Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

My husband and I are contemplating a temporary stop to the college fund investments. Right now we fund each daughter's ESA account with $2,000 per year, which is $167 per month. Each month that is $334 allocated from our budget.

While running two households our expenses are tight. We are not yet clear what all the new expenses will be, as some utilities bills have not arrived. Gas usage is still up in the air. I'm on the low side right now, since school and activities are not in session. DH seems to be using more money on food than I expected. He is working on it though. I think some of it comes from boredom.

If I showed you a proposed budget with our investments and required expenses and cash we have budgeted for groceries and fuel, we would have about $330 extra, which is an average of $165 per pay period. It feels really tight.

I'm aware of upcoming expenses that I'm just not sure where the money would come from except from the emergency fund, if we don't stop the college investments. Examples: at least airline tickets for return visits and eye glasses for two.

I'm not decided yet. But it seems that if we stop the contributions we could set that money aside for these bigger expenses on the horizon with out dipping into our emergency fund. Now, if at the end of the year, we have some of that money left we could still make a lump sum contribution.

One idea would be to simply reduce the amount of contribution to $50 each. And make up the difference later.

I actually thought of reducing retirement, but changed my mind when I remembered we can't borrow for retirement! We can borrow for college if needed. Although, we think we will have access to GI Bill funds for our kids, scholarships, and more income at the time they attend where we could cash flow some expenses. We also aren't against them working during college, too!

Some expenses have already been reduced around here: cancelled the newspaper (but miss it), gym membership is going down by about $25 since DH isn't using it. I'm also considering cancelling the netflix discs that come to our house and just go with streaming.

Any thoughts? Would you stop college investments temporarily to keep from raiding your emergency fund, knowing that the reason you are running two households is for the stability of the kids?

The money is flowing in. So very grateful.

Paycheck $3,426.11
Travel Payment $3,042.59
Debit Card Rewards $100
Paypal Deposit $61.55

I guess there will be a small interest payment in our money market account tomorrow. Probably only $10. It does feel good to have the money flowing in. Of course, much of it will flow back out. But for now, it is all good!

Did you know you can collect Box Tops for Education and sell them on ebay? Yep. I just did. Received over $9 for 100 of them.

I have in the past given them to our elementary school which collects them, however...I don't have elementary aged children any longer.

On a whim, I check ebay. And they are a hot item!

Now, I wouldn't go buying products you don't normally buy just to sell the box tops, but if you buy them already then it is just a bonus to cut those things off!

Do you know of other interesting things that sell well on ebay?

Eight of my ebay listings ended tonight. Seven sold. My sales total $51.72. I'm thrilled with the outcome. The item that didn't sell, will be set aside for the fall garage sale. I have at least two, maybe three, items I could still list for auction. Those will wait for another time.

I have two more listings. For books. That end tomorrow. One lot will sell. The girls will receive that money. They are up to $15.50 on that auction!

So now to collect payments and get those items mailed off to the buyers. I hope they all pay tonight. I have to say this set of items was well worth my time to sell. Yipee!!

I have 10 items listed on ebay. Four have bids, another 4 or 5 have people watching the item. The auctions end tomorrow night. And those last seconds are when most of the activitiy occurs! Fingers crossed for high bids.

We have learned in the last week that our housing allowance will go down, since my husband is now stationed in another state. It will go down from $1521 per month to $1422, a drop in our income of $99 per month, or about $50 per pay period.

I did decide to cancel the newspaper subscription. It became effective this week. We are very aware that it is missing. It is one expense we got a fair amount of enjoyment out of. But, it's a trial for now. The cancellation saves us $17.39 per month.

We have $100 worth of rewards from our debit card that can be redeemed. I'm resisting at the moment since it seems it could be worth more as we get closer to the holidays and that money will come in handy.

I was invoiced this week for our sliding door, siding repair and painting. Total outflow for those expenses was $3,209.45. It was a necessary expense that will help avoid issues when we go to sell. I do really like the new sliding door. It works so well!!

With the repair and recent expense for my husband's move we have nearly depleted the extra $7000 that we saved last year. That is really hard to watch, but I know without saving that money it would have been far worse! The good news is that we will receive money from the Army for the move. Right now, I'm estimating we will receive about $4100. Not bad, huh?

In other good money news, DH's paycheck will be about $225 more than usual next week. This is a result of taking vacation or leave that he earned in a combat zone. Those days were non taxable earnings, thus less money was taken out for tax withholding.

It seems most of these updates are good. I'm starting to feel much better about our cash situation. It is all going to work out! Whew.

I have 10 items listed on ebay. Four have bids, another 4 or 5 have people watching the item. The auctions end tomorrow night. And those last seconds are when most of the activitiy occurs! Fingers crossed for high bids.

We have learned in the last week that our housing allowance will go down, since my husband is now stationed in another state. It will go down from $1521 per month to $1422, a drop in our income of $99 per month, or about $50 per pay period.

I did decide to cancel the newspaper subscription. It became effective this week. We are very aware that it is missing. It is one expense we got a fair amount of enjoyment out of. But, it's a trial for now. The cancellation saves us $17.39 per month.

We have $100 worth of rewards from our debit card that can be redeemed. I'm resisting at the moment since it seems it could be worth more as we get closer to the holidays and that money will come in handy.

I was invoiced this week for our sliding door, siding repair and painting. Total outflow for those expenses was $3,209.45. It was a necessary expense that will help avoid issues when we go to sell. I do really like the new sliding door. It works so well!!

With the repair and recent expense for my husband's move we have nearly depleted the extra $7000 that we saved last year. That is really hard to watch, but I know without saving that money it would have been far worse! The good news is that we will receive money from the Army for the move. Right now, I'm estimating we will receive about $4100. Not bad, huh?

In other good money news, DH's paycheck will be about $225 more than usual next week. This is a result of taking vacation or leave that he earned in a combat zone. Those days were non taxable earnings, thus less money was taken out for tax withholding.

It seems most of those updates are good news. I am starting to feel better about our cash situation. It is all going to work out.

The truck loan payment posted yesterday. Of the $329.13 payment, $289.57 went to pay down principal.

Our new balance is: $13,888.19

We are under $14K!!

It's one money thing that seems to be going right. I wish I could say that about our cash on hand. It seems to be flying out the window.

There is a season for everything, right?

This morning I posted 17 books and one DVD to Half.com. Most are children's chapter books and not worth much. One daughter wants to make some cash on her books that didn't sell at the garage sale. So we'll try for now on Half.com. After awhile, we'll take those that don't sell to a used book store.

I tried posting two items on craigslist. It gave me a warning that my ad could not be posted because it was either similar to another recent post of mine, or included a phone number, url or email address. None of them were true. I'm a bit perplexed about why I cannot post.

In the processing of writing this ad, I realized that I could probably use Ebay's classified ads (Kijiji) instead of craigslist. I just posted those two items. Fingers crossed that site gets hits so I can sell my $60 worth of items.

I'm using the cash earned on these recent sales to pay for back to school supplies and needed clothing for the girls.

I'm getting ready to post about 8 items on ebay. It's been awhile since I listed anything. I might average about $5 an item, but I'll take $40 or more if I can get it!

I'm hoping I get get them up and running quickly, so that the time I invest is worth it. Ebay can be time consuming sometimes.

Anyone else using ebay these days? Right now, it is free to list up to 50 items, including adding a buy it now option. Seems like a good time to try to sell a few items.

The Army finally paid my husbands travel voucher for deployment. We were expecting around $1200, but it was for $1631.50! Over $400 more than expected.

We have been waiting for this to be paid since my husbands return. He initially mailed his travel voucher the day after he returned. It was rejected weeks later. We mailed it again. Rejected a second time. Then it was faxed and emailed. Apparently never received. And finally about 10 days ago it was faxed again. Success!! It was paid.

Friday was pay day, so it is definitely time to start working on paying ourselves back for some of the expenses that have been incurred due to the move. We can't pay them all back...there are more payments we are due from the Army due to the move. Fingers crossed those arrive quicker than this last one!

Total sales for our one day garage sale with three families participating were $406. And it was free to advertise using well placed signs, leftover from previous sales, and an ad on craigslist.

Personally my sales came in at $150.50. I think that is a pretty good one day total. I have things left over to sell in the fall! When does one ever sell every last item, right? There are definitely a few items that are going to be listed on ebay soon, too.

I don't have specific plans for the cash. It will come in handy at some point.

Netflix prices are increasing per the email I received today. Specifically for the service we use, unlimited streaming and unlimited mailed dvd (two at a time) it is increasing by about $4.

It seems everything is increasing these days. My life insurance went up. Food prices are increasing. And of course, fuel is higher than last year or even earlier this year.

In light of the Netflix increase, I may cut back to one video out at a time...or cut it out all together. I've noticed we have rented at Redbox recently when the movie wasn't available right away through Netflix.

I've also thought about cancelling our newspaper subscription. We definitely get a lot of use out of it. Or most days. We receive it everyday and pay almost $18 a month. It doesn't save much just to go to weekends or Sundays since most of the cost is the Sunday paper, which come with coupons. However, I think I could get the coupons online for most things I use them for. The girls would miss reading the comic strips.

It's small amounts of money, but we all know those add up pretty quickly. Are you canceling or changing services as fees increase?

My neighbor and I just now decided that we will have a garage sale on Friday! Yep, a one day only sale. It will probably be all we can handle with the high heat anyway.

Luckily, I have marked quite a few things even before making this decision. I will make a quick run through the house tonight. I will mark those items tomorrow, along with the things that are currently set aside but not marked.

I have a sleepover to throw Wednesday night for three of my daughter's friends. It's pretty well planned. We need to clean and make a trip to the grocery store, but I think we can make it work.

It's going to be a busy week, but I have my fingers crossed that the investment in time will be worth the proceeds. Wish me luck!!

My husband leaves today for school. We are sad here. He's leaving too soon after returning from overseas. However, it has been in the cards for awhile.

I came across a form he filled out requesting a Do It Yourself Move (DITY). He estimated he would move 1000 pounds. The estimated payment for that amount is $1141.68.

Yesterday he weighed the truck and trailer, empty and then full. The packed amount weighed 980 pounds. Of course, in the meantime, he's packed a vacuum, winter coats and his final suitcase. Thus more weight. I guess he should have waited to weigh it right before leaving.

So those 980 pounds are very close to the estimate, and I now feel confident we will make some money off the move. He already spent $396 for the trailer rental, a dolly rental, purchased a hitch, a couple of boxes and minimal insurance on the trailer. It also cost $10.50 to weigh the truck and trailer twice.

Although the estimate is for just a little over the amount we packed, I expect the amount to be very close to the estimate. So maybe we'll make $600-$700 that will be taxable. It depends on a few other expenses that will occur on the way.

In other news, I bought a tv from Goodwill. We have a plasma tv in our living room and one tv in our bedroom, that we turn on for weather information. Yesterday, my husband packed that bedroom one up. On a whim, I decided to check Goodwill and found a 20 inch tv for $7.99. We hooked it up to our antenna and digital converter and it works great. DH should not need the converter or antenna as the apartment complex he is moving to provides cable free of charge.

I looked at our 2011 goal page on my sidebar. It seems we have accomplished just about everything listed. Savings for college and retirement are on auto pilot. We paid off the van and saved the $12K for the truck. We even paid for our Las Vegas trip in cash.

One of the goals was to pay for two vacations, but in light of my husband's move, we have decided to reevaluate. Right now, taking a vacation is not financially feasible, and the time available is very limited.

The other goal is to consider converting more money from my husband's Rollover IRA to his Roth. This amounts to just under $6,000. It seems this would be a good year to do this, with the lower income from deployment, but it could also be a good year to qualify for the Earned Income Tax credit and receive a nice refund. The extra cash is a bit tempting. I will probably wait until the last minute to decide.

While my husband was deployed we deposited $10,000 into the Savings Deposit Program (SDP). This is available to service members serving in a combat zone. We earned 10% interest on the principal portion while he was deployed. Unfortunately it ends 90 days after leaving the zone.

In total we earned $975 on the money!! Not bad interest. I would love to earn that much in our money market account, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

We requested the money to be returned to our checking account so that we can have access to it again. No point in the government holding it any longer if it isn't going to earn any money.

To other service members, I would highly recommend putting as much in the SDP upfront to take advantage of the high interest rate on the most money you have right away. The entire process has been very smooth and without error.

Right now all our money is pooled in one account and we both spend out of it. I handle the paying of bills and recording spending. His part in our finances is earning and spending. Don't get me wrong. We do talk about these things, but often in an abstract way.

Later this month, we are going back to the allowance method for his spending. He will write the check on the first of the month for his rent and another check for utilities when they are due. This will come out of our regular account. Each pay period, I will transfer money to our second checking account for his fuel, food and miscellaneous expenses. The beginning plan is $340 per pay period. This is his to manage and track. And, if he needs more, we'll talk about it. It is a very rough estimate to start with.

We think this is the best way to handling our spending since we are in different cities. It worked pretty well to give him an allowance while he was deployed. Of course, he didn't have too many needs for spending.

I personally like this way, so that I don't have to nag. I know the amount per pay period that is his and I don't need to worry about recording it, or even judge what he spends his money on. I also think it holds him a little more accountable with the money he has available. Right now, because I record everything, I notice how quickly the money dwindles. I don't think he sees that.

We will both still have access to both of our accounts, but the second one will be set aside for his spending only.

Wow! I recently checked my Swagbucks account and was quite surprised. After months of not using the site, it seems I had earned quite a few points. In fact enough to redeem a $5 Amazon.com gift card.

It seems a few of you may have signed up using the link on my sidebar. And while you have been earning points, so have I. It's part of their referral program. Someone is earning points from me when I earn points I guess too. To those of you who did sign up under me, thank you! I appreciate your support.

I think I'm going to make more of an effort to use Swagbucks again in the coming months. I could use more Amazon.com gift cards for Christmas shopping. I mean it is more fun to shop online than in crowded stores in the cold of winter (although it sounds good today, since we reached over 100 degrees here).

Anyone want to join me in earning Swagbucks for Christmas? If you are not already a member, feel free to sign up using my link. Or not. No pressure. It is free to join.

I definitely don't sign up for all their offers. In fact, the fewer the better, since I don't want to receive junk emails from every company on the planet. I do use the search function, visit the survey page, the daily poll, and then skip through the No Obligation Offers page. I will occasionally watch a video or two for points. It is pretty easy and only takes a few minutes per day.

What do you do to earn Swagbuck points? And what do you spend them on?

Wow! I checked my Swagbucks account a couple days ago and realized that I had more than enough points to redeem a $5 Amazon.com gift card. I had not been on my account for quite a few months. I'm pretty sure I only had 100 points or so at that time.

It appears some of you may have signed up for swagbucks from the link on my side bar. As a result, when you earn points, so do I. Thank you very much for linking from my blog. It is very much appreciated.

I'm already more than halfway towards another $5 gift card on Amazon. I'm thinking I need to keep up with Swagbuck points until the end of December. I really need to rack up some additional gift cards before Christmas. Shopping online is so much smoother than going out in the cold store to store. And, it seems, it might be a little bit tighter this year for gifts. I will be racking up as many Amazon gift cards I can get.

If you are not already a Swagbucks member, you might check it out. (My affiliate link is on my sidebar.) It is a free site to join and you can participate in as many or as little of the offers you choose. I generally do searches, the daily poll, go to the survey page for available surveys, and the no obligation special offers (which you don't even need to sign up for) to receive my points.

Do you use Swagbucks? How do you earn your points?

I officially packed about three or four boxes for my husband's move. Again. Very weird. However, I like packing and organizing, so it is kind of fun. All of his stuff is taking up a huge amount of our basement at the moment. In addition to excess furniture, bikes and garage sale items, our basement is packed full!

Youngest daughter wanted something to do, so I had her write garage sale stickers and start marking things for our garage sale. The date is still yet to be determined. We marked three bins of items and there are at least two more that could be marked. After that it will be a matter of going through the house for more stuff to get rid of.

My basement will be very empty by the time DH moves his things and the garage sale is over. Then it will be time to organize what is left. I'm kind of looking forward to that part, too!

As a result of my husband's move, he will receive a Dislocation Allowance (DLA). It will be lower than if we moved with him, but we expect him to receive $2,283.16 which is based on his rank. This allowance is non taxable and put in place to help offset some costs of moving such as deposits for utilities and so forth.

He could have received this as an advance, but as I stated yesterday, he prefers not to take advances from the government. So we will wait until he submits his travel voucher after the move.

We are actually still waiting on his deployment travel voucher payment which should be close to $1200. He made errors on the first two vouchers and they were rejected. It was submited just over a week ago, and I expect it to be paid shortly, if he didn't make any more errors. (Apparently, it is a third party contractor that processes these and receives $35 each time they touch a voucher, thus they are very picky and look for ways to reject, so that the voucher is sent back in, earning them another $35. Yuck!)

So, on the horizon, I see nearly $3500 coming to us. There may be a little more, depending on if he makes any money on the Do It Yourself (DITY) move. Fingers crossed he does.

A couple of you have inquired about my husband's need to rent a moving truck. The answer is yes. Actually, since he has a truck, he will rent a Uhaul trailer and attach it to the truck. I think he's arranging that today. The base price of that is around $250.

The good news is that moving expenses are covered by the Army. Of course, there are rules involved. He will have to keep track of all expenses, including the trailer, gas, hotel, food. It is also important that he weighs his truck and the trailer empty and full. Most of the reimbursement is based on weight.

Since he is moving household goods himself, he will receive 95% of the amount that it would cost a common carrier (moving company) to move the same amount of goods the same distance. Once the amount is determined, they subtract the actual expenses involved in moving. This can include boxes and bubble wrap, and of course, the trailer. The amount left after the expenses is considered an incentive payment and is actually taxable income! The Army automatically takes 28% out for taxes, which unfortunately is more than our tax bracket. I guess we'll get that back next year when we file our taxes.

So the costs of getting things to the destination should be covered. We could ask for an advance to help cover the costs as we encounter them, however, DH has reasons not to do that. In general it just complicates things. Luckily, we have resources to cover them in the meantime. I'm really hoping by this time next month, things will be sorted out from a financial standpoint. Fingers crossed anyway!

I signed the girls up for another year of dance and tumbling lessons. One 30 minute class each. Same day of the week, but nearly two hours apart. It will probably mean two trips there and back, so no savings on the transportation costs.

As usual, I prepaid for the entire year, which waives the family recital fee of $90. This is a saving of 10%. Our total for the year: $808. Not bad for a little year long fun.

It is the strangest thing: to set your husband up for apartment living. I don't think I will ever do this again. Once will be enough. Although, it does give me empathy for those who have sent children off to college. It can be a very hard thing.

We spent $180 at Walmart yesterday, for a couple of cooking pots, some utensils, basic cleaning supplies, a trash can, a toaster, cutting board, shower curtain and rod, glass cups, a clock. Oh, there more on the list, but I'm not going to list it all.

We also stopped at two other stores for a printer and a set of lamps. Another $90 spent there.

I am grateful for all the things we don't have to buy: sheets, blankets, towels, dishes, coffee mugs, and other utensils. We also have a loveseat, glider rocker, a dresser and a night stand that he will move with him.

There are still a few more things to buy: a twin mattress and an end table. He also wants a coffee table, but it is a cheap $20 item, so I'll probably give in.

My husbands desires and expectations of needs are a bit different from mine. I would be fine with garage sale items, but him, not so much. I would not need a coffee table. I guess he does. And really because this is a stressful time, I'm trying really hard not to rock the boat too much. It just irritates him. And the truth is, I don't have to live alone away from home, like he does. It is going to be hard on him, too. The least I can do is let him get a $20 coffee table.

I have a simple recipe for black beans that I often eat at lunch, sometimes with a tortilla or chips. The recipe is enough for two people and of course, could be doubled. My sister adds tomato to her version.

1 can black beans, drained
1/4 c. feta cheese
1/4 c. chopped red onion
2 TBS of chopped cilantro
1 TBS olive oil
1 1/2 TBS balsalmic vinegar

Mix it all together! Easy, healthy and fairly inexpensive.

Hi. Me here. Reminding myself to stay the course for the next year. It is likely to be hard. There is not much wiggle room each month. Maybe $800. Maybe. It seems like enough. It is just far less than we are used to.

We will have to be mindful of ALL spending. This will require heightened communication between DH and myself. We need to start communicating about how that is going to work now.

I commit to look for sales and coupons. I commit to selling things we no longer need for cash. I commit to reviewing our current expenses for ways to cut back. I commit to thinking further ahead for items I will need to purchase.

Staying the course means we don't take on additional debt. Staying the course means minimizing the amount of cash we use from our emergency fund. Fingers crossed we can keep that emergency fund intact!

Our truck payment posted yesterday. We paid our regular payment of $329.13. The interest portion was $41.70. The remaining $287.43 went to principal!!

Our new truck loan balanace is: $14,177.96

It looks like next month the loan will be under $14,000. This is one balance I like to see going down. It's those bank accounts with falling balances that are hard to watch!

A free haircut. From Great Clips.

My daughter has been growing out her hair for over a year. Maybe two. There have been some trims here and there. She recently decided to cut it short and donate the hair to Locks of Love. Apparently, Great Clips provides a free hair cut when you donate. I tipped the stylist $5. I should have probably given more, since I realized after we left that she spent nearly 45 minutes on her hair! Nice surprise to no be charged.

I suppose someone could grow out their hair and every two years donate the growth to locks of love and never have to pay for a haircut (if you use a salon that doesn't charge)! That would be one way to save some cash.

Today, I took the van in for a routine oil change and tire rotation. We are also having them look at the power steering. The service advisor thinks a flush of the power steering fluid should do the trick.

My estimated total is at $157. I did give them a coupon for $10 off if the total is over $100. I hope it counts. The service advisor didn't know. Now I wait for the call. Hopefully, we don't need anything else done!

Do you see the trend here? Spending. Everyday. Large amounts of money leaving our bank account. Can't wait for it to stop!

DH has a laptop computer that is over 5 years old. It is so so slow. I want to rip my hair out when I use it. I can't believe he has the patience to use it. I think he must have built up a tolerance when the internet connection speeds were slow in Iraq!

It is just time to get a new one, especially with the upcoming school work. If he wasn't moving, we could share mine. I think this seperate living stuff is going to get old quick, especially with the added expenses.

So tonight we are shopping online. Well, I am. He decided he wanted to look at Best Buy first. I think we will end up ordering from Dell. We have had two laptops from them and had no problems.

All this spending is tough on me. We just don't spend large amounts this fast. I just need to keep reminding myself that it will slow down and more money will come in.