Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

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?

It's a low key weekend here. It's hot and muggy, my husband had two wisdom teeth pulled Friday and we were busy with the art fair last weekend. It feels good to stay relaxed.

I have earned enough Swagbucks for ANOTHER $25 PayPal cash deposit. This will make $350 from Swagbucks since the beginning of the year. Not bad, huh?

I took a walk around the neighborhood, stopped at a garage sale and bought two hanging shoe holders for $1 each. I will use them in hall closets to keep gloves, hats, sunscreen, umbrella and such organized. They are a pretty teal and black floral too!

My husband's wisdom teeth were not impacted, but needed to come out due to cavities. Since they are far back in the mouth they could not be drilled, thus just a basic visit to have them pulled. He says it would taken an Act of Congress to get approval to have not impacted teeth pulled by an oral surgeon, which is what he wanted to do. Turns out he did fine. Now he's a little groggy on Vicodin and Aleve! As military member he will not have to pay out of pocket. Even the Vicodin was free. We did have to pay for the Aleve and some extra gauze pads, which was about $7.

I've been cleaning and doing laundry today. If the humidity drops, I hope to mow (might need gas) and get to the grocery store tomorrow. I hope to buy enough groceries to last through the end of the month. We do have a few vacation days before the end of the month so a few less meals needing to be cooked at home.

This evening we do have to go out to attend a chamber concert my oldest daughter is performing in. Last night we got to hear her play a duet on her flute with a harpist. So pretty!! The concert is free.

Are you doing anything outside of your home that is free entertainment today or tomorrow? What is your best free thing to do outside of your home?

I made the first payment to Capital One today in the amount of $348.44. These are all the charges that have posted to the account at this point. I actually went to make the payment last night, but the electric bill payment that I schedule had not posted. So I waited. It was there this morning though!

I have our Verizon phone bill and Netflix scheduled for later this month. Those charges will complete the minimum spending requirement to receive the $100 cash. I will make the final payment to the card on July 1st.

I do have to remember that it is sometimes easier to ask for a statement credit when redeeming these rewards, rather than waiting for a check in the mail. So my first step before making the final payment really should be to redeem the rewards towards the final balance. Then pay the final balance and stash the money I would have paid on the card in our house down payment account. See? One has to be organized and think ahead on these things!!

Do you pay your utility bills online with a debit or credit card? Or do you snail mail the check? Anyone pay their utility bill in person?

The Citi Thank You Preferred card that I received earlier this month has been used just a little in the amount of $25.11. There actually was a statement issued already! That amount has been paid as of this evening.

This card has a $1000 minimum purchase to earn $250 in gift cards. We have three months to meet the goal. We will use it for everything we normally purchase and our small in state vacation at the end of the month. I expect by the end of the month we will have met the goal. Just $974.89 to go.

In fact, I did use this card today for fuel in my van, a gift card for my dad, and a book of stamps, which was around $85. I think my husband probably used it to pay for his haircut.

I do have a few out of the norm expenses that can be charged if needed. Prescription sunglasses and flute maintenance specifically.

The spending needed on these cards for the $500 in rewards bonuses is going fast. I may have my husband apply for these cards soon, so we have them on hand for another round of rewards. He will be able to apply for one additional card, Chase Freedom, so his ability to earn some rewards will be slightly larger, $600 I think.

On another note, I'm just 500 Swagbucks from earning another $25 gift card. I have not made goal at least two days this week. I wouldn't have anyway with vacation planned for later in the month. I don't want to be glued to Swagbucks when I can be enjoying my family and the beautiful scenery of the Mississippi River, right?!

Are you taking a vacation this summer? Are you flying or driving? Are you staying close to home? Who is traveling the farthest away?

Using credit cards to obtain rewards is only for those with cash to pay off purchases right away before interest accrues. And those organized enough to keep track of the charges, and due dates. We are not making purchases we wouldn't be making normally. All rewards are to bulk up the savings in our down payment fund.

The Citi Thank You Preferred card that I received earlier this month has been used just a little in the amount of $25.11. There actually was a statement issued already! That amount has been paid as of this evening.

This card has a $1000 minimum purchase to earn $250 in gift cards. We have three months to meet the goal. We will use it for everything we normally purchase and our small in state vacation at the end of the month. I expect by the end of the month we will have met the goal. Just $974.89 to go.

In fact, I did use this card today for fuel in my van, a gift card for my dad, and a book of stamps, which was around $85. I think my husband probably used it to pay for his haircut.

I do have a few out of the norm expenses that can be charged if needed. Prescription sunglasses and flute maintenance specifically.

The spending needed on these cards for the $500 in rewards bonuses is going fast. I may have my husband apply for these cards soon, so we have them on hand for another round of rewards. He will be able to apply for one additional card, Chase Freedom, so his ability to earn some rewards will be slightly larger, $600 I think.

On another note, I'm just 500 Swagbucks from earning another $25 gift card. I have not made goal at least two days this week. I wouldn't have anyway with vacation planned for later in the month. I don't want to be glued to Swagbucks when I can be enjoying my family and the beautiful scenery of the Mississppi River, right?!

Are you taking a vacation this summer? Are you flying or driving? Are you staying close to home? Who is traveling the farthest away?

Using credit cards to obtain rewards is only for those with cash to pay off purchases right away before interest accrues. And those organized enough to keep track of the charges, and due dates. We are not making purchases we wouldn't be making normally. All rewards are to bulk up the savings in our down payment fund.

I began using the Capital One card this weekend while we were at my daughter's art fair exhibit ($550 in gross sales). It was at a town 30 minutes away, thus we ate out a little bit and treated my parents to dinner at home after the event ended on Sunday.

As it stands now, I have actual charges on the Capital One card in the amount of $348.44. These charges are as follows:
$_42.05 Z Restaurant
$_26.75 Art Fair purchase
$__3.20 Frozen yougert
$_59.94 Fuel for my van
$_53.34 Groceries
$_15.23 Michael's (frames)
$127.09 Electric bill
$_20.84 Laptop battery
$348.44 Total Purchases

Our Netflix subscription will be charged to the card on June 20 for $7.99. On June 29 when my Verizon wireless bill posts to the account in the amount of $150.85 we will meet the $500 minimum purchase requirement to receive the $100 reward.

Payday is Friday and I'm juggling a few cards and due dates, but there will be payments made to this card before one statement is even issued. Gotta love online management of credit cards and cash rewards!

Using credit cards to obtain rewards is only for those with cash to pay off purchases right away before interest accrues. And those organized enough to keep track of the charges, and due dates. We are not making purchases we wouldn't be making normally. All rewards are to bulk up the savings in our down payment fund.

Now that I have completed our Snowflakes for Christmas, 2013 edition, I need a new place to put the snowflakes to work.

I will be adding these future 2013 snowflakes to our home equity. Sometimes, I may add them to cash that we are allocating to our future down payment or I may send them straight to the mortgage company to help pay down our principal balance. I leaning towards the latter. I will likely only move the money into the savings account or to the mortgage once a month. I will track it all here on the blog just as I have done with our Christmas Snowflakes.

The new goal will be called Snowflakes for Equity. I have made the goal $1000, which I think is a little high, but definitely possible. I hope to accomplish this new Snowflake goal by the end of 2013.

The exciting part is that I have money to add to it already! I received a $3 payment from Pinecone Surveys and my most recent $25 PayPal cash deposit from Swagbucks today. That's $28 towards our mortgage equity position!

Anyone working on paying down their mortgage? What is your plan? Little payments often, large lump sums, or a regular payment every month? Maybe a combination?

My Christmas fund goal this year is $750. Today I just received the final snowflake of cash to complete it! And it was the most unexpected snowflake ever...a check for $13.26 for a Diamond Class Action Settlement. I must have filled out a claim form all the way back in 2008(according to the website) Those legal filings and claims take forever!!

The balance of the Snowflakes for Christmas fund was $688 at the end of May. I have received $25 from USAA rewards, $25 in PayPal fund earned through Swagbucks and now a check for $13.26. That means June earnings are $63.26 and my Snowflakes for Christmas now total $751.26.

Now that wasn't hard at all since those small amounts of money just add right up! Have you meet a financial goal with snowflakes of cash recently? Have you received an class action settlement check, EVER? Was it big or little?

I did get the other two credit cards I applied for in the mail today. I still have to activate them. As I use them, I will show you what expenses we are using them for and how we will earn some extra funds towards our mortgage down payment.

I received another snowflake from Swagbucks in the amount of $25. It was deposited in my PayPal account. I will be putting that money in our Christmas Fund. With this money and the rewards I got the earlier this month I'm just $12 away from this years goal!!

I've been a member of MyPoints for a few years, but I stopped the emails a few months ago. As a result, I forgot about that avenue to earn gift cards. I recently remembered it. It is a much slower earning rate, so my goal is to get another 200+ points and redeem my final gift card. After that I will close the account.

Our weekend will be spent at an art fair in a nearby town, where my daughter is exhibiting and hoping to sell prints of her drawings for the very first time. We will actually have to collect sales tax! We have never done that before, but will include it in the sales price to make sales simple for customers. I also got to use my rusty Excel skills to figure our costs, tax and profit on each piece of art work.

Do you buy art? Do you budget for it or buy it spontaneously?

My American Express Blue Cash Everyday card arrived in the mail today. I forgot that this card has 0% interest through September 2014, just like the Citi Thank You card I applied for.

I will use one of the cards to make the full payment for the Washington DC trip, which I must do by the end of the month. This way I can make payments towards the balance over the course of the year without paying any interest or dipping into other cash savings. If I used the AE card, the rewards are offered as a statement credit, so this would work well for redeeming.

I expect to pay off the balance long before the trip in April, but at least I have a little wiggle room and can control when I pay it off. This way is much better than making payments directly with the travel company as they charge all sorts of processing fees. Yuck. I also have the protection from the credit card company if anything goes awry with the travel agency.

The bonus offer on the AE card is $150 for spending just $500. This transaction will be $1250, so there is no problem meeting the minimum. The rewards are given as a statement credit as I understand it. I will redeem at one time when I would have made a payment and keep the payment money in cash to save towards our mortgage goal.

It does help, I think, to use the card for large transactions, rather than a lot of little ones. It is just easier to manage and track the where I am in meeting the requirements.

Anyone know of any good bonus offers for opening any other type of account, brokerage, checking or savings? I'd be interested in those offers as well as a way to bring in extra cash to meet our goals.

I redeemed some rewards with USAA over the weekend and it posted to our checking account yesterday. The amount was $25!

I only need $62 this month to meet the Christmas Fund goal, so this recent redemption is very helpful. I will be even closer once my last Swagbucks redemption actually arrives in my PayPal account.

I did get my free plants in the ground yesterday. Boy, am I sore from digging up that 6x9 space! I did buy $18 worth of mulch today for the bed, but it is now raining.

The girls are officially done with school. I'm looking forward to less driving and getting more organized around the house. I hope I can find some things to sell on eBay or Craigslist while I'm at.

The bad news is our water bill went up this month. We did do some deep watering for awhile this spring to make sure that the sod planted late in the fall really took. I think it was worth the extra $20+.

Have a super frugal Tuesday!

Fidelity has cut a check for the final IRA money we are transferring to Vanguard. I noticed that they did not liquidate in full and there was $50 remaining in the account. I sent an instant message to them and found out it is an account close fee. Darn. I don't like surprises, but I still want the money moved, so I have to just let it go.

I did ask what the fee was for. It covers the cost of closing the account and maintaining records for the next 2 years. This is a common industry practice apparently. I worked in the mutual fund industry and I'm pretty sure we didn't charge the fee. Of course, I worked for a load mutual fund company....so those fees were there, just not as obvious! The agent also said they have one of the lower fees in the industry. Not sure why that needed to be mentioned as the check has already been cut.

I'm excited that all the money from Fidelity is finally moved and we have one less company to keep track of. Have you ever paid an account close fee? How much was it?

We took a road trip to our home town which involved driving 8 hours this weekend, some meals out, some free provided meals. We had a great time connecting with family and old friends. The time always goes too fast!

I haven't added up the money spent, but I do know these perennials I dug out of my parents garden beds were free!! They are getting their house ready to move so thinning out helps them, while the plants will help our yard look like it wasn't just built!

I brought home chives, poppies, lamb's ear, daylillies, shasta daisies, coral bells, and a couple of bearded iris bulbs! Now to actually get them planted. I didn't plan on bringing them home, so my yard is not quite prepped for them. Luckily I have some ideas.



I also got this broken, but very pretty pot! Now I get to decide how to use it.



Did you get anything free this weekend? Did you get to spend time with family or friends?

May was a productive month for snowflakes once again. I accumulated $170.02 without much effort. I like that!

Here's the breakdown:



This money has been added to the Snowflakes for Christmas fund. The goal is to accumulate $750, and with this month's additions, my total in the fund is now at $688!! I only need another $62 to meet my goal. That should be no problem to meet in June.

After I meet the Christmas Fund goal, all snowflakes will then go towards the mortgage. I know that small amounts make a difference over time so I know these will make a difference in the amount of interest we pay.

Check out

my last two posts to see my new plan for accumulating more income while spending. If I can't get the interest rates, might as well play the credit card game!

How did your snowflake accumulations work for May? Do you have a goal for June?

As I mentioned in my

previous post, I am applying for credit cards to take advantage of the bonus offers available. This will help earn some income, since these crazy low interest rates don't offer much.

I was approved for Citi Thank You Preferred where I will spend $1000 in 3 months and earn $250 in gift cards. This offer arrived in the mail.

American Express approved me for the Blue Cash Everyday card. I will need to spend $500 in three months and will receive $150 in statement credits.

And finally, I was approved for the Capital One Cash Rewards card. I also need to spend $500 in three months to earn $100 cash.

I attempted to apply for the Citi Dividend Platinum Select card right after I was approved for the City Thank You card, but was denied. I'm sure it is because it is the same company and they just extended me credit. That is fine.

I went looking for another card, and was thinking about applying for the NFL card that offers $200 in statement credits after one purchase...but unfortunately it is not available in my state. Darn. There are other offers out there that I may consider at another time, but for now, this is enough.

If you totaled up the rewards that brings me to $500 in cash rewards for these three credit cards and only need to spend $2000 in the next three months. Once I see we will achieve these, I will have my husband apply for the same cards and start the cycle over again.

Originally, I thought I could get $700 in rewards, instead of the $500. I lost out on $100 because I was denied for the one Citi Card. I also 'lost' another $100 because I opted to apply for the Blue Cash Everyday card, instead of the Blue Cash Preferred card which had a $75 annual fee.

Anyone else applying for credit to obtain rewards? What do you do with the cash rewards you earn?

Since we can't get good interest rates on our savings, I'm going to be taking advantage of the cash bonuses that credit cards offer. It is tax free money. We do have expenses we purchase anyway. Why not? We do not have plans to take on any big loans for cars, student loans or a house....so who cares about the credit score, which will be just fine since we pay off our cards on time and before accruing any interest.

What prompted this? Rates are terrible on savings!
And....I received an offer from Citi Thank You Preferred to spend $1000 and earn $250 in gift cards. I'd rather have cash, but if I redeem for a gift card we will use in regular spending I can just take that money I would have spent and save it.

My goal is to have all rewards go into savings to earn some piddly 0.85% interest. Yeah!! This money will be saved toward that future down payment.

I know that $1000 in 3 months will be no problem. But now, I am debating whether to apply for a couple more at the same time, to avoid that credit ding that does take place initially. Then I can earn several rewards over the next three months. We have both had the Chase Sapphire Preferred which we spent our $3000 and earned the $400 rewards...really $800 in total. I don't think it has been quite a year since I originally applied, but maybe.

I think I can get $700 by opening FOUR cards:
_Capital One Cash Rewards $100 after $500 in 3 months.
_Blue Cash Preferred $250 after $1000 in 3 months.
_Citi Thank You Preferred $250 gift cards after $1000 in 3 months.
_Citi Dividend Platinum Select $100 after $500 in 3 months.

Now that I write that I realize that is two Citi cards. This would still be $3000 in spending in three months, which is no issue around here. But $700 in rewards, rather than going with the one Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

Of course, after these three months, I could have my husband apply for the same three cards...and likely get another $700 before the end of the year. That is good money, that I wish we were earning on our money market account.

So do you think it is okay to apply for four cards at once and two from the same company all on the same day? Think this is a good plan considering I'm a good credit risk and will not incur debt in the process?

I do already have a Chase Freedom card that is active, but DH does not.

I'm getting ready to complete the registration for the Washington DC trip. I think I'll be making a one time payment, but still not sure. What is tripping me up is the Full Refund Program Fee.

The FRP fee is $139 for this trip which will cost us $1299 for the four day three night experience. Thus the fee would increase our total outlay to $1438, or an increase of nearly 11%.

The FRP fee 'protects your payments and provides a full refund minus the FRP fee, if you, the Program Leader, school, or school administration need to cancel at any time prior to departure for any reason.' The fee does not cover an Act of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, or bankruptcy, insolvency or cessation of business by the travel company.

According to my daughter who heard the presentation from the group leader, most parents do not choose this option of insurance. I probably will not pay the fee, since we can withstand the risk that we could lose our money, if something were to prevent her from going. It won't break us financially in other words. My husband's first instinct was to sign up.

What would you do? Can you think of any good reasons to pay the extra fee?

I earned $3 from a Pinecone survey and received the samples in the mail to try. I expect that money to arrive in my Paypal account tomorrow. I will do a May Snowflake update on Friday.

I've been earning my Swagbucks, reading my library book, taking walks, cleaning, sewing and planning our vacation, thus not much spending other than gas and groceries. And those alone add up fast!

We will be going to a graduation out of town this weekend. Thus more spending on gas and eating. We will write my niece a $50 check. We already wrote in a simple note card, rather than buying a 'special' graduation card. Again, don't most people just toss or recycle cards anyway?!

We know we can use some hotel points for one night in a hotel. We expect to be away three or four nights, so that helps a little. I hope to take a cooler along since it is a road trip. At a minimum, snacks(fresh fruit) and drinks (water) can be bought ahead of time to save us from making convenience purchases! I'm willing to eat lunch and breakfast out of the cooler. We have already found several free things to do so I think we will have a fun time traveling the scenic byway of the Mississippi. I expect we will use a credit card for the vacation expenses to earn some cash back. We will pay for it in full upon our return, of course!

Thinking ahead to big expenses coming up in the next few months: prescription sunglasses for oldest daughter, new sneakers for both girls, school tuition, flute maintenance repairs, band camp fees, few more summer clothes for each of us, mulch for a garden bed we are carving out, two trees for our back yard, gifts for the daughter turning 13, and the deposit on the Washington DC trip.

That's the money mish mash for today!

I thought I'd add on to my

blog post from this morning and let you know that I did accumulate more than 89 SBs. I ended the day with 220 SB, with 9 of those from a referral which do not get added to the daily goal. Thanks, phantorn, for the referral bucks!



I did another survey on Peanut Labs for 48 SB. I had three search wins today for a total of 23 SBs. There were a few more offers in my Inbox. I did several rounds of SBTV and Games this evening while my family was watching Spiderman 3. Todays Swag Code was 'BraveSoldiers' which earned me 8 SBs.

This is a typical Swagbucks day for me. The movie was 2 hours and 20 minutes, and the additional Swagbuck's were earned during this time. Of course, I wasn't completely Swagbucks focused, but it is one way to get Swagbucks during 'down' time.

Here are the screen shots of my actual earnings today:




I hope this helps understand a little bit more what Swagbucks is about and how you can earn actual cash and gift cards with this site for free. Again, if you want to get started, click here to use my referral link.

Now, what I really want to know is: What are you going to do with your Swagbucks?

Several people have been asking about how to accumulate as many

Swagbucks as I do. I will admit, I'm a bit addicted, but I also know that it is possible to make goal everyday without much effort.

As determined by the Swagbucks site, today's goal was 60 Swagbucks. This is an average goal. Most days are higher, but occasionally the goal is even lower.



I start first with completing the daily tasks, which are listed under the goal. This includes the daily poll and 'skipping' through the NOSO offers. The toolbar task is automatic, since, I have the Swagbucks toolbar downloaded on my browser. That is 4 Swagbucks right away.

I then jump over to watch SBTV. You receive 3 SB's for every 10 videos you watch, you don't have to watch the entire thing. Once the meter on the page moves up, you can switch to another video. I try to leave the meter at 90% the evening before, so that I can watch one video and earn 3 SB's very quickly in the morning to meet goal. Now I'm at 7 SB's.

While the SBTV videos start running, I attempt to search for things. Today, I probably search five or six things before I got a 9 SB search win. Now I'm at 16 SBs for the day.

I checked my Inbox, where I had two offers for 3 SBs each. These offers involved clicking on 6 different videos. This brings my total SBs for the day to 22.

While some of those Inbox videos were running, I went to check out the surveys. I try the ones with the most SBs for the least amount of time first. I was disqualified for the first one. I did receive 1 SB for trying. They give you up to five of these per day. Now I'm at 23SBs.


I do skip around on the site, so now I'm over at the Special Offers page where I right away go to the Radium One page, where I seem to have good luck. Peanut Labs is good too. I find the coupons offer where I click the link, pick a coupon, and print it. I technically don't print it out unless I really want it. My computer loads it into the que, but I go in and delete it. This earns me 9SB, which is not instant, but usually credits within 5 to 10 minutes. I do this offer EVERYDAY. While I'm on Radium One, I click on the 1 point offers, which link to Health Guru videos. Usually, you can just let them load and run and receive the point. Sometimes you need to click through the slides. The offer states what is needed. I earned 7SBs from those small offers. My total is now at 39SBs.



I end up back over at the surveys. I complete a survey worth 50SBs. The offer stated it would take 20 minutes, but it had to be less than 10 minutes total. It was about healthy cereals. At this point, I am way over the goal of 60 SBs, with 89 SBs.



The nice thing is I can be done for the day if I don't have any more time. Meeting goal nets me an extra 6 SBs. These are accumulated during the month and paid out by the fifth of the following month is a lump sum.

If I have time, I can still search the internet for more wins, play 10 rounds of games to earn another 10 SBs. I can also look for free offers to sign up for. I can run SBTV while I'm doing other things online. I also check the Swagbucks Facebook page for updates on offers and surveys that credit as well as any Swag Codes that may be released (usually one per day). I can also go back and look for surveys that I might qualify for. At a minimum, I should get another 4 SBs for getting disqualified.




I hope this run through of my morning Swagbucks routine helps. The survey I did today did help it go fast, which I always appreciate. Again, I am a little addicted and likely spend too much time on Swagbucks. I would encourage you to start slow, do only what you can and feel comfortable doing, and make your own goal. If you would like an extra $5 to spend at Amazon.com you only need to earn 15 SBs per day to accumulate the 450 Swagbucks needed to pick one up. I think I've shown you that it is pretty easy to get to 15 SBs per day. Once you get the hang of it you might even earn more than that.

Got it now? More questions? Post them in the comments. Ready to sign up? Here is my referral link.

Thanks for the kind wishes of good health yesterday. I do feel better today. I had a huge urge to sleep several times, so that is just what I did. I think I slept 11 hours last night, and I feel pretty good this morning.

It is raining pretty good here today, which lends itself to a lazy day. We might be able to get a few honey do list items done, which will require no outlay of money.

We need to do some vacation planning as well. We are thinking of a road trip along the Mississippi River byways here in Iowa. If anyone has any must see destinations in that area, let me know. We also want to have a stop for a day or two that is just relaxing in some way. Enjoy the scenery and each other. It seems it could be a semi frugal vacation as it will be meals, hotels, and fuel and activity admissions. I'm hoping for a budget of $1000 or less.

Will you be taking a vacation this year? Do you have a budget? Will you fly, drive or stay in town?

Something came on fast for me overnight. I won't go into personal details, but I'm glad my husband was home to drive my oldest to school. He bought me soup and gatorade. He even heated the soup up, brought me another blanket. Sometimes it is nice to be taken care of, not that I want to be sick too often!!

While I have been sleeping, my husband has mowed the lawn and sprayed for weeds. Now he's cleaning out my van. Nice that he can keep himself busy!

I've showered and feeling better, but just a little low on energy. I'm going to rally so I can take my oldest daughter to an appointment she has after school. I'm sure I'll be wanting to nap by the time I return, so I guess DH will be on kitchen duty this evening.

When was the last time you were sick? Do you have someone that takes care of you when you are sick? Stay healthy this weekend!

I just redeemed more Swagbucks for a $25 PayPal deposit. I don't think this will arrive before the end of the month, but if it does it gets counted towards this month's snowflakes!

I did spend some money today because I met up with an old neighbor and good friend. Lunch at Subway was $7. Spent $10 on a 'string bag/backpack' for my daughter. And splurged on a wonderful smelling perfume at Banana Republic for $5. There were many other things I could have bought, but I'm a good frugal girl and refrained.

My friend brought me a nice bar of soap and an angel friendship ornament. A late mother's day gift. So sweet of her to think of me.

I opened a Rollover IRA at Vanguard for my husband. He signed the paperwork to transfer the last of his money at Fidelity. I dropped it in the mail this morning. Things feel simpler already.

My husband will be home for four days for the Memorial holiday weekend. I hope we can keep spending a little low, but he mentioned landscaping last night. I'm just not ready for big, BIG expenses right now.

Will you have different expenses for the holiday weekend? Will you spend more or less than usual?

On Monday, I spent $78 at the vet's office. Our oldest cat had something going on with her lip and chin. Could have been a wasp sting. Not sure. Injections of antihistamine and antibiotic have seemed to put her eating well again.

Received $5 Target gift card, after purchase of some feminine products. I will add this to the snowflakes along with the $25 that just arrived in my PayPal account. Funny thing is I'm getting close to redeeming Swagbucks for another one!

The transfer of my husband's Roth IRA from Fidelity to Vanguard is complete as of Monday. I will now have him fill out the paper work to move a Traditional IRA to Vanguard and hope the final transfer goes just as fast.

I did a little shopping yesterday and picked up 6 pairs of socks and three greeting cards at Kohl's using one of their $10 coupons. I spent just over $2 out of pocket. I picked up a frame needed for a gift, for $5 plus tax, after using their 40% off coupon. And at Ulta, I wanted to purchase three of one product that was Buy 2, Get 1 Free. They only had one in stock. I was able to use a 20% off coupon and was give an rain check for Buy 1, Get 1 free, so that I effectively could still get the deal. Nice service there!

Have you received any good deals lately?

My husband and I discussed a donation to the Red Cross this morning for disaster relief in Oklahoma. We tend to agree on amount pretty easily. We go with our gut and don't second guess it. Helping others in any way you can is ALWAYS the right thing to do.

Any small amount helps in these situation because as we all know small amounts together equal larger amounts. I have suggested ways to save on my blog many times, but even if you are struggling financially there is always a few dollars you can give.

If you going to go to lunch today, skip it, and donate that money. Check your pockets, purse, couch cushions, car ashtray, and drawers for loose change. Turn in some aluminum cans. Sell a couple CDs, books, or an old cell phone for cash. Return that shirt or pair of shoes you just bought. Sell a gift card online for cash. Donate points you earn from an earning site like Swagbucks or MyPoints. Donate airline miles. Babysit or mow someone's lawn this week and donate your earnings. Sell something on eBay or craigslist.

Please find a way to give something to help those that are in need right now! Do you have another creative idea to find money to give? Please share it in the comments.

Compared to last weekend when I didn't leave the house and only spent $8 online, this weekend was full of spending. We didn't really get crazy, but we did enjoy takeout pizza, and the matinee showing of Iron Man 3.

Gas for two vehicles on empty was just under $130. Clearly we were on low AND gas prices have jumped dramatically.

Pizza was $24. Movie for the four of us was $22. The largest soda and a small regular popcorn set us back $13.75. I honestly can go to a movie without buying the snacks, but my husband doesn't seem to think he can. Luckily the movie theater experience for us is only a couple times of year!

We picked up salt for our water softener. Four bags at about $16. I had some credits with the store, so paid $8 out of pocket. There was also $5 spent on cat treats.

The main grocery run yesterday was just under $110, but there was a small run by me on Friday, and then my husband needed something on Saturday. Each trip about $25. Ugh...don't like it when we do this, but it is what it is. I will work with my husband to get this under control. My guess is the stress at work is getting to him and he wants what he wants when he wants it. Not a great excuse and I would say that some planning and better communication would help very much.

So that seems to add up to about $357.75! Wow!! That is more than my experiment spending earlier in the month. We'll see how we can do for the remainder of the month. My dad has a birthday, but I have his gift already purchased!!

How was your spending this weekend? Crazy. Normal. Or did you end up with a no spend weekend?

Our community is having a garage sale day today. It looks like two neighbors are participating. I wish I was. But many factors were against me.

I don't have much stuff. We don't buy much. We use what we have. There is always something to get rid of, but not always the stuff you sell at a garage sale. My girls aren't giving up there stuff as easily as when the were younger.

I missed the deadline to submit my address before I even remembered to consider it. Oops! I'm sure I could still put things out and it wouldn't be a big deal. So this was a minor factor.

My DH returned home last night from his annual training. It just didn't seem right to hold a sale the day after he returned home. We would much rather spend time together than sit in our garage.

There will be other times to have a sale. In the meantime, I'm going to walk down and check the two on our block out and possibly meet some of our new neighbors.

Will you hold a garage sale this year?

My daughter desperately wants to go on the school Washington DC trip next April. The school just yesterday sent home registration information. Total cost of the trip is about $1300 + refund insurance of $139 for three nights and four jam packed days of touring.

This price seemed less expensive than our other school district, but they may have been gone longer. And I don't specifically remember the price.

I'm leaning towards letting her go, as long as she puts some skin in the game. I think she could save her own money for souvenirs, and help with school fundraising efforts. It sounds like the fundraiser is an easy sell of a coupon book to one of the big grocery stores here in town. It cost's $10, and the buyer gets plenty of coupons that guarantees their $10 back and more. Not sure what the return is to the fundraiser.

First hesitation is that we have to register with a $49 down payment by June 6. Talk about fast decision making! Can make payments but there are additional charges and the price can go up if you don't pay in full. Not sure how likely that is to happen or how much that would be.

Second hesitation is that this is one trip my husband and I really want to take our whole family on in the next two years. So it seems slightly redundant.

We'll be discussing that here at home this weekend! Would you send your child on this type of trip? Have you already? Was it worth it?

Yes, I'm still snowflaking for Christmas, but the additions seem a little slow right now, thus lack of updates. I have accumulated $134.02 so far this month, which is pretty good. It's nice to think I could reach our goal by the end of June at this rate. Which means I could actually shop at those Christmas in July sales! Eh...probably not though.

_$50.00 Swagbucks
_$70.25 Chase Rewards
__$4.78 ATM rebates/interest
__$8.99 Ebay sale
$134.02 May Total To Date

I did redeem another $25 PayPal deposit from Swagbucks that should arrive before the month ends. I also redeemed my points with Pinecone yesterday, so I should have $3 arriving sometime today. With those additions. I will need just under $75 to meet my goal of $750. It does seem I'm on track like I was last year because I accumulated over $1400 in snowflakes. In fact, I might be ahead of the game.

This year snowflakes beyond the $750 are getting put towards are mortgage. I need to be adding money in there when I can and this seems like the first place to start.

I found out my daughter has just one flute lesson left before the school year ends. The teacher is offering six lessons during the summer, with a mini recital. We can probably make five lessons. I like know we will save a little bit because we don't have those fees those weeks.

I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to snowflake debt. Have you found new sources or interesting ways to accumulate them? Do you have a year to date snowflake total?

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.