the first two accounts I mentioned and use one account for the first of the month and the other account for the second half. Or we could each be in charge of 10 transactions for one bank. I think the latter would be easier for my husband instead of all the switching of cards every two weeks.

I think I asked another time, but does anyone use a Rewards checking account? How do you keep track of your requirements? Do you think this method may be too much of a hassle or would it be worth the return? Let me know, as I'm not sure what I even think yet!!

I'm using some of my downtime this week to research lowering some of our costs and increasing our interest income. I will be looking at cell phone service, voip home phone service, and tv service and ways to reduce those costs. I will also be looking at different banks, likely reward checking accounts as ways to increase the interest on our cash without the risk of the market.

I did find out we signed an 18 month contract last July for television service. We have thus used 13 months of the contract and would owe for service not yet billed on the contract if we cancel early. When we cancel, whether early or on time, we hope to use over the air service. We will need to install an outdoor antenna in our attic, so there will be some upfront cost. The antenna alone is $85, but we are paying $39.05 a month right now, so that will be recouped quickly. The hardest part likely will be crawling into the attic and connecting the lines already installed in the basement to the line attached to the antenna. This may require the purchase of some tools, which I hope to find a the best price possible. We hope to install BEFORE we actually cancel to confirm we get the reception we are expecting.

I'll update you later in the week with other research. In the meantime, I know about Ting and Republic Wireless, are there any other no contract plans anyone uses? Tell me what you know!

We were paid $0.04 interest on our checking account and had $4 worth of ATM surcharges refunded. I have added these to the snowflakes for the month.

I bought a newspaper and a cup of coffee this morning since I had to get up early to be at the airport. So I spent some money, but not too much.

Tomorrow I will need fuel again, since a little out of town trip seems to have drained the tank again. I hope not to spend any other money tomorrow. I actually think it is possible.

I have an item I think can be returned to the store. I think we spent about $15 on it. I hope to get that done this week.

That's it...just a few drips and drops of money!

My husband, my older daughter and I have all had bikes for several years. My youngest had one and grew out of it and then went through a phase of not wanting to ride even though we offered the bike. We have Raleigh's which we really like. They aren't top of the line, but they aren't exactly cheap. The bike we bought my youngest daughter today was $535 including tax.

We went on our first family bike ride in probably three years. It was wonderful!! I could have gone longer but for a first trip out in awhile it was fine. Since we are in a new town since we last rode our bikes we will have plenty of trails to explore. We will have to drive to get to the trails...which we didn't in our last town. This part makes me sad. Of course, we can do some neighborhood rides, but those get a little old.

Yes, I did put the bike on the Southwest Card. We have officially met the $2000 spending limit. I don't have another card bonus in the works. Yet! I will work on figuring out the next best plan for that while I wait for the Rapids Rewards to post so I can claim the gift cards.

And while we were out today we stopped into a music store we haven't been in for awhile. We inquired about used piccolos as my daughter has been saving her money. The maximum she currently has is $500, we walked out with a very nice Yamaha piccolo for $250, plus tax. I put this on the SW card, too, since she didn't have her cash with her. So now, We really over the minimum spending limit. She has already given me the cash which I will likely apply to our Target Red card since I can pay that off with cash in the store. (We bank online so it is difficult to deposit actual cash without converting it to a money order.)

So today was...spendy! But so worth the deal on the piccolo and the time spent outside with my family.

I do have an equity goal. It just hasn't been firmed up in my brain or written here on my blog. The goal is $63,045 (or more!) The ideal goal will be to reach this by June 2015, which is 22.5 months away. This is the next possible move date, although we would like to stretch it out as far as we can. The Army dictates that so we'll see.

We have about $24,500 in cash. We have paid off $6,304 in principal since last year. I expect we will pay another $9,900 by the goal date with regular payments. This leaves $22,341 to meet the goal. On average we will need $1,015.50 per month.

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I'm sending in all the extra funds (i.e. snowflakes) to the mortgage. Right now for 2013, I'm averaging $233 per month in snowflakes. That means we are still short $782.50.

I made a list of possible places to find some of this shortfall: lower our cell phone bill/plan, eliminate our home phone, eliminate the cable bill which allows us only local channels, find and actually move cash on hand to an account(s) with higher interest rates, sell more stuff on hand, and get a job.

I think finding a job will be easier once my daughter starts to drive. She has lots of places to be and they are always conducive to work hours. I also know my husband WILL get a raise next year. So while I may not be able to average $1000 this year, I will be able to easily exceed that next year.

And if home values in this area continue to rise, then I expect some of our equity will come from appreciation. Some online sites state this area should rise by 2%...not much, but something!

I also want to apply some money from our regular income to this goal. I have made a good effort. I know the money is there. I think I'll start with just $50 a pay period and gradually increase it each month.

I need to get moving to make the changes to the cell phones, home phone and tv. The sooner I get the changes made the more I can save towards the goal. And I need to start moving money around too to get the higher interest rates.

Yikes! This is really daunting. I know it's not a perfect plan, but it is a start. Any comments or thoughts on my plan?

I have some random updates that are money related that I'll just throw out there for the enjoyment of those of you who like this kind of thing!

Last month a house just like ours, except for walkout basement vs daylight windows, sold for $5,500 more than what we purchased our home for last year. This is the amount ours was listed at but we negotiated down, but they didn't or couldn't. I'm thinking I can look at this as the current market value of our home, right? I like that kind of equity.

I found out the information above when I went looking for our property tax amount online. Turns out they have not certified property taxes yet, thus no statement. I know the taxes will go up since this is a new home and we did get a reprieve last year. I want to know how much, so I can plan.

I sold those Box Tops for Education on Ebay. My net profit is $10.11, which I will add to the Snowflakes for Equity.

We had garage door issues recently. The opener wouldn't close the door. It would open, but not close. We tried all the trouble shooting tips for the sensors, but it was a no go. We purchased a new set on Amazon which arrived quickly with our Prime 2 Day shipping. We swapped out the sensor that was the problem and it worked!! Cost about $25. Annoying, but no big deal.

My daughter, age 16, finally decided to get her permit and is driving a little. We will need to get her signed up for driver's ed by the end of the month at a cost of $375. Steep, but probably worth the education she will get. Of course, I will put the fee on a credit card when the time comes to earn rewards and possibly a bonus!

I was notified by USAA that our next six month premium for auto insurance will be due in October. No change in the premium...just $433 for six months. This will go on a credit card, too! I'm sure once our daughter has her license the premium will go up...but by how much is the question.

I will try to make today a no spend day. I have paint I purchased last week that needs to be applied. Might as well take advantage of the cooler weather to get it done.

I noticed that iTunes gift cards are 10% off at Target this week. I hope to stop in to get at least one as a Christmas gift. I will use some of the Target gift cards I have to make the purchase.

Was that enough random updates for you? What was your favorite piece of information?

We opened the Southwest Rapid Rewards card on July 13. The first statement closed on August 1. The statement arrived in the mail today. This always surprises me since I track everything online!

Our purchases total $1553.14 so far. Yes, in just under four weeks. I know that I scheduled a utility payment of $128.33 for sometime this week. I have my van in getting an oil change right now. I will get fuel after I pick it up. Those two will likely total another $90. I estimate we only need to spend another $230. And I expect that will likely come from fuel purchases, as we seem to have made a lot of recent stock up purchases, paid school fees, and purchased shoes.

I am leaning towards simply redeeming the rewards for gift cards rather than airline tickets. Although the rewards do make it a very good deal when flying four people! We just don't have plans for a vacation, although there are things we want to do. It is a matter of setting aside the time to go!

When we redeem the rewards for gift cards, I hope to pick cards that we would normally use for purchases. I will use the gift card for payment and then move the cash we would have spent to the Snowflakes for Equity.

I need to start to look for another new card with a bonus. I was able to get the Citi Thank You Preferred card with a $250 bonus. That offer arrived in the mail addressed to me. I noticed they are offering $200 on their website now, but the spending amount is $1,500 rather than $1000. As you can see above, we seem to easily have money to spend. Not real proud of that, but we have the money and that is just where the money flows! My husband would apply for this card, if we decide this is the best offer. We will be deciding this soon.

I did get my Credit Sesame score update yesterday. It went down from 826 to 801. No big deal to me. Clearly still a decent credit score! And I would guess in a few more months it will be right back up there.

I went looking for discounted gift cards yesterday and ended up at

CardPool.com where I found Petsmart gift cards discounted 12%. Turns out my cats will need cat food in the next week or two. I purchased an electronic gift card (which for this store can only be used online) valued at $37.12, and paid $32.66. Savings of $4.46! It gets better. I used the Southwest card for the card purchases, so the transaction helps earn rewards. The cat food I purchased had free shipping which is why I chose to order online than run to the other side of town. My total purchase came to $38.15. I put the remaining $1.03 on the Southwest card. Oh, and before I even started the transaction I went to Ebates so I could get 4% cash back. I like that type of savings!!

Using CardPool is one way to save money on purchases you make anyway without opening a credit card for bonus rewards. Any money you save could be put towards debt payoff or increasing your savings goal.

Anyone use discounted gift cards for purchases? Do you use them with regularity or just on occasion?

I looked on MyMoneyBlog this morning and saw that he updated the Southwest Airlines promotion with an expiration date of early August 7. That is tomorrow!

The link specifically for that is

here. The link also shows how you can buy Chase Visa cards with no fee right now to meet the requirement. Good idea if you would have trouble meeting the $2000 in spending in 3 months.

I'm still not sure if we will redeem our rewards for airline tickets or $500 in gift cards. We don't have a trip planned right now. We also live two hours from an airport that serves Southwest. We've driven before to get better rates, so it isn't out of the question. Just not sure I ever wanted to do it again. Decisions, decisions!

As I stated in my early post, I'll update you on our Southwest Airlines card spending tomorrow...from what I can tell we are more than halfway there.

The bonus of $150 earned on my husband's American Express Blue Cash Everyday card appeared this weekend. I redeemed it for a statement credit on the $150 balance that remained. As of this morning it has been applied and the balance is now zero.

I guess this means I have to send in another $150 to the mortgage! Since I would have had to pay the balance if not for the credit, I will just use that money to send in to the mortgage. Simple!

I remembered to count out my Box Tops for Education and found that I had over 100. I put a lot of 100 together and listed them on Ebay. They have not sold yet, but I expect they will as I set a reasonable price. They ALWAYS sell. So, another snowflake is in the works.

Swagbucks deposited last months bonuses yesterday. I was just 28SB away from cashing out for $25. So I put in the time to get those 28SBs and cashed out for $25 cash in my PayPal deposit. ANOTHER snowflake on its way.

My chauffeur service has begun operating again. My oldest daughter who is just starting to drive is needing to get to school for band activities. This means more fuel will be used. Too bad I don't get paid for this service!

We are still in the process of meeting the $2000 in spending on the Southwest card. I know we are over $1000. I'll give a more in depth update on this tomorrow.

Snowflaking debt and savings works! Of course, it may seem easy with these large rewards from credit cards. However, the smaller amounts I find, earn and save still add up. You can do it too! Anyone just getting started with snowflakes? What was your first or latest snowflake?

I seem to have racked up quite a few snowflakes since the beginning of August, so I'm sending them in to pay down more mortgage principal. Why wait, right?

Here's where the $157.63 all came from:



I took cash I had in my Christmas Fund to 'buy' the Applebee's gift card that came in the mail from MyPoints. It is a Christmas gift anyway. I used the Menard's rebate and Citi Rewards to make purchases, but am now taking the cash I would have spent on those purchases to send to the mortgage. Make sense? I hope so!! If not, ask me to clarify.

This now means that we have paid a $6,153.91 down on our mortgage balance. Like! Like!

It's been so mild most of July that we are barely running the air conditioner. We still are running it because of allergies, but we stay pretty comfortable with fans and keeping the temperature a semi high level.

This month's electric bill is $19 LOWER than June. Now the bill is still $121, but we are cooling a 2500 square foot home, watching tv, using the dryer and dishwasher and spending time on the computer.

Were any of your utilities lower than last month? Were you expecting a lower bill or were you surprised?

I received payment from an Ebay sale that ended on Sunday. Finally! It is hard to wait when you have no communication with the buyer. If I had to delay payment I would likely tell the seller WHEN I expect to pay. It just seems like a courteous thing to do. My profit is likely only a few dollars. I haven't mailed it yet, or paid my fees.

I received 100 Swagbucks yesterday from customer support for sending in my complaint about the content on some of the videos. I was assured that they intend Swagbucks to be G rated, or was it PG? They gave me the bonus SBs for my time and effort. Nice, huh? Did anyone else complain and get compensated?

Already some August snowflakes are arriving! So exciting. Here's what I have thus far:



Clearly some of those were earned in July, but they all arrived yesterday. I may just get those sent in to the mortgage soon. I do have a couple more that I think will arrive soon, so more than likely I will wait. The Capital One reward money was from depositing $500 in the savings account during their Independence Day sale. A little bit of that is interest, which is better than I get in my checking account for that money!

It was a spendy couple of days recently. Registration for school was the primary expense. We pay $65 for each of our daughters. We also purchased a family activity pass for $145. We definitely would have spent that much money on activities (football games to see the band perform, basketball games to see the pep band perform, three music concerts and a two plays) last year, so we expect the same this year. It is nice to have it prepaid! I did put the entire $275 charge on the Southwest card. I bought pictures for my oldest daughter and paid with a check since I forgot to prepay online with a credit card.

We purchased fertilizer, sprinklers and paint at Home Depot and did remember to get the military discount! I charged these expenses to the Southwest card as well. I think it was about $100.

We received a call from our gym that we owe a Club Enhancement fee. Not sure the amount since this is the first time they have indicated we owe one. A little annoyed since this was not disclosed at the time of sign up, but I bet it is in our contract. I will be looking before I pay it.

Ebay has been slow. I have two items that are relisted at lower prices and still no interest. Based on previous experience it really seems these things should sell! If they don't, I will just take a break or end up donating them.

Do you have any August snowflakes yet?

Our mortgage is our only long term debt. All other debt that may occur on credit cards is promptly paid off. Now that I'm sending in extra principal I want to keep track of how much we have paid down. I'm not sure why I don't want to disclose the amount of our mortgage, but I just don't. I will simple track the amount we have paid off.

We took our mortgage out on July 3, 2012. We have made payments on time every month. We have only recently made principal payments, specifically June and July. The June principal payment was $56. In July, I made two payments, $250 and $500 specifically. Including those amounts we have paid of $5,996.28!!

I wish I knew I was so close to the $6K mark yesterday when I rounded up to $500. I should have sent in another $4!

I don't know exactly how I will track this, probably a simple sum of principal on a spreadsheet. I can post a screen shot of our progress. I also need a firm goal. I know I did some calculations several months back. I was a bit overwhelmed with those, so I'm not sure I kept them. I'll keep working on getting a better grasp of this goal.

Oh, and did anyone notice that the Christmas and Equity snowflakes I have accumulated in 7 months equal $1555.65! That averages out $222.24 per month. If I can keep up that pace I should be able to get another $1100 before the end of the year. I have a feeling it might be more!

The good thing is I have a firm grasp on accumulating snowflakes and sending them in to pay down the mortgage! Yippee!!

I wrote this post last night and saved as a draft, but I see that now that I posted it it shows as though I posted it last night...so this is just little bump!

July was a spectacular month for accumulated snowflakes. And really there were some snowballs in there to help! Those credit card rewards were key to making this month so great. I was proud to actually get a few things on Ebay and earn a little more cash towards this new goal. Total snowflake earnings for July.....$748.39!!!!



All snowflakes are going directly to pay down principal on our mortgage. I sent in just an extra $56 last month. This month I have already sent in the $250 check from Citi Thank You Rewards. And today, I'm sending in the remaining snowflakes $498.39. I think I should actually just round it up to an even $500. I think I can swing the extra $1.61 from my own pocket. Don't you?

My Snowflakes for Equity ticker shows a goal of $1000. I think I might need to revise the goal, since I'm almost there! I didn't quite expect all the credit card rewards when I made the goal. I'll have to really think through what I think we can accomplish before the end of the year.

It was asked in my last post about our mortgage pay down progress. Before today's extra principal payment I think we have paid a total of $5000 from the principal balance. That is a bit of a guess. I will work on getting more details for my next post. This is something I've been needing to do so that I'm tracking our progress a little better.

So, how do you think we did for July? Did I accumulate enough snowflakes?

July was a spectacular month for accumulated snowflakes. And really there were some snowballs in there to help! Those credit card rewards were key to making this month so great. I was proud to actually get a few things on Ebay and earn a little more cash towards this new goal. Total snowflake earnings for July.....$748.39!!!!



All snowflakes are going directly to pay down principal on our mortgage. I sent in just an extra $56 last month. This month I have already sent in the $250 check from Citi Thank You Rewards. And today, I'm sending in the remaining snowflakes $498.39. I think I should actually just round it up to an even $500. I think I can swing the extra $1.61 from my own pocket. Don't you?

My Snowflakes for Equity ticker shows a goal of $1000. I think I might need to revise the goal, since I'm almost there! I didn't quite expect all the credit card rewards when I made the goal. I'll have to really think through what I think we can accomplish before the end of the year.

It was asked in my last post about our mortgage pay down progress. Before today's extra principal payment I think we have paid a total of $5000 from the principal balance. That is a bit of a guess. I will work on getting more details for my next post. This is something I've been needing to do so that I'm tracking our progress a little better.

So, how do you think we did for July? Did I accumulate enough snowflakes?

I decided to pay my Ebay fees and withdraw the proceeds from the sales that have been paid. I want to send them in with my BIG principal mortgage payment. The proceeds thus far were $37.31. I'm still waiting for payment on one item. I have one item that will sell today. I will add those proceeds to my August snowflakes.

I will update my Snowflakes for Equity tomorrow. It has definitely been my best month EVER for snowflakes thanks to the credit card rewards.

Here are some future expected snowflakes that I'm waiting on that have been earned but not received:
$25 Paypal cash from Swagbucks
$3 Pinecone survey payment
$5+ Ebay proceeds
$150 American Express reward
$76 Capital One 360 Savings reward
$100 Capital One 360 checking reward
and we are working on earning that Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card reward of $500. I think we have only spent $500 of the $2000 minimum at this point.

Stay tuned for the July Snowflakes for Equity update...schedule to appear tomorrow!

I mentioned in my last post that my husband will be traveling for work. I guess one of the trips is cancelled...due to funding. So likely less savings if he is only gone one week.

I sold two items on Ebay last night. One person has paid. Waiting on the other. I also have one item with a bid that should end tomorrow. It's all moving along.

Today I need to get bills paid. I keep putting it off! Surprising, since I usually like to do it. I think it is just that I have other projects that are getting my attention. That bathroom painting has put my interest back on some improvements around the house and I would like to get a few things sewn and mailed to my sister. But I will pay the bills so I get work on the fun stuff!

We attended a free concert in a local park last night. Our daughter played with a flute choir ensemble prior to the city's municipal band concert. It was very good music and a cool beautiful evening free of bugs. Now I want to go to another one!!

Does your city have free music you can attend either indoor or outdoors?

My husband will be doing more travel in the coming month. I always miss him when he is away, but financially I'm looking forward to it. His expenses usually are covered by the Army...unless he splurges at a steak place. And that does happen. Sometimes we make a little money on the deal. Just a little.

What I really like is that the grocery and gas spending drop here at home. He has more 'needs' (read as wants) than I do, or allow the girls to have. Thus we eat simply and stay home a little more. I hope to set aside about $400 while he is away. It really will just go to savings, so not too exciting, but I like the idea of really working towards it to make it happen. Once he leaves I will start tracking our expenses.

I have one item with a bid on Ebay. Six of the auctions end tomorrow. I hope to see a little more activity before they end and sell another one or two. Once the other items end on Tuesday, I will pay my fees and withdraw the proceeds so I can send those in with my BIG August mortgage principal payment.

I'm also looking forward to payday so I can replenish the saving account. Remember I had to pull some money out to cover that accidental EXTRA mortgage payment I made? It has all worked out just fine, but I'd like that money back in my savings account. I did remember to cancel my automatic payments so we don't end up making an August payment when one isn't due.

I think I'll head outside to get some exercise in. It is so much cooler here today. It feels like fall. What kind of weather are you having where you live?

I was checking on some of the credit cards we have been using. Double checking that they are at zero balance. I requested the first one I opened to be canceled. I then looked at the Citi card and realized there were 2110 points. I looked around on the site, but wasn't interested in any CDs that could be redeemed for 600 points. I did notice that I can link my card to my Amazon.com account and use my points for Amazon purchases. My 2110 Thank You points are equal to $16.88. My only other problem is that I don't have anything I need to buy! I will wait to close this card until I have used the final points and then get it closed. I'm sure something will come up that we can purchase on Amazon. They have EVERYTHING!

Today I returned a rug I bought earlier in the week. Another $16 back in our pocket. I also found out that DH was paid from the Army for a trip he made last week. He drove his own car and thus was paid mileage. We made money (about $160)since his out of pocket expenses were less. Of course this is to cover the cost of operating the vehicle and depreciation. I think I will save it towards some upcoming vehicle maintenance. Oil changes are about due, and I know they will be checking the brakes, since we might be due for new pads. Of course, we'll charge them on the Southwest card to help get us to our $2000 spending minimum.

It looks to be more gorgeous weather this weekend. I hope we can get out and be active. We are keeping the windows closed and the air on because allergies. We all seem to get congestion when we have the windows open. Hopefully not too much spending!

Will your weekend be a spendy one or frugal?

The painting did get done yesterday and it looks so much better. The girls wanted the same color that their bathroom was painted in our last house. A light blue, specifically Pale Flowers by Valspar available at Lowe's. I did not buy their primer based paint becdause it so expensive and not necessary for this paint job. Saved myself $10-$15 by making this choice.


The towels and shower curtain are the same too. The decorative mirror in the picture was purchased at an art fair for $25. I thought the message was worth the price for two teen girls. I hope to find a few cube shelves for above the toilet. I see they are available on Amazon for about $15, but I'll look for locally first and even consider a used set.

Sorry I don't have any before pictures. Although I probably do somewhere; from last year when we moved in. Just imagine builder white. Although most of our walls and ceiling are a buff cream color.

I sold another item on Ebay, likely netting about $8. I will put that in the mail today. I also was able to redeem Swagbucks for another $25 deposit in my PayPal account. I will add that to the Snowflakes for Equity once I have it in my account.

Do you know how to paint? Do you paint often or infrequently? Any one not know how to paint a room?

I sold two of the CDs I listed on Ebay yeterday afternoon. They are already at the post office. Not sure the net, the gross sales of the two together was $13.62. This money goes to the Snowflakes for Equity, of course!

I got some motivation with this cooler weather to paint my daughter's bathroom. They have been asking and mentioning it for months! With paint and cool weather means open windows and no air conditioning. Might see how long we can keep them open, but allergies could become an issue.

A little spending because of the paint and trip an hour away, but it is all good! Trying to keep up with the Swagbucks codes today, but so far have two...oh well, I'll get goal done after the painting is done!

Pinecone Research is looking for new members to take surveys. I've been a member for several years and they have some of the most interesting and easy surveys to take. You even get to try samples sometimes!

Sign up

here. And thank you LuckyRobin for finding a link that will work! In the past they paid $5 per survey, now they give you 300 points, which you can redeem for $3. I have my $3 sent to my PayPal account, when I redeem my points. I probably make less than $100 per year, but those three dollars add up when you are snowflaking towards a goal. I do NOT getting anything for referring you, but I hope you sign up anyway...for your own benefit!

I redeemed 3700 points at MyPoints today for a $25 Applebee's gift card. This will be part of my mother in law's Christmas gift. Another snowflake!!

Do you participate in a program to earn gift cards or cash? Do you have a referral link you would like to share with me? I'm always interested in new opportunities that others have found success with.