I sold a book on Ebay today for a profit of just over $4. I already sent it off in the mail. I will pull the profits from PayPal later this month when I am done selling!

I think we have decided to sell our old couch and loveseat. They really do take up too much room in our basement storage area. The plan is to list them on Friday afternoon and hope someone is willing to purchase this weekend. I think we will ask $100 for the set.

Our Ooma Telo arrived today. I hope to get it set up tonight or tomorrow. It should only take 15 minutes according to the directions. We will be getting a new phone number as our current one is not available for porting. After I determine it working as planned I will cancel the regular phone service and contact everyone with the new number.

After I voted for mayor, city council and a proposed tax, I spent money on new bathroom rugs. Our old set was coming apart in the dryer since they had those rubber backings. I bought two new cotton ones without a backing and spent just $16 out of pocket after using my Kohls cash.

About a week ago, I redeemed some airline miles for a three month daily newspaper subscription. The first issue arrived this morning. My oldest daughter dove right in to read the news! We took advantage of this last year and it said one per household, so I wasn't sure if we would actually get the paper this time.

It is rainy and dark here today again. This is not helping my transition to less light in the evening! Any great ideas for handling the dark days of winter? Is there anyone else with a VoiP phone system? Did you vote today in your local elections?

I sent in $71.42 to the mortgage principal today. The first of the November snowflakes consisted of that Lands End return from last week, Capital One 360 interest, and the use of Amazon.com gifts we earned from the Southwest Rewards card.

I have just over $24 left in gift cards to use that we earned from Southwest, which means I have spent and matched over $500 to the mortgage.

My Ebay listings did not sell. I relisted and lowered the prices. One already has a bid, so that is a future snowflake.

If you are in need of a snowflake, read my post from late yesterday about opening a

CapitalOne 360 checking account for a $50 bonus, or just click on that link to read the details!

Capital One is offering bonuses when you

open 360 Checking and/or Savings account. Think of these bonuses as snowflakes to put towards your goals!!

You can get $50 for opening a checking account and making two debit card transactions. There is no minimum deposit and you have 45 days to complete the requirements. The bonus is awarded on day 50.

A $25 bonus is available when you open a savings account with a minimum of $250. The bonus is awarded right after the deposit is received, however it is not available for withdrawal for 30 days.

The fine print is on this referral link, so be sure to read for any other details that I did not mention. I recommend only depositing $20-$30 to the checking account to only cover two debit card transactions you will need to complete. In other words, don't put in any more than you have to.

The bonuses will be considered interest, so expect these bonuses to be taxable. What will you do with your CapitalOne 360 bonus snowflakes?

My only intentional snowflake goal was to save $750 toward Christmas. We met this goal back in June. In the meantime, we have take advantage of some credit card rewards. Those snowflakes and snowballs have been applied to our new goal of reducing the debt on our mortgage. I think I initially defined that goal as $1000. And as you can see from the side bar, I more than doubled that goal. As of the end of October, we have $2077.73 that has been sent in to pay down debt. Those two goals combined and accumulated in just 10 months equals $2,828.99.

I might as well shoot for an even $3,000 in snowflakes by the end of the year. That leaves me with $171.01 to go. I'm pretty sure I can do it! In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll exceed it. Thanks Be A Wealthy Warrior for the idea!!

My first snowflake for November are: $48.22 for the Lands' End return I made yesterday and $0.44 from Capital One 360 for interest. That money is already pending payment on the mortgage. Ya know, so the snowflake doesn't melt!

I did a return at Kohl's the other night and got a merchandise credit since the purchase was on one of those gift cards I had. I then asked for a price adjustment to my Kohl's card for the amount of the credit. They couldn't apply it directly, but since I had the receipt of a recent purchase I charged to the card, we did a return and applied and reapplied the merchandise credit and another gift card. Now my balance owed is less!! In the process of repurchasing the item, I earned $10 Kohl's cash. Bonus!!

I did purchase the Ooma Telo. That's a VoiP (voice over internet protocol)phone system. There was an offer to purchase it for $99.99 with free shipping. Once we have it up and running and test it for a few days, we will notify our phone company that we want to cancel. This will save us about $27 per month.

Although, the savings won't really be saved as I expect to upgrade to a smartphone soon, and a new data plan will likely be another $30. We are going cell phone shopping this weekend. We want to check out the 97 cent smartphones at Walmart. We will check directly with Verizon, too, so we know which plan we will have and see who really has the best deal. I do know that I likely will be able to save more by having a smartphone. I can pull up coupons, use Target's cartwheel for discounts, and compare prices when I'm out shopping. That alone might lower the true cost of the data plan. I'll let you know what I get.

I was reminded on the forums about buying gift cards at discounts. I think I even mentioned a deal I did on cat food awhile back using a discounted gift card. I purchased mine from

Cardpool. However, there are many more sites. One is Gift Card Granny which combines the gift cards at many sites into one, which is great to find the best discount. Be sure to read ALL of the fine print. Generally, electronic gift cards received by email can only be used online. These discounted cards save you money before you even make a purchase. And if you combine it with a store coupon you save even more!

Our Halloween night ended with just 8 pieces of candy left. I began the night handing out two per kid because last year I only had 10 kids show up. This year was closer to 25! Big difference. I even gave away some plastic rings/toys that we found in our decluttering. Big hit!

I think I packed enough content into one post for today. Do you buy discounted gift cards for regular purchases? Did you end up with more or less candy that you started with last night? Will you make a snowflake goal for next year?

I've been decluttering here and there during the last week. I've done the master closet, my youngest daughter's room, a few kitchen drawers and a large -need to file- file. During the process I found the receipt for the coat I have been trying to sell on Ebay. I didn't think I had it!

The coat is from Land's End. I purchased it last year around this time. My daughter was going through a bit of a rebellion stage and decided that a fleece jacket was fine for the entire winter. As a result she never wore the coat I bought from Lands' End.

Once I found the receipt, I remembered that Lands' End has a generous return policy which states: If you're not satisfied with any item, return it to us at any time for an exchange or refund of its purchase price. I went to Sears today (they own and sell Lands' End) and did just that. I got a nice credit of $48.22 coming to my credit card. Much better than selling at a loss on Ebay!! Thanks ebay buyers for skipping over my item the last 10 days.

I will count the credit as a snowflake for November! Have you ever returned an item over a year after you purchased it? Did you know about Lands' End return policy and that they are related to Sears?

I sent the final extra mortgage payment of $55.90 to the mortgage today. That snowflake consisted of $25 Swagbucks, $6 in Pinecone survey payments, Ebates of $15.76 and Southwest Rewards of $9.14. The Ebates and Southwest Rewards were earned Amazon.com gift cards that I used towards a purchase today.

My October snowflake earnings came to $479.20! Wow. What a great haul. It seems much of the earnings were because we used a majority of the gift cards earned from the Southwest Rapids Rewards Visa. I did have $50 from Swagbucks and a whopping $15 in Pinecone surveys.

Here is the full breakdown:

I don't expect November will be quite as lucrative. We are not currently working on a bonus reward, so there won't be any big credit card rewards. We are going to use our USAA card this month. If we spend $1200 (which I'm sure we will), we earn a $25 gift card. We will also earn points on those dollars that should get us close to another $25 in cash. Not bad for not taking out more credit!

I'll talk more about our credit cards, the rewards and any outstanding balances tomorrow. Using credit wisely has been a money maker for us this year...and we have used all those rewards to pay down the debt that is our mortgage. You know I love LESS DEBT!

How many snowflakes did you accumulate this month? It's not a competition, so share. Any snowflakes are a good thing!!

It is not snowing here yet and I'm okay with that. It is sunny, but expected to rain later today. I will enjoy the long drawn out fall weather!

I did receive my most recent $25 PayPal deposit from Swagbucks yesterday. There was also $6 in my account from two Pinecone surveys. I withdrew the $31 and expect that to be my final extra payment to the mortgage this month. I will complete that task when the cash arrives in my checking account.

I also received the offer from Ebates to add $1 to my total rebates if I claim it as an Amazon.com gift card instead of cash. I debated for a bit on this only because I do prefer cash over gift cards. With the gift card I have to spend money I would anyway and then match it with my own funds toward the mortgage. It's just more complicated. I finally decided to go for it, as I know there will be several gifts bought on Amazon for the holidays.

I'm in the decluttering phase still. I have at least 3 grocery sized sacks full of items to donate. And there was another one full of trash. This is all thanks to my youngest daughter being motivated to declutter her room a bit last night. We pulled outgrown clothes for the most part, but there was junk to toss, too. I was actually shocked she was willing to dive right in as you know how moody teens can be. I think there is likely more in there that could go, but for now this is a win!

One item found in the room declutter was a brand new pair of ballet flats we bought about a month ago. She decided she didn't like them after all. I'm glad I asked because now I have a chance to return them. They were purchased with a Kohl's gift card, so I expect I will get a merchandise credit back. I can't remember if the amount of those shoes was closer to $20 or $30. I will need to find the receipt! If I can't put the credit towards a previous purchase, then I will do a little shopping for myself. I could use socks, a shirt or two and a new purse. I don't NEED all of those, but know that a few new items would be helpful!

I'm off to declutter some more. Do you have anything you could return to the store for cash? Are you expecting any more snowflakes this month? Did you get the Ebates offer for an additional $1?

I ran errands today. In our town, some of the stores are only available on the other side. A twenty minute drive. I try to combine my shopping when I'm over there. I was hoping to do the Amex offer at Staples where you spend $75 there and get a $25 statement credit. I was going to buy gift cards for one of the stores I need to go to...Petco. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the Amex card!!

I bought three hair products for my daughter at Ulta. They are each priced at $16. But Redken is nearly always buy 2, get one free. I also had a 20% off coupon, so my total came down to $27.39. Each bottle lasts her one month, so an average of $9+ per month.

The cats were down to their last morsels of food. I went to Petsmart since I'm more familiar with that store. I would have gone to Petco, IF I had remember my Amex card!! I spent about $40 on food that I think lasts about 2 months.

I browsed around in Micheal's craft store, but didn't buy anything. Nothing I needed, even though I saw several things I liked!!

I spent less today because I didn't use the American Express card at Staples to buy gift cards, but the offer is still good for all of November. Maybe longer.

I noticed Walmart was offering the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4S for 97 cents in our area. I believe both were offered with Verizon. That is who we have for our cell plans. My husband and I need to upgrade soon as we are losing battery power fast these days. If we all upgrade it will cost at least $120, since Verizon charges a $30 upgrade fee. Boo. I will have to go into the store to hear more about the offer in person.

This is probably a loaded question, but iPhone or Samsung Galaxy? Which is better and why?

The coat I listed last week on Ebay did not sell. I lowered the auction price and I'm hoping for some bites this week. I also listed 7 other items. Some of these have been listed before. This past summer I think. I will relist and lower prices all of November. If they don't sell after the end of November they are going to Goodwill.

I might get two or three more items listed on Tuesday with five day listings, so they end at the same time as tonight's listings.

I'm just looking forward to moving these items on out of our home. Why keep stuff we no longer need and want, right? I have a very small bag of items to get to Goodwill by the end of the week. I hope to add to it and take it all in on Friday.

Have you made a donation of clothing or household items this month? Do you usually get a receipt and deduct on your tax return?

Ironically, after I posted about the delay in the travel payments by the Army, my husband was notified he was overdue on making a payment to his government card. As a result he looked into it and found that he had routed the requests into a, to use his words, black hole. He resubmitted and it was paid today! Glad that is taken care of since he is going to start traveling again.

I used the money to pay toward the Citi card where we had some recent purchases. There is still a little bit on there...less than $100. Since I don't really want to pull from savings, I will pay that off with next week's paycheck. No interest being accrued as the charges are recent and the card does have 0% currently.

If you have an American Express card, you might look into

this offer posted on My Money Blog. Get $25 for $75 purchase at Staples. Gift cards count, including those for other stores like Kohl's and JC Penney's! My husband and I each had it on our accounts. If I use it, I will likely buy gift cards, so that I'm simply shifting money we would use anyway. I find Staples VERY overpriced. I will stop in this weekend to see what my options are.

I haven't sold the coat I have listed on Ebay, but I did pull out some items that I hope to list on Sunday. A couple DVDs and CDs, as well as a few activity kits that are new. I did check SecondSpin.com but didn't have enough to where I would get reimbursed for shipping. I might get more cash with individual sales.

I hope to use this last week of October and first week of November to move some clutter out. Yesterday, I went through a stack of magazines(earned from airline miles) and pulled out just a couple recipes. The rest have been recycled. Some of our clutter will go to Goodwill for sure, but if I can make a few sales I will do that, too. It will be nice to start the holiday season with things cleaned up.

Do you like to declutter before or after the holidays? Or maybe both! If you are needing cash for gifts this season, starting selling things you don't need now. Don't forget to consider regifting if appropriate!!

Yesterday, the market was up AND we made our regular Roth IRA contributions. At the end of the day, our total retirement accounts exceeded $250,000 for the first time!! Yippee!! I can't believe we made it there and I really look forward to seeing where we might be at the end of the year. At the end of last year we had just over $188K, so this milestone is amazing. It helps when the S&P 500 index is up over 22% for the year.

In other smaller money news, I recently completed two Pinecone Research surveys. I redeemed my $6 to be sent to my PayPal account. I also worked hard today to get my Swagbucks to 2500 so I could cash them out for $25 in PayPal cash. I hope to get it before the end of the month so I can apply it to this months snowflake total.

I listed a coat on Ebay yesterday. I put it up as a Buy It Now and maybe even a little high as it was only worn a couple times. I hope it sells!!

I bought my first stocking stuffers of the season today. I read MoneySavingMom on Monday and learned about $2 coupons on Lindt chocolate bars. I printed two off and made my purchase at Walgreen's this morning where the candy was on sale for 2 for $4. Thus, I only paid tax of $0.28 out of pocket!! Here's the

blog link with offer details.

Have you reached a retirement milestone this year? Are you holiday shopping yet?

I buy most of our vitamins from

iHerb.com. Currently, they are offering $5 or $10 off your first time order depending on the amount you spend. The link above is a referral link that I benefit from.

Not much money news here. I did earn $3 from Pinecone. I expect to send that into the mortgage along with other cash that is a match for spending on Amazon.com. I'll likely do that tomorrow.

Last night, my husband was looking through the Target advertisement. He noticed wiper blades where on sale and the store was offering a $10 gift card when you purchase two. It was raining yesterday, and he noticed he really did need new wiper blades. Great timing! We did pick those up last night. We also purchased weed killer that was on clearance for half off. We did the same thing last year and it worked out well to have stocked up for less. I'm going back to Target this morning to pick up a few items we forgot and use that $10 gift card towards a gift card for a birthday gift.

Glad this government shutdown is over, but I have to say I'm annoyed that Congress can't get a budget deal to last even a full year. This has now been a problem for years where they do these short term agreements. I find it very immature and childish they can't get their job done. They know when the fiscal year ends. It's the same day every year. Just like planning for Christmas!

Do you consume vitamins? Are you relieved about the government deal? Any great deals at Target I should look for?

I think I'll refer to any payment I make over $100 to the mortgage a snowball. Therefore anything over $500 is likely a blizzard. And if it were to ever happen that I'd have over $1000 to send at once, well I'm thinking an avalanche seems about right!

Today's snowball payment towards the principal balance of the mortgage was $192.84. Much of the money came from those Southwest Gift cards: $67.82 that I used on Amazon, and $8.47 at Walmart. We also have earned $59.77 in Chase Freedom rewards, which I redeemed towards a statement credit today. I probably mentioned earlier last week that I had $25 from Swagbucks and $9.78 in interest and ATM refunds from our bank. And last but not least, after paying all our irregular bills for the year, I had a surplus of $22 in our escrow account. I'm throwing that towards the mortgage as well.

All those little snowflakes add up. I've already accumulated $275.97 since the beginning of the month! And we have now exceed $8000 paid toward the principal of our mortgage. Less debt makes me happy!!

In other news, we purchased three trees for our backyard at a nursery yesterday. They were 50% off for cash and carry. We paid $75 per tree. All are over 7 feet tall and a couple inches in diameter. We picked up a Celebration Maple tree which is already showing off it's red leaves. The other two are White King Hawthorns, which have some orange berries that will stay on the branches even after the leaves fall. Those will make for some nice winter color! We used our credit card for the rewards, but we have the cash on hand for that purchase, as it was one of our goals this year. We got them planted pretty easily after we brought them home yesterday and now I can't stop looking at them!

Do you plant in the fall? Do you prefer another season for planting trees? Any new snowflakes for you?

I can see my husband's mid month pay pending in our bank account. It seems so early! However, I realized that Monday is Columbus Day, a government holiday. Therefore, the next business day is October 15, the official payday. So it is really on time. Just as promised. Now I just need the government to fully open so his travel payments from September can be paid.

I did purchase my running shoes on Amazon. They should arrive today. My body can't wait. I used Ebates to connect to Amazon and I have earned $2.18 cash back on that purchase. I like cash back...only wish we didn't have to wait so long to get it from Ebates.

It will be another spendy weekend. We have to pay admission for another band competition. We also will have guests again. It means more spending on food, but both sets of guests are helping with that, which is much appreciated. All meals will be here at our house, so that keeps things less expensive than if we went to a restaurant.

I've noticed our dryer isn't drying as efficiently as it should. And it may have been a fluke last night, but the washer didn't seem to be spinning things as dry as they could have been. Those were sheets and towels, so maybe that was the issue. I need to pull the vent house off the dryer and see if it needs to be cleaned out. That is usually the issue and I hope it is this time. However, I know our dryer (and washer) is over ten years old. Fingers crossed I don't need replacements...although I will consider a repair first.

How old are your washer and dryer? Do you clean out your dryer vent regularly? Did you know lint is a common cause of house fires?

I sent in the snowflakes, or really a snowball, to the mortgage today. I mentioned these yesterday in my post. The actual amount sent in was $83.13. Less debt makes me happy!! Have I said that before? Sorry, if I have.

Our mortgage is with Wells Fargo. While I was online making the payment, I saw once again that they offer a credit card with 5% back on grocery stores, gas stations and drugstores for 6 months. We would likely get the best return on the gas station expenses. We shop at Super Target which I don't think counts as a grocery store and we rarely do any drug stores either. If we spend $400 a month on fuel, which is a high estimate, we would get $20 back per month for 6 months or $120. Not a bad snowflake for just charging gas to this card. I'll ponder it a bit more and talk to my husband.

I see another snowflake in the future. Ebates cash back should be deposited mid November. I recently made a purchase of printer ink and earned 16% back, that was $8.88 on that purchase alone. The total cash back I'm expecting is $14.76, not bad for purchases I do anyway.

I'm about ready to do a little shopping with my Amazon gift cards. My husband has a birthday this month and wants a movie, as does my daughter for a Christmas gift. I also need new running shoes...and I think I found a great price on a pair I will love! Even though I have gift cards, I know I have to pull that money out of the checking account and send to the mortgage, so I'm hesitating a bit there. Silly me...delaying a payment to the mortgage. I can't help it. Sometimes it is hard to spend.

So should I go for the Wells Fargo card even though I will only get 5% on our gas purchases? Do you use Ebates, or other cash back service for your online shopping? Should I shop for my items today, or wait? I'm interested what you think.

The annual fee we paid on the Chase Southwest card was refunded in full. We received the check this weekend. It actually included a $5.75 return we made after the account was closed and at zero balance. The full amount returned to us was $104.75. I will add the $5.75 to the snowflakes for equity. The $99 will go back into our account for now as I know there are a few bigger bills to pay.

Our auto insurance finally posted to the USAA credit card that also had a credit balance of $10. Instead of paying $433 for insurance, I will only need to send in $423. I will send the $10 to the mortgage as well.

I redeemed Swagbucks this weekend for my favorite $25 Paypal cash! We know where that money always goes, right?

We did more Kohl's shopping this weekend. I didn't get a discount because I didn't use my Kohl's card. That part is a little disappointing. We spent $60.96 there, using those gift cards we earned on the Southwest card. That means I need to match that money with a principal mortgage payment.

I earned $6 in Pinecone surveys last week. That money arrived in my Paypal account. It is in the process of being moved to checking, and then I will send that little snowflake to the mortgage.

Did you noticing the theme, here? Many, many snowflakes!! It looks like I have over $80 to send to the mortgage right now. Yippee!!

I accumulated $236.66 in snowflakes last month. A combination of interest, rebates, Pincone surveys, Swagbucks and gift cards earned from our Southwest Airlines credit card.



This amount is far more than the early months of the year, but less than the last couple. We are not currently in the process of earning any more credit card bonus rewards, so that makes a difference. Of course, I'm not complaining! This is all bonus money that is making a difference in paying down our mortgage debt.

We still have gift cards from the Southwest credit card bonus to use. As we use them, I will add them to the snowflake list and send an equal amount to the mortgage.

My goal for October is to earn some snowflakes from selling our stuff, primarily Ebay sales. I'd also like to find another source of snowflakes. Not sure what that might be yet, but I'll let you know when I do. I'm open to ideas as well.

What was your snowflake total for September? What did you do with your snowflakes?

I seem to have a few bits and pieces of financial information to share. Most of it good!

I sent $26.99 off as a mortgage principal payment. This money was from Swagbucks and $1.99 usage of one of those Amazon.com gift cards. Yes, I could have rounded up, but I thought it might mess with my tracking of the gift cards. I will update my snowflakes for September tomorrow.

Remember we cancelled our tv service last month? Our bill arrived with the expected $40 credit for service we paid for but did not receive. I was also expecting the bill to include a cancellation fee of about $99, but it wasn't there!! I'm not going to call them about that. So we have a nice low bill for internet and phone this month.

Our credit for the $99 annual fee showed up with the new billing cycle on the Southwest card. I had also made a return of $5.75 that had been charged to that card. I requested a check for the credit balance in the amount of $104.75. It should arrive in 10-14 business days. It will be nice to see that money back.

My youngest daughter has a band concert next week. They are to wear black pants, white shirt, and black shoes. She tried on the pants and shoes and they still fit. The shirt was outgrown this summer. We will stop by Kohl's today to find one and use our gift cards. We will also take a look at coats, but I don't expect we will buy today.

My husband is not going out of town this week due to the government shut down. That trip will really just get delayed. It will still need to happen at some point. I'm kind of happy about that though, since he has been doing so much traveling lately. I think pay will now continue on schedule as there was a law passed yesterday ensuring pay for military during a shutdown. That is how I understand it anyway. That means I can invest and pay bills as normal.

So what do you think I should have titled this post? Do you have some lower bills this month?

Again, in the mail today, I received a $10 off a $10 purchase at Kohl's. This is the second one this month. I used the last one last week when we shopped there. Clearly, they want me to come back!

I am DONE cleaning our windows. I even cleaned the outsides of some of them. The others I couldn't reach without a ladder and they actually aren't too bad. The windows seems to get dirtier here in this more rural town. And the spider webs are really bad!! Ick.

I'm craving a soda, which is really odd, since I have pretty much stopped drinking pop almost two years ago. I must need more water! If I can avoid the temptation to pick up a soda on my next outing, I will declare today a no spend day. Again!

There isn't much financial going on. I'm looking forward to payday just so I can do something financial! My husband is taking a couple days off work, so we might use one of those restaurant gift cards. That means I can send the same amount of money to the mortgage. That would be good.

Did you get a Kohl's $10 coupon this month? Did you use it? What did you get?

I woke up to an email from Swagbucks and PayPal notifying me of my $25 deposit into my account. I quickly requested a withdrawal to our checking account. It should arrive by Friday. I should be able to get it sent to the mortgage by the end of the month!

We also received a nice surprise from the realtor that helped us find our home. She sent a thank you card for referring my husband's co-worker to her when they went to sell their house. In the thank you card was a $25 gift card to Olive Garden! We definitely did not expect that and was not necessary at all. We'll take it though and use it or give as a gift should the opportunity arise.

I expect today to be a no spend day. Oh, except for paying for a flute lesson. Yesterday was grocery shopping. Today, I'm clearing my desk of paperwork and starting to clean a few windows and blinds. No shopping for me!

Have you received ANY good surprises lately? Monetarily related or otherwise?

I have accumulated $86.42 in snowflakes since the beginning of September. I sent those off yesterday to pay down the principal balance on the mortgage.

I earned enough Swagbucks to redeem $25 for a PayPal deposit. It would be nice to receive that before the end of the month, so I can send it in as another snowflakes!

My husband had a couple recent trips for work. One of them he drove our personal vehicle which means we will be paid mileage. The government avoids this usually. They now prefer a vehicle to be rented because it is less expensive. And that's the right thing to do from a government standpoint. The good thing is we might make a little cash on the deal this time. I'm still waiting for the deposits and to know that he paid off his government travel card in full.

I wanted to get a little shopping in at Kohl's today, since I have a $10 off coupon and gift cards. However, my volunteering at school went long and I need to get a final coat of paint down on our garage steps while the weather is nice. In the end it is fine to hold off on the spending!!

Do you receive mileage payments for travel you do? Does the payment cover your cost in full or partially?

I sent an email to Chase requesting the cancellation of the Southwest Card as well as the return of the annual fee. The card was cancelled. And I was told the annual fee of $99 in full will be returned. It will take one to two billing cycles to appear as a credit. We can then request a check for the credit amount, which will take about two weeks to arrive.

We went into the Southwest deal knowing the card had an annual fee. I knew there was a chance the fee would be returned, but I was okay with it if it didn't since I would still be ahead by $401. Once we get the fee back we will be ahead by the full $500.

I don't know whether I will count the $99 as a snowflake or not. Right now it seems better to send it off to the Red Cross to help with disaster relief. I'll decide when it actually arrives.

Have you paid an annual credit card fee before? What benefits do you get from it? Have you had a fee returned? Do you think I should snowflake our fee or give to charity?

Food pickings are getting a little sparse here at our house. We've all managed to find something for lunch. We will have pasta with sauce for dinner, with a side salad. I think we may make biscuits too. I think we have enough for breakfast as well. So my goal is to get to the grocery store before lunch tomorrow morning. I hope to make the list this evening. And browse for coupons in the morning.

It will be a no spend day here. I'm watching football and getting some cleaning done between commercials. I also had a painting project to work on earlier. No cost for that as all the supplies had been purchased prior to today.

We will head out later today for a photography field trip. My daughter is taking photography this year, so we'll have lots of trips out to get some required shots. Might need to see if we can find some sculptures around town. A good way to learn some more about our new city. At least it is free!!

I earned a $5 gift card at Target the other day and I was going to use it and save the cash as a snowflake towards towards the mortgage. Yesterday, I went back and bought Kleenex on clearance for my sister's classroom. I had the gift card for $5, three coupons totaling $2.10, my cartwheel coupon for 5% off and 5% with my Red card. I probably paid less than $2 out of pocket for 8 boxes of Kleenex! I love it when I can get deals like this. And of course, this helps out my sister. I told her about the deal so she might be able to find the same deal and stock up even more.

Any good deals this weekend for you? Or were you able to have a no spend day?

A large white envelope was dropped in our door by UPS this morning. I wasn't sure what it was and it was address to my husband. I texted to see if he knew what it was. He didn't but said I could open it.

Gift cards!!



These are the gift cards we redeemed from our Southwest Rapids Rewards credit card bonus. We received the following:

$25 Panera
$100 Walmart
$200 Kohl's
$200 Amazon.com

Why do I now feel like shopping?! Anything thing I use these for will need to be backed up by cash I send in to the mortgage to pay down the principal.

When I drove by Walmart earlier today, I realized I may be able to use the gift cards there for gas. Maybe. Haven't done this before, so it may or not work. Anyone used a gift card at Walmart to purchase fuel?

I'll keep you updated on the progress of using these rewards. It could take months, or not. We'll see.

My husband's check was pending yesterday so I started recording and paying bills. So many of them are automatic: life insurance, phone and electric, water softener rental, Roth investments and college savings. Makes paying bills easy.

The good news is I paid the remainder of the Southwest Rapids Rewards card. A nice $572 no longer owed. The balance is zero. The card will be cancelled once I get those gift card rewards in the mail. Hoping that is soon!!

I made a $115 payment to the American Express card that I charged my daughter's Washington DC trip on. It is zero interest, so I'm paying it back at a rate of $150 per month. The balance is now at $750. We also have started fundraising for this trip. Might work out to get some money back or at least enough for spending money.

We also made some tax deductible contributions. One to the music program at school. I'd rather do this than participate in their fundraisers. The second contribution is to a Walk N Roll fundraiser that our former neighbor's daughter and their family will benefit from. Wish we could participate this year, but we have other obligations.

Seems like lots of money flowing out, but we did contribute to our Roth IRAs and college savings accounts this period like always, so that is good.

I also received notification that my Swagbucks money was deposited in my PayPal account. I also did a Pinecone survey yesterday. Once that money is in the PayPal account I will withdraw it and send the money in to the mortgage!

It's all going as planned. Any new snow developments? Any debt paid off this week? Any charity donations?

As I expected, our Chase Southwest Airlines Rewards card statement closed over the weekend and the bonus miles were awarded. We now have 53,128 miles available to redeem. This translates to $525 in gift cards.

I will be discussing which cards to order with my husband, but the possibilities I'm interested include Walmart, Lowes, Sears, Amazon, Kohls, JC Penney, Barnes and Noble, Eddie Bauer, Aeropostale, Bath & Body Works, Panera, Bed Bath & Beyond and Pier One. Of course, I won't be getting one of each, but those are what I have narrowed the choices down to.

I really try to avoid Walmart, but I could easily get groceries and toiletries there to use the gift cards. We always end up buying some clothes at Kohl's over the course of the year. I expect with fall weather arriving we will be there soon! And Amazon would definitely get used, since we have their Prime membership, I do buy things there when they are less expensive and they arrive just two days later!

Home improvements are always on the list, thus Lowe's is an obvious place to spend some of the reward miles, too. Many of the other cards I listed above aren't very common places we spend money, but they are often given as gifts. Turns out I think we are giving fewer gifts this year...so that means I probably don't need those. I could always buy the gift cards I need at Walmart, too!

I noticed a $10 credit on our USAA card, which we haven't been using. It was a reward I earned in April. I believe our auto insurance will be charged to that card any day, so just a little less money to send in. Of course, I will count that $10 as a snowflake for September!

What gift card would you choose to redeem?

I mentioned in my last post that I accumulated $557.48 in snowflakes this month. Those were all sent to pay down mortgage principal, so less debt. And this is BIG; we have sent in $1,361.87 since I started accumulating snowflakes for equity in late June of this year.

Here's where all the August money came from:


Not sure if September has the possibility of earning more snowflakes, but I'll give it a try! I know that we should be able to redeem the Southwest Rapid Rewards in the amount of $500. Since those come in the form of gift cards, I will use them for everyday purchases and use the cash I would have used to send in to the mortgage. I will only count them as a snowflake once I make a purchase. Does that make sense?

The good news on the Southwest Card, is that with a inquiry to customer service we have been given our Rapid Rewards number. I should be able to get that set up, so I can do a redemption next week. Happy, Happy!!

How did you do with your snowflakes in August? Do you have a goal for September?

I made another principal payment towards the mortgage today in the amount of $107.70. That is the last one I will make for August. That money came from a water utility refund, a Swagbucks cash and Ebay proceeds. A little work and a little luck!

I actually made five extra principal payments this month which reduced our mortgage principal by $557.48! That is more than a regular mortgage payment reduces our principal. And yes, that is the total snowflakes for the month, too.

We are still waiting on our Southwest credit card statement to close so we can start redeeming gift cards. It should close on Saturday, so we are close to getting our hands on that $500.

I sent the OBi adapter for VoIP back to Amazon. Their estimate of shipping is $5.37. That is how much my refund will be reduced. Most of my family is not real excited about permanently giving up our land line. We do actually call home when we are out to check on our kids. So, for now, we are keeping it. I might still try Ooma, but I'll be looking for a good price. Maybe used on Ebay, but need to see how that works.

I sold all three items I listed on Ebay last Sunday. Two auctions are paid and shipped. I am waiting on the last one. I expect to clear just over $22 for these items. Not bad, considering I have not used the items in several years and don't expect to ever again. One item was NEW...which is nice for that buyer.

This money will go to the mortgage once I have my hands on it. Probably by the end of the week!

One of my Ebay items was bought last night on a Buy It Now bid. One items will sell Sunday night as it already has bids. The other item has about four people watching it, so I'm optimistic it will sell.

I guess that means more snowflakes in my future!!