Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

Ah...the weather in the midwest likes to change every minute. As a result, our travel plans have come to a near screeching halt. Of course, it is for our own safety, so I'm not complaining.

Instead of traveling on Thursday, we will get to stay home and have our first ever immediate family Christmas!! We can sleep late, or get up early. We can take a nap and stay in our pj's all day if we want.

Yes it is disappointing to not be with other family. Unfortunately, it is difficult to argue with mother nature! We hope to travel soon after the storm clears and it is safe to drive. Getting all of my inlaws together again is going to be another act of nature in itself.

Snowed in for three days: should be cheap!

It turns out you can sign up at Kohls.com with your email address to receive a $5 coupon. The coupon is valid on a minimum purchase of $5. It does take several days before it shows up in your email. I think I'm going to buy some socks with mine!!

I took a survey with American Consumer Opinion tonight. At the end, it reminded me that my account would be credited with the $4 in a few days. I checked my account afterwards, and I have $4 in my account already for a survey I took in February!! I will cash out my account, with $8, once my most recent survey posts. It is fun to find money you didn't realize you had.

Yesterday, on a bit of a whim, I signed up with TaxAct for tax filing. We won't qualify for a free version, but it it appears we can e file and print both federal and state for under $18. That I can handle.

Last year, I entered information as it came in the mail or was available online. I could already add in our donations and real estate taxes. I even looked back to see that our state refund was returned to us on January 30 and our federal was returned February 8. Fast!!

I have estimated our total refund to be $768. I'm looking forward to seeing how accurate I was. If the refund is in that ballpark, it will be less than half of what was returned to us last year. It's not because our income or withholding changed either! The government was withholding too much state income tax per the withholding tables. They finally corrected it earlier this year.

One last miscellaneous item: I redeemed our debit card points today for $25. It's always nice to have a little extra cash. I also need to redeem some mypoints soon.

We will be buying a new computer in the near future. Specifically, a laptop.

We have one now that my husband will take with him during deployment. That will leave me needing a new one. And yes, it is a need.

A computer, with email, and the ability to send and receive videos is essential to our emotional well being during deployment.

Right now, we have a pretty good idea of what we want to buy. The current price is very good at $449, through Monday. I'd rather wait until after the holidays to take on this additional expense. However, I wonder if the price will go up considerably if we wait. Or will the price drop after the holidays. Does anyone know?

We could even wait a couple months. I just want the best price.

This year my out of pocket costs for gift wrapping were near zero! Technically, I bought many of the items in the past, so they cost me something at some point.

I wrapped most items in wrapping paper, which I already owned. I save bows from previous years, if they still look good, and reuse them. This year was no different. I also seemed to have a stash of gift tags. I've decided for future years not to buy gift tags, but use red or green card stock to make a small folded card(the size of a business card) to tape on the gift.

I also wrapped many gifts in gift bags! I skip the tissue paper in most cases and close the top of the bag with tape to keep out little hands and eyes! The gift bags get used over and over, too. I have an abundance of these this year and will give my mom a stack so she doesn't go out and buy new ones.

The only thing I bought for gift wrapping was tape...on sale of course. This is a good item to buy with Walgreen's register rewards if you don't know what to purchase.

How do you keep your gift wrapping costs down?

Yipee!! I made another craigslist sale today in the amount of $25. I sold our other rodent cage and accessories.

I challenged myself this year to make $100 per month on ebay, craigslist or garage sales. I did fall short. Here are the final numbers:

Dec Total = $50.00
Oct Total = $87.96
Sept Total = $110.00
June Total = $55.25
May Total = $197.75
April Total = $22.22
March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

Total for 2009: $677.76
Average per month: $56.48

I think I will continue the challenge in 2010. The truth is we don't have a lot of excess junk. So what should my goal be? An improvement over this year? $60 per month? I could keep it the same and really stretch myself. I might have been able to reach it this year, but there was a lack of motivation at times.

I'll decide my goal at the first of the year, but any thoughts and input are appreciated.

The military posted the rates for basic allowance for housing early by at least a day. The website appears to have been updated yesterday. I wasn't expecting to see the rates until tomorrow. Our housing allowance is going up by $92 per month.

Anyone out there know what the BAS rates are for 2010? I added 3.8% to last the 2009 amount to get an estimated amount based on something I read.

I estimated our net paycheck on paycheckcity.com. If you are military and do this, make sure to only tax the basic pay portion and add BAH and BAS into the net pay the website provides. We will be getting an additional $105 each pay period. That's an additional $210 per month or $2520 per year!!

Of course, that money will help us meet all the goals we have for 2010. Yipee!!

I made a regular payment to our home equity loan, as well as, an extra principal payment in the amount of $145!

Our new loan balance sits under $4K at: $3,999.54

We started 2009 with a balance of $13,999. In one years time, we have paid off nearly $10,000 on our home equity loan. I should have sent in an extra $0.54 to make it an even $10K. Oh well. Close enough!

Even though it would have been nice to have paid the whole thing off this year, I feel great that we made good strides. Remember, we paid cash for our daughter's braces and a trip to Disney World. Right now, we are only a few more months away from getting there. I let you know when it happens, of course!

Yipee!! I just made a craigslist sale.

I was browsing the craigslist site a couple hours ago and saw someone wanted a cage for a hamster. I responded to their ad with the cage and accessories we had available. I included a picture and named my price.

The whole timeframe was three hours from my response to their pick up of the cage and accessories. My take: $25!!

So...forget my previous post. We are in the black again.

Dec Total = $25
Oct Total = $87.96
Sept Total = $110.00
June Total = $55.25
May Total = $197.75
April Total = $22.22
March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

Not literally. We have two checking accounts. I put any extra money into the second account and call it our slush fund.

Our spending has topped the amount we had in our first checking account for this pay period. As a result, we had to take some funds from the slush fund. A whopping $13.82!! Not bad.

The truth is I don't like stepping into the slush. It's more uncomfortable to me than the real thing. Luckily, tomorrow is payday and our first account will be flush full of cash again.

Wow! I love my kids, but I do appreciate when they head back to school. Today was very productive and so far spend free!

Here's what I accomplished:
Christmas Cards
Vacuumed
Cleaned three bathrooms
Washed kitchen floor
Worked out at gym
Balanced checkbook (yes, I do this)
Made grocery list

We have a busy weekend that I need to prepare for tonight. Stay warm and enjoy your weekend.

Guess what? Another snow day for the girls of the creditcardfree household! Our street didn't get plowed until sometime overnight. The temperatures are dangerously cold with the wind chill. I'm pretty sure this is why school was cancelled.

We just finished a game of Monopoly(Disney Themepark Edition). I had a couple of monopolies, including one set with castles (hotels)!! One of my daughter's landed on my property and owed me 550 wishes (dollars). It caused her to go bankrupt! Game over.

They are now painting and I'm going to catch up on housework. Laundry and vaccuuming are on the list for this afternoon. The last couple days have been fun, but tomorrow I'm going to NEED to get out of the house for a bit.

Stay warm!

We are officially snowed in in the creditcardfree household. I think we got 14 inches at least. The snow is expected to blow at blizzard speed until this evening. Even if we wanted out, the 5 foot drift that blocks our garage is standing in the way. I sure don't want to dig it out in this wind!

Luckily, we still have power, heat and internet! I received an email from our bank (USAA) that they paid us $24.55 as a subscriber's account distribution. I think that means we are members and investors in some way. This is more than double what we received last year. The bank had a good year! I think the longer we remain with them the bigger the distributions are. We'll take it!

The snow day is going well. We've made peanut butter cookies, cleaned one bedroom and are about to start wrapping gifts. One child, who can't wait, is tugging on my sleeve right now! It's a good snow day.

I was browsing craigslist wanted ads in my area today. Plenty of people wanted, their lot and/or driveway plowed or shoveled. Oh, we are in the middle of a blizzard!!

If you are in the midwest, have a blade on your truck (or a shovel and a good back and heart)there is work for you! Just browse craigslist for those looking for help in your area.

What other winter services could be offered for cash?

I'm thinking the next few days will be no spend days. The snow is about to hit us hard here. We have two inches on the ground as of this morning and up to 12 inches more to arrive tomorrow. Ugh!

In the meantime, we will stay warm inside, play games, address Christmas cards, wrap gifts, listen to music, bake a goodie, drink warm beverages and enjoy each others company.

I'm looking forward to it!

OMG! I just added up the number of people we are giving gifts to this year. 30. I think I'm in shock! I had no idea it was that many.

I've included our immediate family, extended family, teachers, a coworker and friends. The list is pretty typical of most years.

Luckily, I've been getting some very good deals this year. For example, I bought three items from Old Navy today and paid only $2.47 out my own pocket! Nice.

Right now, there really isn't a way to trim down the list, unless I knock out the teachers and friends. The biggest part of the list is extended family. I have 10 neices and nephews, age 21 to 6 mos old. I can get away with less than $10 for the youngest ones and spend around $15 for the older ones. In fact, many are getting just that: $15 cash.

How many people do you buy for at the holidays?

We haven't headed out yet, but we have plans to spend this weekend. Gas for the vehicles and snowblower, groceries, Christmas gifts and stamps, boots and snow gloves for both girls. The snow starts tomorrow ending with a bang on Tuesday!

I think we are going to see a movie tomorrow, too. Our time with DH is going to be more and more limited in 2010, so we want to get out and do a few outings together.

I'm waiting for a check from my mother in law. She wants me to buy the gifts for the girls. No problem. Just get me the money! The amount seems to vary from year to year making it a little difficult to plan.

I think we are going to see a movie tomorrow, too. Our time with DH is going to be more and more limited in 2010, so we want to get out and do a few outings together.

We went through DH's civilian clothes. I want to get rid of the stuff he isn't wearing anymore now, rather than while he is gone or even after he returns. We did find quite a few items to donate from his heavier days over two years ago. I hope we can do a little more decluttering this weekend. The girls rooms need some help, too.

This is the last of month of the year to make cash and non-cash donations to the charity of your choice. We tend to make cash donations throughout the year, so I just need to dig through closets. I hope to roundup a few more things to make a final donation to Goodwill and/or the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

I actually list every item I donate throughout the year. I also take pictures for auditing purposes. I attach my donation list to the charities receipt and stash it in a tax folder labeled by year. This year: 2009!

When January rolls around, I use a paper copy of It's Deductible to value the items I have donated. Yep, I add each item up one by one. I have had years where I have donated over $1000 worth of merchandise. That saves us about $250 in taxes! Those items wouldn't have fetched to much more at a garage sale. Maybe less!

If you aren't the type to have a garage sale, sell on ebay or craigslist this is the best way to benefit financially with your castoffs. Start digging through those closets and cupboards now and make a list as you go. It only takes a few minutes a day to find things you don't need. It helps to have a box or bag ready when you begin, too! Good luck.

Heads up to all full time military: 2010 BAH rates will be released in two weeks, on December 17th.

The new rates will be effective with January's mid month paycheck. From what I've read the average housing allowance will increase by 6% over 2009 rates.

Go the department of defense

The water bill came today. It was about $20 under it's normal amount. I think they read the meter earlier than usual, which means next months bill may be higher.

I'm going to stash the extra $20 in our second checking account to cover Christmas expenditures.

On my desk, I have 4 seperate $10 coupons for Old Navy, a $10 Kohl's coupon and $5 off a Hallmark purchase. I don't have to spend a minimum to use these, so it's like free money!

I also have a $10 off a $30 purchase at Bath & Body Works. I can used this to buy a nice gift for a sister in law, with only about $20 out of my pocket.

I'm using the $10 Kohl's coupon to buy some items for my sister. I will end up getting $30 worth of items for $11, by using the coupon with their sale.

I don't have specific plans for the Old Navy and Hallmark coupons. I will only use them if the right gift can be purchased for someone on my gift list.

I guess the marketing is working a bit on me!! Sorry, DisneySteve. I know this shopping stuff is wearing you out.

I made a big payment to our home equity loan today in the amount of $935. As a result, the loan balance is now $4,236.95!
I think we can get to under $4K by the end of the year.

I told my husband I made a large payment to the loan. He said, "What? A double or triple payment?" Umm...our regular payment is $118. That's almost 8 times the regular payment! Can you tell he doesn't pay to much attention to this stuff?

I bought 20 holiday picture cards online yesterday from Kodak. I never send out picture cards, but I took a really nice picture of our girls while we were at my parents over Thanksgiving. I found a 40% off coupon and with shipping paid $11.78. Pretty good! I now need to buy some stamps.

I'm thinking of buying our new digital camera from Amazon. I realized that I can save the sales tax by purchasing from them. The camera I'm looking at comes with an extra memory card if I buy from Amazon as well. I would save about $24 online. It seems worth it. I just need to run it by my husband.

I did some online Christmas shopping today. I shopped at LL Bean, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. I received free shipping on all items either with a code or because I met the site's minimum order.

At Barnes and Noble I used a $20 gift card and a coupon code for an additional 15% off one item. I ended up with two books for about $7 out of my pocket.

I will receive a $10 gift card to LL Bean next week in the mail because I spent more than $25. Not sure what I will buy. Maybe nothing.

It feels nice to have some shopping done!

The last few days went quickly and were enjoyable for the most part. My only Black Friday shopping consisted of picking up some lotion and soaps while we were at Whole Foods. This was around noon! So I was not one of the crack of dawn shoppers.

My husband's family has decided to draw names for gifts. We have two names, each with a $25 limit. Last year we did a white elephant exchange and the two years before the limit was $15 each. It's a bit amusing to me, as several family members are unemployed, so you'd think this would be the year for a white elephant repeat, rather than an increase in the gift limit.

Our house has been decorated for Christmas. We had a couple strands of light that are no longer working. We have decided we don't need as many lights outside anyway! Saves us cash from buying more and some energy for less lights being used!

Yesterday's mail brought us a $50 gift card from Qwest for being loyal customers. I also received the $50 restauant.com certificate last week from them as well. Nice!

Today, I'm pretty run down with a cold. Darn. I guess I caught something while traveling. Yes, I'm drinking lots of fluids.

Tomorrow...I'm shopping online! The less time in the stores the better.

It's official. Today, November 25, 2009 our retirement accounts have officially exceeded six figures!!

I hope the next $100K arrives faster than the first! My husband has contributed to his retirement since age 21. Obviously, he makes considerably more now than when he was younger. I contributed to my 401k when I did work outside the home. Now, we are fortunate to be able to max out our Roth IRA's each year and a little extra to my husband's TSP, which equals about 16% of our gross income.

Yipee!! Just another thing to be grateful for.

Our debt consists of three loans, including our primary mortgage, a home equity loan and an auto loan. A year ago we were in more debt than we are now. Yipee!! At least we are going in the right direction. Are you?

Total Debt - Nov 2008: $174,624.40
Total Debt - Nov 2009: $158,031.25

Total debt paid in one year is $16,593.15!! Not bad.

The next year to year and half are going to be amazing for us financially. In fact, in 1 1/2 years we will be free of our home equity loan AND the van loan. Oh, and right now, we owe over $19K on the van. Obviously big plans are in the works!

Make a plan. Work the plan. And celebrate when the plan works!!

Tomorrow before traveling we are having a baking day. I'm only making two things. A pumpkin pie and banana bread. I'm making lots of banana bread since I seem to have an abundance of frozen bananas. I will give to any family members that want some.

I'm trying to watch my food intake and exercise more, so banana bread is not on my list of things to eat. Especially in abundance! Giving it way: good for me and for the receiver (as long as they aren't watching the calories, too!).

Can you believe it? You better not, because I did return it, but I purchased it again. Why? Target was offering a $20 gift card with a purchase of a Wii. I just couldn't pass that cash up. I then turned around and used the $20 to purchase a nunchuck (basically an extra controller, for you non-wii people) for free!!

I have plans to buy the additional items we need for the Wii on Amazon.com. Right now each item is about $5 less than if I purchased them in the stores. I'm watching to see if the prices drop in the next couple days. The odds are they won't, but it is worth waiting a little bit.

Once we make our initial investment, I expect to rent or buy games used. The total value of the items we are purchasing is around $375. This summer the console was $50 more. I would have spent $425. Once all the items are purchased I will have spent $295! That is nearly a 30% savings from this summer. I will have the console, two remotes, two nunchucks, 3 games and two steering wheels. Not bad!

Well, yesterday I gave you a glimpse into our checking account. Since we did some spending there in now less. Darn.

Today, we spent close to $100 on groceries. We bought gas for our van. That was nearly $40 since we the tank was near empty. My husband and both girls went to Great Clips today for haircuts for $47, which includes tips. And there was a beer purchase amounting to about $15. (There is still beer left over, too.)

New Total: $148.34

Now we really need to watch our spending for the next week! At least we have plenty of food to eat.

I really don't have a much financial happening right now. How about a glimpse into our checking account?

Beginning Balance Today: $349.31

We get paid again on December 1st. We will have to buy weekly groceries this Sunday or Monday. We are traveling by car for Thanksgiving, so fuel will be needed. I already have the items to make the pumpkin pie. I also need to bring banana bread for which I also have all the items. We may give cash to my BIL who is hosting Thanksgiving. He usually goes all out. We could bring something, but it ends up being too much food! My husband and kids need haircuts this weekend, too.

I think today may be a no spend day. I'd like to get the Christmas lights up on the house since the weather will be cooperating. Please let all the lights work!! Dinner is planned and we have Netflix movies to watch. One daughter wants to go to the library. We also should get some cleaning done.

Oh, that balance above is just for regular expenses. Right now, I have another $400 set aside for Christmas and other gifts in a seperate account.