Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

Thinking about our cash needs lately, I realized that some of the cash needs arise from attending school events. Schools don't take checks or debit cards for admission to athletic events, or at their concession stands.

Today we are taking our daughter to her state music contest, where she will perform her flute solo first, then in a flute sextet about two hours later. We will be there about four hours over the noon hour. We could pack a lunch, but I haven't been to the store. So we will be getting some cash so we can get a little something to eat there.

I will make sure to not just grab $20, but more like $100 since we are now into a new pay period and I know my husband will want some cash. I don't plan to pay the flute teacher in cash the rest of this month. I will pay her by check and see how it goes.

Today, we will tip her accompanist $10 in cash, which is what I had in my wallet. Here is a case where we probably could have written a check, but if I have cash I'd rather not wait for someone to deposit a check.

I could go months without getting cash out in the past, but now it seems I have more reasons to use cash with one of them being high school events.

If you use cash with some frequency, what do you spend your cash on?

My husband and I are celebrating seventeen years of marriage today. We were married on a Friday and it did mist and rain, just like it is today.

We have had many anniversaries where we could not be together, so we are taking advantage of this Friday evening to celebrate.

We bought each other a card, and exchanged them this morning. We both wrote that we consider each other a best friend.

We have purchased tickets to see a play, total cost $55. We will go out to eat wherever we want and enjoy the time together. I'm sure many people have more frugal anniversaries and others much more extravagant.

How do you celebrate your anniversary?

I may be old fashioned for still balancing my checkbook. The checkbook is a free excel program/spreadsheet I found online. It does all the math for me!

This month there were errors, just not the math type. I input an ATM withdrawal twice. I typed our mortgage amount as $15 more than normal. And I included a transaction that should have been on the credit card. It was a return that I recorded in the checkbook as a deposit.

With those errors, I was showing we had about $34 less in the account than we actually did. This is always better than having more than you think you do!

Do you still track and balance your checking account?

P.S. I'm about to redeem more Swagbucks for $25 in PayPal cash. If you are interested in earning rewards too, click the link on my sidebar to join for free!

I've noticed the utility bills going down as the temperatures are warming up. That reminded me that I usually turn off the pilot light to our gas fireplace in April. I went to the basement and flipped the switch to off until late October or November.

I also turned off one of our cable boxes we have in the basement that seems to have the fan running nearly all the time. I'm keeping it off to see if I notice any big change in the electric bill. We rarely use it...so it may need to go OR at least be exchanged for one that isn't constantly running!

I think our water bill may go up though. We have sod that may need to be watered a little extra this summer, with potential new trees and plants. I also am letting my 16 year old do her own laundry, which means smaller loads, but more of them. Not the most frugal, but a good lesson.

What are do you do to keep your utilities low?

The two clothing items I had on Ebay last week netted me $12.93. Not bad for used clothing! This snowflake will get added to the Christmas Fund.

I read our town's newsletter and noticed they are sponsoring a city wide garage sale on Saturday, May 18. I don't really know if I have enough stuff for a sale on my own, but I do have things. We even have furniture I might be willing to put on a sale. I think this is going to be a way to meet some neighbors...I need to join forces with someone with lots of stuff!

I would apply any furniture proceeds to new furniture. We have two couches that are showing extreme wear now that we have had them 17 years! Our kitchen table is still functional, but is just as old, worn, and dated. Something to think about as this sale draws nearer.

Anyone else selling on Ebay, or gearing up for a spring garage sale? Did you find any new snowflakes this week?

In the last 30 days we have withdrawn cash 8 times. Considering we did 15 withdrawals last month, this is an improvement. I can tell that we have done better this last paycheck with only one withdrawal!!

The one withdrawal of $140 was $40 for the flute teacher, $50 for my husband, $22 for me, and $28 for the girls allowance. I still have most of my cash, since I don't spend cash very often.

I think I will start paying the flute lesson teacher by check for the remainder of the month. I don't know how quickly she deposits the checks, so I just want to experiment for the next few weeks.

I will have to check with my husband to see how much cash he has left. He may want to withdraw more this week. I think he is likely spending less because we bought a new coffee maker for our house, and he took the old one to work. Now he has plenty of caffeine without running over to the convenience store! This makes me happy.

The only downside of taking $140 out from this particular ATM is that it gave me two $50 bills! Fine for my husband, but I really wanted smaller bills to give to my girls. I felt forced to buy something to break the bills down. It actually worked out okay because my youngest daughter bought a video game with some of her money. I paid cash with the $50, since part was her allowance anyway, and she gave me a $20 bill for her portion of the purchase. I was able to use the change to give my oldest her allowance.

I suppose someone reading might suggest going in to the bank to get cash in the correct denominations. Good idea. However, we bank online with USAA. They do not have any bank branches here in our state. We have used them for at least 6 years and are generally very pleased with our service. This cash situation is just a minor inconvenience really.

How much cash do you withdraw in a months time? What do you use your cash for?

The capri pants I purchased for my daughter yesterday at Old Navy were free!! Based on their website, I expected them to be about $20. At the store they were marked at $15. I redeemed my $15 rewards to make them absolutely free. No sales tax was charged. I simply exchange my paper rewards coupon for a piece of clothing!!

I've had an Old Navy Visa card for years. We primarily bought the girls clothes there. Occasionally, I would make purchases outside of the brand during special reward promotions. However, my oldest daughter finds their clothes don't fit her body. The youngest is on the final girls size for pants and no longer likes the shirt offerings in her size. I would say our Old Navy shopping days are over, therefore, I expect to cancel this card by the end of the year. I'd rather use a regular card at this point to get cash rewards I can use anywhere.

Do you have any store cards you keep for the rewards or special offers?

Today, I'm going to run some errands since they are all on one side of town. I will return two items to Kohl's that we don't need. I will used a $2 off three cards at Hallmark...I hope to buy the $0.99 cards to make my out of pocket expense around a $1. I will pick up a pair of capri pants for youngest daughter at Old Navy. I seemed to have received another $15 reward from them. They just keep sending them to me...and I only buy stuff when I use their coupon! They should cost me just over $5. I may stop at Barnes & Noble to pick up an item or two. I have gift cards we were given for Christmas that we still have not spent, and I think my July birthday daughter has a few things on her list I could get with those. I also plan to drop books off at the library...it seems I'm always there either getting books or dropping them off. Libraries rock.

We are going to a Show Choir event at school tonight. Tickets were $10 a piece, which all goes back into the music program. It should be entertaining! We want to get good seats, so I plan to prep taco fixings for dinner so we can get out the door fast. The meat was seasoned and cooked yesterday and just needs to be reheated.

This whole week has been pretty frugal. No trips to the ATM. No last minute trips to the store. I have spent much of my downtime cleaning floors, dusting blinds, doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms. I have a big list and I just keep finding something on it I can get done! It feels pretty good.

Next Friday is payday. It seems early, but I think I'll be ready for it anyway. I know there will be some money to save from it and that is always nice.

Did you have a frugal week? Do you see some debt payoff or savings in your future?

We earned $28.34 in interest on the money we have in our money market account. I just save it...no real purpose other than to grow our savings.

My husband mentioned last night that he may get called at a moments notice to go to trainings or meetings. This is due to sequestration. The money for putting reservists on orders to do these additional duties just isn't there. Since he is full time and already being paid, he is likely to get pulled. Ick! I get it, but I don't have to enjoy it right?

Is sequestration effecting you in any way?

I spent about 10 minutes last night checking our credit reports online at

annualcreditreport.com. That is the free site where you can get a copy of your credit report from each of the three reporting agencies. You can get one free from each of them every 12 months. I actually check just one of them every four months, so that I'm checking with some frequency, but still just getting one from each agency per year.

It had been awhile since I checked. To get back on track, I decided to put reminders on email calendar for April, August and December. I also indicated in the reminder which agency to check with.

All was good with this check at Experian, with a small exception. I noticed that my husband's report showed a previous employer that he never worked for. He did apply there years ago. I asked that it be deleted and as of this morning that report no longer shows that employer. Easy!!

Do you check your credit report on a regular basis? Do you have a system to remember to do this simple task?

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



Make today great!

I already have some snowflakes for April!

I cashed in Swagbucks for $25 in PayPal cash. I could have picked up Amazon.com gift cards, but decided that I like the cash better.

I have two items on Ebay. One has a bid. The other is being watched. So more April snowflakes on their way.

Do you see snowflakes in your future?

Time to update you on our status of our 2013 financial goals since the first quarter of the year is now behind us. The goals are listed below, and I've indicated where we are next to each one.

1) Make maximum contribution to both of our Roth IRA's. And contribute 7% to husband's TSP. This goal is on track. We are contributing $458.33 each month to each of our Roth IRA accounts. The contributions are set up to withdrawal from our checking account automatically. Therefore, we never forget! And of course, the TSP is automatic from my husband's paycheck, too!

2) Pay off truck loan. This was completed March 5. Yippee!

3) Snowflake a Free Christmas, goal again is $750. As of March 31, I have saved $419.02...all from sources outside of our income.

4) Save $4,000 ($2000 each daughter) for college. This goal is on track as well because we automatically invest $167 monthly from our checking account for each daughter.

5) Pay for new intermediate flute with cash, about $1500. The flute was purchased in late January. We put it on a credit card to reap the rewards. I paid the flute off in full at the beginning of March. No interest was charged. We have paid our saving account back $1000. Just another $500 to go.

6) Save $2K for vacation. Not sure where we might go, so that is a pretty vague goal at this point! Eek. No plans and no money right now.

7) Landscaping and furniture purchases. Pay with cash and decide on a limit! No plans here yet. We will purchase when we find what we are looking for and will pay cash. We are not interested any zero interest offers either!

There is where we are. Obviously, we are doing well with retirement and college savings. We also have zero non mortgage debt and it will remain that way! Clearly, I'm working on some other savings goals that are more pay as we go. I do feel a little vague on those. Very hard to meet a goal when the target is not in focus. I'll work on getting those goals nailed down soon.

How are you doing on your 2013 financial goals? Share here or post your own update on your blog.

Psst...I did write a little more on mutual funds on

Our Money Blog. Great thoughts for newbies!

My youngest daughter tried on her capri pants from last year and found that they were too small. Not surprised! So I listed them on Ebay tonight. Might as well get them listed now since the weather is beginning to warm up.

In other news, we found out my oldest daughter, age 16, was accepted to exhibit her art in the Emerging Artists pavilion at a nearby art fair this June. She is thrilled. She isn't really interested in selling her original work, but we hope to display many of the drawings and find a way to make prints that can be sold.

So...it seems like another avenue to earn a little college money! If this goes well, I hope I can get her going on Etsy. Anyone have any tips to suggest for a first time art fair participant?

March was an exceptional month for snowflakes. I found snowflakes in our house which I sold on Ebay. I received a snowflake reward from our bank. There were lots of snowflakes from Swagbucks. And Pinecone sent two surveys for even more snowflakes. See what I mean? Snowflakes were everywhere!

Here's the breakdown:

Last month my total Snowflakes for Christmas was $216.07. Once I add in the $202.95 from March, the new total is $419.02. More than half way to the goal of $750!

In my opinion, one can snowflake their way to any goal. Savings or debt, they both work! How are you using your snowflakes?

I will be back on Monday to update where we are on our yearly goals since, the first quarter will be complete at that point. I hope you will consider joining me by commenting on my blog or posting to your own blog.

I said I wasn't going to list any more things on Ebay for awhile, but when I received the mail on Tuesday, I changed my mind. In the mail box, was a lunch bag from Lean Cuisine. I sold two of them last week, rather quickly, so I put this latest one up and it sold within 24 hours.

I received the Lean Cuisine lunch bags free by entering in codes from meals we purchased. Not exactly free because we did outlay money for the meals. A nice bonus for something we buy anyway.

Lean Cuisine just sold out of this years free lunch bags, so I suppose the price they may attract on Ebay will be higher. Maybe I should have waited!

At any rate, I have $8.37 to add to the Christmas Fund. March has been a good month for snowflakes. I will update you on my monthly results tomorrow!

Have you ever sold a promotional item on Ebay or elsewhere?

I'm still working on my whole 'save money for the next down payment' plan. I did calculate some numbers. I wrote them down with pencil and paper. I don't know where I put them!!

If memory serves we need to save about $800 a month to meet our goals of having enough cash to cover the real estate agent, and to accumulate the equivalent of 20% of the value of this home when we purchased it. I think. It could be I added something else in there to try to save.

All I know is that seems like a lot of money. The money we spent on vehicle maintenance last week is getting repaid when my husband is paid on Monday. I will be setting aside $300 towards property taxes. I expect they will increase greatly this year, likely in September, since this is a new home. I can't expect that taxes will stay under $1000 forever. My point is, I don't have $800 to save. Maybe next pay period.

I think this will all be possible and easy once my husband gets promoted and gets his raise, but that may not be until August. The government just moves very slow!

I still have it on my radar. I need to have a plan to accumulate more cash for the next house we buy. I'll update you when I get clear on it and find those calculations I did earlier this month.

I saw an advertisement around here on the internet that there are only 20 more days to fund your IRA or Roth IRA for 2012. That means tax filing deadline is that far away, too! Get get those things done, if you haven't already.

See? I could be a financial counselor!

I'm busy today working on my application for the Accredited Financial Counselor grant available for military spouses. There are only fifty available each year. Fingers crossed I could be one of them.

Thanks, BeAWealthyWarrior, for peaking my interest and giving me that little nudge to move that direction. I'm excited about the possibilities.

The application is not too hard. I do have to write a little bit about my skills, how it will help me professionally, and a difficult financial experience. I'm taking my time getting my thoughts together...much different from how I usually write my posts here. I'm more of an off the cuff writer here.

Want to give me a pep talk about my skills and abilities to be a financial counselor? Do you think I have what it takes? You can say no if you want...I won't be mad.

I balanced our checkbook today and realized we have spent all the money we set aside each pay period for groceries, gas and miscellaneous spending. Payday isn't until next week. Oops!

The last ten days have been spring break for my girls. One daughter had a birthday and we did make two out of town day trips. As you can imagine those things cost some money. And it is all good.

I did go grocery shopping on Saturday and spent $170 that will last through Sunday. That is good. We will need gas. That is bad.

Now we do have money...it's just that we are technically over budget. So my plan is to spend nothing in the next 6 days...unless I need gas, but I don't think I will. I think my husband will.

This is where it gets fun, weird and crazy.

I wrote my husband an email. Yes, I emailed him to tell him we were already over budget and not to buy anything. I said gas was okay. I also told him I had four dollars in cash he could have if needed.

He gets home from work and indicates he got the email and seems fine with it. He gets ready to go to the gym and we are discussing how his knee has been bothering him when he runs. We are talking about his newer running shoes compared to the last pair. As he leaves, I said 'If your knee hurts when you leave the gym, pick up Tiger Balm at Walgreen's.'

He arrives back from the gym with Tiger Balm and a receipt from Walgreen's. I ask about his knee and his run. His knee didn't hurt when he ran tonight!? What? Of course, this is good, but why did he buy the Tiger Balm? I said IF!!

Turns out he thought I said to buy it. Our discussion continues and he tells me he put it on a credit card since we only have $4 in the bank! What? I said I have four dollars cash in my purse.

I'm actually laughing about all this because this is how things seem to go with him and I when we communicate about money. I think we are both at fault. I'm either telling him too much, or not enough and he's not taking in what I'm saying either way. Agh! It's amazing we are in a good place financially or I'd be tearing my hair out.

Again we have the money. I'm just trying to keep us from going way over budget by not be conscious of our spending. The way I do that is to not spend money.

He's going to use the Tiger Balm anyway, which is probably a good idea as a preventative from future pain and inflammation. It's all good!

Did you find that story funny like I did? Do you have these types of miscommunication with your spouse? Any advice or tips to share?

We are actually getting snow here in the Midwest. It has been falling all day, but it is melting on the roads, driveway and sidewalks. My kind of snow!

I sold three items on Ebay this week for $15.93. I will net less after fees, of course. Two items didn't sell. I may relist those another time. For now, I'm taking an Ebay break.

I earned enough Swagbucks to redeem for another $25 PayPal deposit. The second for this month. The first one just arrived in my PayPal account tonight.

All of those snowflakes will be added to the 2013 Christmas Fund as usual! I will post an update next week to show the total of all March snowflakes and where I stand on this years goal.

Are you in an area with snow? Did you earn any snowflakes this week? What kind?

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

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

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

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

I spoke to a friend recently. She mentioned that she helped her sister find a washer and dryer. The sister made some reference that she should buy the washer and dryer now because her tax refund was arriving. My understanding was the sister's washer and dryer were still working, but yet instead of saving the tax refund it was being spent on something that may not work in the future.

Isn't this backwards thinking? It is quite possible the washer and or dryer would continue to work into the future. It seems like that kind of logic will continue to cause problems and replacing things needlessly just because the money is available and on hand.

If I were to advise her sister, or my friend who seemed to agree with the logic, I would suggest at a minimum saving the cash until the need for a new washer and or dryer was necessary. I would also consider using the tax refund money to pay other bills before making a purchase of needless items.

If one's washer or dryer were to fail and you don't have hundreds of dollars to replace, you have to look at options outside of individual ownership. In this case, it would be less expensive to do laundry at friend's, relative's or laundry mat, while saving up for a the new appliance. I also would look at used appliances from a store, which might provide a type of warranty, or looking on Craigslist.

Have you heard of others who think about money backwards? Maybe you have done it yourself recently or in the past? What could you have done different?

We are spending this week. And spending big. We are having routine maintenance done on our Honda vehicles. The van went in today for alignment, oil change, tire rotations, a couple of fluid changes, including the transmission fluid. The charge today was about $389.

It was suggested we do the timing belt for $775 since the vehicle is six years old. However, it is also recommended at 90,000 miles and the van only has 61K. I think we can wait a bit longer to hit that one. Maybe next year or late this year.

The truck goes in tomorrow. The charge is expected to be about $300. Seems like a lot of money, but we never have any problems with our vehicles...just the routine stuff that has to be done on any car.

Our new and current dealership seems to be really clear on what needs to be done when, and doesn't ask us to do extras. Love that!!

We don't specifically save for maintenance, but in recent years seem to have the money in our slush fund. If you don't spend it, it is easy to save it! This time we will put the charges on our Chase Freedom card, earn the rewards and then pay it off right away.

Do you keep up with your vehicle maintenance? What kind of plan do you have to save for these types of expenses?

I made a quick run to our Super Target today to get a few groceries. I made sure to grab my coupons. I buy a lot of off brand items, so coupons don't always apply. However, Target does have grocery coupons on their website that are easy to print off and often good for many of their private brand items.

These are the coupons I used today:
$1.00 off two packages of eggs
$0.50 off Annie's Macaroni, on sale!
$1.50 off six Lean Cuisine meals, on sale too!

Buy One, Get One Pantene products. I bought conditioner ($3.89)and mousse ($3.99). The coupon took $4.99 off this deal. I paid $2.89 out of pocket.

Buy One, Get One Edge shave gel. Each shave gel was $2.09. The coupon took $$3 off, which means I paid $1.18 out of pocket for two cans of shaving cream.

It's just nice to get a good deal on things you buy anyway. And I do try to stock up things like conditioner and shaving cream when I find a really good deal. However, I really don't stock up on things we don't use. I also don't stock pile more than six months worth of anything. It's just not worth it to me.

Do you use coupons? Do you make many trips to find those good deals? Do you skip the coupons? What is your take on them?

I sold three items on Ebay this week for a gross total of $20.46. One was earlier this week, and has already been mailed. The other two items ended tonight and I'm waiting on payment. I will add the net amount to the Christmas fund.

If you followed my snowflake accumulations last year, you noticed how small amounts of money over time became a large amount of savings. I believe it was over $1400 in 11 months! If that impresses you, I encourage you to read my blog post about

compound interest as it applies to savings. I found a great calculator that you can explore, too!

Anyone else have Ebay or Craigslist sales this week? Have garage sales started in your area?

We have a new Kohl's store that opened about 7 minutes from our home. The closest one before was at least 20 minutes away. I received two $10 off any $10 purchase coupons in the last week or so. One by mail, the other by email.

As one was expiring last night, I took my husband with me to complete two transactions. We purchased two six packs of socks which were marked at $8.99 each. We also grabbed two packages of tissue paper for 1.99 each. We walked out of the store paying $2.10!!

The socks are bright fun, no show socks for our daughters. They will received them in their Easter baskets. They actually NEED these socks, so even better. The tissue paper will get used eventually.

I love to score those kinds of deals! Have you found any great deals recently? Please share.

I found a few snowflakes in the last two days and we haven't used the ATM again yet! All good news, right?

First, I noticed the rewards at USAA were enough to cash out for $25. I think there was a promotion a month or two back where if you made a certain number of purchases or a purchase at a certain dollar amount you received a reward. I think that is where most of those points came from...though I am not positive. At any rate, I'm taking the $25.

I also accumulated enough

Swagbucks to cash out for my first $25 PayPal deposit this month. I wonder if I can get enough the rest of the month to get another one? I already have 500 Swagbucks towards it!

And finally, I added a $5.03 to the Christmas fund from our own money. The $0.03 is interest on our checking account. And the $5 is stupid tax for the ATM fiasco last month. If you read that post, you have to believe this is the first time I have ever paid an ATM fee without it being reimbursed later. Ugh...still at little mad about that one!

We added $953.60 to our savings this payday. Feels good to put quite a bit of that back to savings after pulling some funds from there to pay off the truck and an another withdrawal to pay for our daughter's flute. We still have a little ways to go to get back where we were at the beginning of the year.

Wow! Just realized that those snowflakes plus the savings deposit are actually over $1K. It fun to be able to save big chunks of money!!

Spring break begins just about now, as the girls are just getting out of school. I think there will be some extra expenses for fun, but low key overall.

What kinds of spring break expenses do you expect to have, if any? Did you find any snowflakes recently?

Wow! We had a financial oops this week. One I would not have expected. Ever.

I looked at our checking account on Tuesday morning only to notice a $10 ATM Service Fee. This was listed between the ATM rebates of $15 and an interest deposit of $0.03. I knew what those two were about, as our bank, USAA, refunds ATM fees we incur each month up to $15. This month we maxed out. I checked with my husband. He didn't know anything about a $10 charge. So, I quickly wrote an email to the bank.

Eventually, I realized by looking around on the bank's website, that we only get 10 free ATM withdrawals per month. We had 15 last month! The bank charges $2 for each withdrawal over 10, thus we were charged $2 for five of those.

My husband and I are both to blame. I blame him because he feels the need to spend money at the convenience store every day. He chooses cash so I don't have to record a debit card transaction everyday. For that part, I'm thankful. He also took cash out of our bank account twice for his spending money while on a work trip. This will be reimbursed. I blame myself because I've begun taking out cash for my daughter's flute lessons twice a month, and made two separate withdrawals in order to get the correct cash needed to pay my girls allowance. Yes, I found an ATM that dispenses $5 bills! It is just crazy to think we made 15 withdrawals in one month! That is technically a withdrawal every other day.

Guess how many withdrawals we have made since we found this out on Tuesday morning. Two! One each. I took out $60 for my lunch date and two flute lessons. He took out $20. For spending. I'm not sure why not $40 considering we just had a conversation about the ATM service fee we incurred. I sure hope we can do better with our cash withdrawals this next month.

Do you pay ATM fees? How much per month? How do you avoid them?

Over at

Our Money Blog, I'm explaining three options for starting your retirement savings.

I'm off to another town today to meet a friend for lunch and social time, so this is a quick update.

I relisted two items on Ebay with lowered start prices. I added another three items. Since I started these on a Tuesday evening, I made the auctions just five days long, so that they end on Sunday. Sunday is my preferred end date, and tends to be a good day of the week for people bidding on auctions.

I'm still busy doing some mortgage calculations. My first order of business is to decide where I want us to be in 2.5 years. Once I know that, I will decide where to put the money. I'm leaning towards a combination of saving cash and sending in extra principal payments.

I wrote a little essay last night on saving for retirement on

my other blog. I have deemed March Retirement Savings Month! I hope to write several more post themed around retirement before the month is out. You will likely see a few of them here.

I have enough Swagbucks to redeem for $25 in PayPal cash, so I will be cashing those in soon.

I'm looking forward to payday this Friday. It will be the first payday we don't have to pay on the truck loan! I plan to put most of the money in savings to help make up for that last big payment we made.

What are you looking forward to this week? Something personal? Financial?

Happy Blogoversary to me! It's been five years since I started my blog and now we have no debt except our mortgage. Our emergency fund has doubled in size. And our retirement accounts have increased 2.5 times. Based on my experience, blogging is a great way to make great things happen financially!

I transferred the net proceeds from my Ebay sales to our checking account last night. The four sales net us $35.77. This snowflake goes to the Christmas fund!!

The stock market it moving up fast! I still think there will be a correction this year, but I'm no expert. Just because the market is up, doesn't mean you missed the boat in investing. Now is always a good time to invest if you are in for the long term, 10 years or more. I hope to write a few posts on investing for retirement soon.

When did you first start investing for retirement? How did you start? Savings account, mutual fund, an IRA, Roth or 401K?