I did hear back from the mortgage company about our escrow analysis. As I mentioned yesterday, our property taxes are increasing significantly. This was expected as the home is a new build.

I know some would say to contact the mortgage company only when they ask for more money, but in my experience this just leads to larger requested amounts. Either upfront or added to the payment. The first property tax payment is due before the end of September, so really I'm just sending in the money to get it paid on time.

I was pretty close with my numbers yesterday. I had based mine on an effective date of September 1. They ran theirs based on October 1. I suppose they need to give proper notification...even though I directed the change.

We need to send in a lump sum of $1,880.13 before October 1 to make up the shortfall. This is fine with me because I have been saving monthly for this increase in property taxes. By September 1, I will have exactly $1800 saved. And the extra $80.13 can come from that September 1 paycheck with no problem.

Our new payment will increase because of the amount they need to collect for escrow from $1083.56 to $1,311.28. The interesting thing is I've been saving $300 per month, and paying that lower mortgage payment. Once I switch to only paying the new mortgage payment, I will actual 'save' $72.28 each month. Happy, Happy!

I did find out that since this is a VA loan, we are required to escrow for the life of the loan. YUCK! But it's actually okay since we don't expect to be here for the life of the loan.

I received my $25 from Swagbucks in my Paypal account today. I just ordered it Monday! That was super super fast. I will transfer that to my checking account so I can make another principal mortgage payment. More people are watching my Ebay items that end on Sunday. Bid high, I say!!

I'm not really watching the stock market, but I know it has been down. Glad it was down when our automatic investments were pulled to our Roth IRA and ESA accounts. More shares for us!!

That's my financial news. Now I think I may go shop at Kohl's with my $10 coupon...for something that costs just a little over $10, of course!!

I did receive the $100 bonus on my Capital One 360 Checking account right on time as promised. I have sent it in to be applied to the principal balance reduction!! Ah, I love bonus money.

One item I put on Ebay has a bid, so it will sell on Sunday night. That just means I'll have less stuff, and less debt because that snowflake is going to the mortgage, too.

I deposited a check into our account yesterday using the mobile feature. In my rush, I indicated the check was for $30, when it was really for $60. Oops! Luckily, the system caught it overnight and my account was adjusted for my error already this morning.

Our taxes on our home are increasing. I knew this would happen. Our home was a new build and valuation and taxes lag behind. I've been saving $300 a month in preparation for this. My calculations show I need to send in $1,654 to meet the banks standards for our escrow account. Our payment will need to increase as well to accommodate the increased taxes. I sent an email to the bank to see if they agree with my calculations and asked them to run the analysis. I'll update you when I hear back.

Did anyone else go for the Capital One checking bonus offered at the beginning of July? If so, did you get your bonus yet?

I just made another principal payment to the mortgage in the amount of $42.15. This was an accumulation of snowflakes in the last two weeks. There was an interest rebate, Ebay proceeds, Swagbucks cash, and a Pinecone survey payment. It really all adds up.

Tomorrow I expect the CapitalOne 360 Checking account bonus of $100 will post to my account. I'm looking forward to that big snowflake!

It feels good to be making a dent in the mortgage balance, even if just a little bit at a time.

I was able to redeem some Swagbucks today for a $25 deposit in my PayPal account. I hope it arrives before the month end so I can count it towards this months snowflakes and send in to the mortgage.

I listed a few things on Ebay last night. Specifically a few Creative Memories items. I only made two small scrapbooks of our two Disney vacations. The last one was 4 years ago. If I make another vacation album it will be digital! Apparently this is the way Creative Memories is going forward too. They discontinued many items recently and thus there is lots of demand on Ebay. I figured I might as well get rid of them now while there is some demand. I'm hoping for about $20+ from my items.

I took the girls to Panera Bread for lunch. It was completely spontaneous, but fun since we don't get to do that kind of thing often and it is much harder to do during the school year. Spent about $20.

I think tomorrow may be a no spend day!

The only thing in my mailbox yesterday was a check! I wish every day was like that. Although I'd settle for a deposit into our checking account everyday, too. The check was a return of a utility deposit that we were required to pay last year to have our water turned on. A nice $60 back in our pocket.

I know they told me it would be returned. I just didn't make a note of it anywhere. My husband thought I was probably tracking it. Well no, once the money is gone, I don't expect it back.

I know you all will expect that I will put it towards the mortgage. I'd like to do that, but we have just spent quite a bit recently. There was also an unexpected expense of a rental car of $110 to get my husband to a school. The government won't reimburse as it was not authorized. The airline had to route him to an airport two hours away!! I'm sure he will check with the airline today about compensation on his way home, but I'm not holding my breath with the airline providing compensation. That $60 helps soften the blow on that charge. That's my thinking on it right now...I may decide to throw it at the mortgage in the end.

I received my $25 from Swagbucks yesterday and redeemed my $3 from a Pinecone survey, which should arrive in my PayPal account today. I will then transfer that money to checking. That money will go the mortgage as soon as I have it!

I'm about ready to make a change to our home phone. We will buy an Obi adapter for about $40 that will connect to our internet. We then plug our regular phone into that. The provider will be Google Voice so we can make local and long distance calls for free. Google Voice does not provide 911 service, but Anveo provides that for $12 per year, which is all we will pay after the initial hardware investment. That is a huge savings!

We currently pay $30.76 monthly for our home phone, which includes all those taxes and zero long distance. If we do use long distance we are charged $0.14 per minute. I use my cell phone if I need to call long distance. We get very few calls on it, but it is nice to have since all of our cell phones are based in another area code. We can't really port our current number to Google Voice without a lot of work around, but we can pick a new number for free which I have decided is just fine. I will need to notify family, schools, and service providers of the new number. A bit of a pain, but worth it for the savings.

We may also invest in a tool that crimps CAT5 cable so we can have our internet router, and OBi system upstairs rather than the basement. We lose some processing speed by having it in the basement. Our house is already prewired with CAT5 and coaxial cable, so we just need to pull out the cable from the wall and put on the adapter plug(RJ45). I might not be using all the right terminology, but I do know what the plan is! The tool is about $15.

I'm excited about all of our possible changes and reducing our bills. I now just need my husband to be home long enough to make these decisions and help me make the physical changes.

I know some of you have already ditched your landline which is a great savings! Does anyone use VOip at there home? Do you use Google Voice? Tell me about your experience.

Here's what I've been doing:

Volunteering my sewing skills to hem marching band pants. The band only has 180 members, so it didn't take long with many hands. Turns out to have been fun and free entertainment with some nice ladies.

Confronting the neighbors (2 adults and four kids) playing basketball after 10:30pm on a week night. The hoop and driveway are really, really close to my daughter's bedroom. I hope I don't have to do it again. Ick!

Earning my daily Swagbucks. I'm honestly getting a little tired of it, but there's an addictive quality that I can't yet let go of. Waiting for my last request of $25 to be deposited in my PayPal account. Only 500+ Swagbucks away from the next redemption.

Completed a Pinecone survey. I cashed out my payment earlier today. I think it should be in my account tomorrow.

Today is payday. I need to pay bills and get that Southwest card paid off!! I keep seeing lots of money going out in our future. Band picture (only $7), Band jacket(?), pictures for youngest daughter, fundraisers(!?), driver's ed, at least one tree for the back yard...I hope that is it. Not sure. I really would like to buckle down and spend NOTHING!!

I will keep today a no spend day since I have cleaning and bills to take care off. No need to do anything else, but make a trip to pick up my daughter from the last day of band camp.

I think I will also gather some items to take to Goodwill tomorrow. I know I have things in the basement that have already been set aside for that, I just need to do it!!

Little bit of everything, huh? Have a frugal day!!

I have some random updates that are money related that I'll just throw out there for the enjoyment of those of you who like this kind of thing!

Last month a house just like ours, except for walkout basement vs daylight windows, sold for $5,500 more than what we purchased our home for last year. This is the amount ours was listed at but we negotiated down, but they didn't or couldn't. I'm thinking I can look at this as the current market value of our home, right? I like that kind of equity.

I found out the information above when I went looking for our property tax amount online. Turns out they have not certified property taxes yet, thus no statement. I know the taxes will go up since this is a new home and we did get a reprieve last year. I want to know how much, so I can plan.

I sold those Box Tops for Education on Ebay. My net profit is $10.11, which I will add to the Snowflakes for Equity.

We had garage door issues recently. The opener wouldn't close the door. It would open, but not close. We tried all the trouble shooting tips for the sensors, but it was a no go. We purchased a new set on Amazon which arrived quickly with our Prime 2 Day shipping. We swapped out the sensor that was the problem and it worked!! Cost about $25. Annoying, but no big deal.

My daughter, age 16, finally decided to get her permit and is driving a little. We will need to get her signed up for driver's ed by the end of the month at a cost of $375. Steep, but probably worth the education she will get. Of course, I will put the fee on a credit card when the time comes to earn rewards and possibly a bonus!

I was notified by USAA that our next six month premium for auto insurance will be due in October. No change in the premium...just $433 for six months. This will go on a credit card, too! I'm sure once our daughter has her license the premium will go up...but by how much is the question.

I will try to make today a no spend day. I have paint I purchased last week that needs to be applied. Might as well take advantage of the cooler weather to get it done.

I noticed that iTunes gift cards are 10% off at Target this week. I hope to stop in to get at least one as a Christmas gift. I will use some of the Target gift cards I have to make the purchase.

Was that enough random updates for you? What was your favorite piece of information?

The bonus of $150 earned on my husband's American Express Blue Cash Everyday card appeared this weekend. I redeemed it for a statement credit on the $150 balance that remained. As of this morning it has been applied and the balance is now zero.

I guess this means I have to send in another $150 to the mortgage! Since I would have had to pay the balance if not for the credit, I will just use that money to send in to the mortgage. Simple!

I remembered to count out my Box Tops for Education and found that I had over 100. I put a lot of 100 together and listed them on Ebay. They have not sold yet, but I expect they will as I set a reasonable price. They ALWAYS sell. So, another snowflake is in the works.

Swagbucks deposited last months bonuses yesterday. I was just 28SB away from cashing out for $25. So I put in the time to get those 28SBs and cashed out for $25 cash in my PayPal deposit. ANOTHER snowflake on its way.

My chauffeur service has begun operating again. My oldest daughter who is just starting to drive is needing to get to school for band activities. This means more fuel will be used. Too bad I don't get paid for this service!

We are still in the process of meeting the $2000 in spending on the Southwest card. I know we are over $1000. I'll give a more in depth update on this tomorrow.

Snowflaking debt and savings works! Of course, it may seem easy with these large rewards from credit cards. However, the smaller amounts I find, earn and save still add up. You can do it too! Anyone just getting started with snowflakes? What was your first or latest snowflake?

I seem to have racked up quite a few snowflakes since the beginning of August, so I'm sending them in to pay down more mortgage principal. Why wait, right?

Here's where the $157.63 all came from:



I took cash I had in my Christmas Fund to 'buy' the Applebee's gift card that came in the mail from MyPoints. It is a Christmas gift anyway. I used the Menard's rebate and Citi Rewards to make purchases, but am now taking the cash I would have spent on those purchases to send to the mortgage. Make sense? I hope so!! If not, ask me to clarify.

This now means that we have paid a $6,153.91 down on our mortgage balance. Like! Like!

I received payment from an Ebay sale that ended on Sunday. Finally! It is hard to wait when you have no communication with the buyer. If I had to delay payment I would likely tell the seller WHEN I expect to pay. It just seems like a courteous thing to do. My profit is likely only a few dollars. I haven't mailed it yet, or paid my fees.

I received 100 Swagbucks yesterday from customer support for sending in my complaint about the content on some of the videos. I was assured that they intend Swagbucks to be G rated, or was it PG? They gave me the bonus SBs for my time and effort. Nice, huh? Did anyone else complain and get compensated?

Already some August snowflakes are arriving! So exciting. Here's what I have thus far:



Clearly some of those were earned in July, but they all arrived yesterday. I may just get those sent in to the mortgage soon. I do have a couple more that I think will arrive soon, so more than likely I will wait. The Capital One reward money was from depositing $500 in the savings account during their Independence Day sale. A little bit of that is interest, which is better than I get in my checking account for that money!

It was a spendy couple of days recently. Registration for school was the primary expense. We pay $65 for each of our daughters. We also purchased a family activity pass for $145. We definitely would have spent that much money on activities (football games to see the band perform, basketball games to see the pep band perform, three music concerts and a two plays) last year, so we expect the same this year. It is nice to have it prepaid! I did put the entire $275 charge on the Southwest card. I bought pictures for my oldest daughter and paid with a check since I forgot to prepay online with a credit card.

We purchased fertilizer, sprinklers and paint at Home Depot and did remember to get the military discount! I charged these expenses to the Southwest card as well. I think it was about $100.

We received a call from our gym that we owe a Club Enhancement fee. Not sure the amount since this is the first time they have indicated we owe one. A little annoyed since this was not disclosed at the time of sign up, but I bet it is in our contract. I will be looking before I pay it.

Ebay has been slow. I have two items that are relisted at lower prices and still no interest. Based on previous experience it really seems these things should sell! If they don't, I will just take a break or end up donating them.

Do you have any August snowflakes yet?

Our mortgage is our only long term debt. All other debt that may occur on credit cards is promptly paid off. Now that I'm sending in extra principal I want to keep track of how much we have paid down. I'm not sure why I don't want to disclose the amount of our mortgage, but I just don't. I will simple track the amount we have paid off.

We took our mortgage out on July 3, 2012. We have made payments on time every month. We have only recently made principal payments, specifically June and July. The June principal payment was $56. In July, I made two payments, $250 and $500 specifically. Including those amounts we have paid of $5,996.28!!

I wish I knew I was so close to the $6K mark yesterday when I rounded up to $500. I should have sent in another $4!

I don't know exactly how I will track this, probably a simple sum of principal on a spreadsheet. I can post a screen shot of our progress. I also need a firm goal. I know I did some calculations several months back. I was a bit overwhelmed with those, so I'm not sure I kept them. I'll keep working on getting a better grasp of this goal.

Oh, and did anyone notice that the Christmas and Equity snowflakes I have accumulated in 7 months equal $1555.65! That averages out $222.24 per month. If I can keep up that pace I should be able to get another $1100 before the end of the year. I have a feeling it might be more!

The good thing is I have a firm grasp on accumulating snowflakes and sending them in to pay down the mortgage! Yippee!!

July was a spectacular month for accumulated snowflakes. And really there were some snowballs in there to help! Those credit card rewards were key to making this month so great. I was proud to actually get a few things on Ebay and earn a little more cash towards this new goal. Total snowflake earnings for July.....$748.39!!!!



All snowflakes are going directly to pay down principal on our mortgage. I sent in just an extra $56 last month. This month I have already sent in the $250 check from Citi Thank You Rewards. And today, I'm sending in the remaining snowflakes $498.39. I think I should actually just round it up to an even $500. I think I can swing the extra $1.61 from my own pocket. Don't you?

My Snowflakes for Equity ticker shows a goal of $1000. I think I might need to revise the goal, since I'm almost there! I didn't quite expect all the credit card rewards when I made the goal. I'll have to really think through what I think we can accomplish before the end of the year.

It was asked in my last post about our mortgage pay down progress. Before today's extra principal payment I think we have paid a total of $5000 from the principal balance. That is a bit of a guess. I will work on getting more details for my next post. This is something I've been needing to do so that I'm tracking our progress a little better.

So, how do you think we did for July? Did I accumulate enough snowflakes?

I decided to pay my Ebay fees and withdraw the proceeds from the sales that have been paid. I want to send them in with my BIG principal mortgage payment. The proceeds thus far were $37.31. I'm still waiting for payment on one item. I have one item that will sell today. I will add those proceeds to my August snowflakes.

I will update my Snowflakes for Equity tomorrow. It has definitely been my best month EVER for snowflakes thanks to the credit card rewards.

Here are some future expected snowflakes that I'm waiting on that have been earned but not received:
$25 Paypal cash from Swagbucks
$3 Pinecone survey payment
$5+ Ebay proceeds
$150 American Express reward
$76 Capital One 360 Savings reward
$100 Capital One 360 checking reward
and we are working on earning that Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card reward of $500. I think we have only spent $500 of the $2000 minimum at this point.

Stay tuned for the July Snowflakes for Equity update...schedule to appear tomorrow!

I mentioned in my last post that my husband will be traveling for work. I guess one of the trips is cancelled...due to funding. So likely less savings if he is only gone one week.

I sold two items on Ebay last night. One person has paid. Waiting on the other. I also have one item with a bid that should end tomorrow. It's all moving along.

Today I need to get bills paid. I keep putting it off! Surprising, since I usually like to do it. I think it is just that I have other projects that are getting my attention. That bathroom painting has put my interest back on some improvements around the house and I would like to get a few things sewn and mailed to my sister. But I will pay the bills so I get work on the fun stuff!

We attended a free concert in a local park last night. Our daughter played with a flute choir ensemble prior to the city's municipal band concert. It was very good music and a cool beautiful evening free of bugs. Now I want to go to another one!!

Does your city have free music you can attend either indoor or outdoors?

My husband will be doing more travel in the coming month. I always miss him when he is away, but financially I'm looking forward to it. His expenses usually are covered by the Army...unless he splurges at a steak place. And that does happen. Sometimes we make a little money on the deal. Just a little.

What I really like is that the grocery and gas spending drop here at home. He has more 'needs' (read as wants) than I do, or allow the girls to have. Thus we eat simply and stay home a little more. I hope to set aside about $400 while he is away. It really will just go to savings, so not too exciting, but I like the idea of really working towards it to make it happen. Once he leaves I will start tracking our expenses.

I have one item with a bid on Ebay. Six of the auctions end tomorrow. I hope to see a little more activity before they end and sell another one or two. Once the other items end on Tuesday, I will pay my fees and withdraw the proceeds so I can send those in with my BIG August mortgage principal payment.

I'm also looking forward to payday so I can replenish the saving account. Remember I had to pull some money out to cover that accidental EXTRA mortgage payment I made? It has all worked out just fine, but I'd like that money back in my savings account. I did remember to cancel my automatic payments so we don't end up making an August payment when one isn't due.

I think I'll head outside to get some exercise in. It is so much cooler here today. It feels like fall. What kind of weather are you having where you live?

I was checking on some of the credit cards we have been using. Double checking that they are at zero balance. I requested the first one I opened to be canceled. I then looked at the Citi card and realized there were 2110 points. I looked around on the site, but wasn't interested in any CDs that could be redeemed for 600 points. I did notice that I can link my card to my Amazon.com account and use my points for Amazon purchases. My 2110 Thank You points are equal to $16.88. My only other problem is that I don't have anything I need to buy! I will wait to close this card until I have used the final points and then get it closed. I'm sure something will come up that we can purchase on Amazon. They have EVERYTHING!

Today I returned a rug I bought earlier in the week. Another $16 back in our pocket. I also found out that DH was paid from the Army for a trip he made last week. He drove his own car and thus was paid mileage. We made money (about $160)since his out of pocket expenses were less. Of course this is to cover the cost of operating the vehicle and depreciation. I think I will save it towards some upcoming vehicle maintenance. Oil changes are about due, and I know they will be checking the brakes, since we might be due for new pads. Of course, we'll charge them on the Southwest card to help get us to our $2000 spending minimum.

It looks to be more gorgeous weather this weekend. I hope we can get out and be active. We are keeping the windows closed and the air on because allergies. We all seem to get congestion when we have the windows open. Hopefully not too much spending!

Will your weekend be a spendy one or frugal?

The painting did get done yesterday and it looks so much better. The girls wanted the same color that their bathroom was painted in our last house. A light blue, specifically Pale Flowers by Valspar available at Lowe's. I did not buy their primer based paint becdause it so expensive and not necessary for this paint job. Saved myself $10-$15 by making this choice.


The towels and shower curtain are the same too. The decorative mirror in the picture was purchased at an art fair for $25. I thought the message was worth the price for two teen girls. I hope to find a few cube shelves for above the toilet. I see they are available on Amazon for about $15, but I'll look for locally first and even consider a used set.

Sorry I don't have any before pictures. Although I probably do somewhere; from last year when we moved in. Just imagine builder white. Although most of our walls and ceiling are a buff cream color.

I sold another item on Ebay, likely netting about $8. I will put that in the mail today. I also was able to redeem Swagbucks for another $25 deposit in my PayPal account. I will add that to the Snowflakes for Equity once I have it in my account.

Do you know how to paint? Do you paint often or infrequently? Any one not know how to paint a room?

I sold two of the CDs I listed on Ebay yeterday afternoon. They are already at the post office. Not sure the net, the gross sales of the two together was $13.62. This money goes to the Snowflakes for Equity, of course!

I got some motivation with this cooler weather to paint my daughter's bathroom. They have been asking and mentioning it for months! With paint and cool weather means open windows and no air conditioning. Might see how long we can keep them open, but allergies could become an issue.

A little spending because of the paint and trip an hour away, but it is all good! Trying to keep up with the Swagbucks codes today, but so far have two...oh well, I'll get goal done after the painting is done!

Pinecone Research is looking for new members to take surveys. I've been a member for several years and they have some of the most interesting and easy surveys to take. You even get to try samples sometimes!

Sign up

here. And thank you LuckyRobin for finding a link that will work! In the past they paid $5 per survey, now they give you 300 points, which you can redeem for $3. I have my $3 sent to my PayPal account, when I redeem my points. I probably make less than $100 per year, but those three dollars add up when you are snowflaking towards a goal. I do NOT getting anything for referring you, but I hope you sign up anyway...for your own benefit!

I redeemed 3700 points at MyPoints today for a $25 Applebee's gift card. This will be part of my mother in law's Christmas gift. Another snowflake!!

Do you participate in a program to earn gift cards or cash? Do you have a referral link you would like to share with me? I'm always interested in new opportunities that others have found success with.

The Citi Thank You award of $250 was received by our mortgage company, Wells Fargo, and applied correctly as a principal payment. Worked perfect!

I look forward to sending in another nice big principal payment later this month. All the July snowflakes, minus the reward above, total over $450. And I still have some Ebay proceeds to include, too!

I did put more items up on Ebay Sunday and will put some CDs up today. There are several CDs that are just not worth anything...either rejected by secondspin or only offered $0.05. Those will go to Goodwill.

Did anyone make an extra payment on debt this month? Tell me about it!

I was earning my Swagbucks this morning and got the joy of watching

this commercial for 2 Swagbucks (in my Inbox). I don't generally watch everything put in front of me, but this got my attention. It is appropriate for everyone, but those of us here at Saving Advice might appreciate it even more!

Would you eat the marshmallow, or wait? Are you patiently saving? Or skipping it all together (not that you'll tell me)?

The Southwest Rapid Rewards card arrived in the mail yesterday...time to starting tracking our spending towards $2000 in purchases. I still can't decide about redeeming for airline tickets or gift cards. I guess there is time!

Yesterday seemed like an 'in' money day. The mail brought the much awaited check from Citi Thank You rewards. A check for $250 made out to our mortgage company. It's in the mail this morning with the slip indicating our loan number and that it is to be applied to principal.

I actually took a picture of the check so you can see it is really true. Rewards for spending on things you purchase anyway!



I sold an item on Ebay yesterday, too! I will net nearly $19. I already put it in the mail as well. I don't like to keep the customers waiting. I will apply the funds to the Snowflakes for Equity once I redeem all proceeds from PayPal, which will likely be at the end of the month.

I still have four items on Ebay. The auctions end on Sunday. I have more things to list though. In the decluttering process I have found a few movies and cds that we are no longer interested in keeping. My husband saw the pile last night and promptly whet to his truck and brought in 8 cds that have been in his truck for a year without use. There are a few I can definitely get some cash for!!

Of course, there was still some outflow of cash yesterday. It is so hot here, ice cream sounded really, really good. We purchased from the store, so we should have several treats over the next few days. The nice thing is it actually feels a little cooler this morning.

If you didn't see

my post yesterday, check it out. You could make $50 in a few simple steps!

Earlier this month, I opened a Capital One 360 checking and savings account for some bonus money. $176 to be exact. They are still offering a bonus for opening accounts. Right now the 360 Checking is $50 cash (taxable) for making 3 debit transactions within 45 days. No minimum deposit and no fees.

If you want to sign up for some free cash to pay down debt or save for a goal, I'd be honored if you use my

referral link. I do get $20 if you open the account. And if you read my blog often enough you know that I will put that money to good use!!

The link will take you to a page like this, which shows they are offering various bonuses for different accounts.

I think a separate bank account is key if you are looking to save money and not dip into it. I recently mentioned this to a friend and she seemed intrigued at the idea that this would be helpful.

Do you have savings or checking accounts at more than one bank? Why or why not? What do you do with your second (and third) accounts?

The Swagbucks reward of $25 in my PayPal account was awarded yesterday. I already had $3 from Pinecone in the account, so I transferred $28 to our bank account to be added to the Snowflakes for Equity! I'm getting closer to $500 for the month.

I'm hoping to see the reward check from Citi soon, as they notified me earlier in the week it had been mailed. It would also be nice to see the Southwest card arrive. We are nearly done with the Amex card my husband has. I only request one card on the cards that only require $500 in spending since we can meet that so quick with a few online bills and gas purchases. The Southwest card will have a spending requirement of $2000 and it is better if we each have a card. I know all the back to school spending will definitely go on that card!

I'm waiting on MyPoints to release some of my pending points. I want to redeem 3700 points for an Applebee's gift card. This is a favorite of my mother in law and we often give her this gift card for Christmas. Once I actually have the gift card, I think I will pull $25 from the Christmas budget and move to the Equity savings.

My decluttering yesterday involved going through about three dozen magazines. I don't pay to subscribe, but did redeem some expiring airlines for about 5 different magazines. Some I didn't feel the need to go through, but a few I did. I pulled out a few recipes and ideas for the house. I think I'll just recycle them or put them out for free this weekend when I list on Craigslist.

I think today I will go through my bathroom drawers and cupboard to see if anything needs to be tossed, recycled or given away. A drawer or two here and there doesn't take much time.

We are mostly hanging out at home in this heat. No real expense to do that. The girls seem to have plenty of reading to keep them entertained and we have watched some instant videos from Amazon Prime.

A little oops. I forgot to add more items to sell on Ebay last night. Still no bidders on the items I have listed, but it is still early in the week. It may be the items are not in great demand. A couple might sell better closer to Christmas for gifts.

Since I think we'll be around home this weekend, I hope to put some items on Craigslist. We have several items that would be great for a college student or someone moving into a first apartment. These items were purchased for my husband when he was living in Virginia for 9 months.

My husband and I both received credit card offers in the mail today. Mine for US Bank...offering $100 to open the card and spend $500 in 3 months. I'm sure I will pounce on this once we get closer to completing our Southwest card purchases. We are still waiting for that card. My husband's offer was from Citi, no bonus just 18 months 0% interest. Pass. We need cash if you want us to open a card with you!!

I did receive a $5 Target gift card this week for a Planter's nut purchase. I tossed it with the Christmas gift cards for now. Although, I should probably use it when I'm there today and just add $5 to the Equity Snowflakes. Yep, I'll do that, since it is the goal right now.

I'm also on a very minor decluttering kick! I went through our cup of pencils and pens that sit on the kitchen counter. I also thinned out the junk basket that sits nearby as well. It looks so much better. Now to find another drawer that I can purge from!!

What kinds of things are you doing of late that save you money, make you money or improve your life in some way?

We met the minimum spending of $500 on my husband's Capital One Quicksilver card and earned $107.53 in rewards. The first statement has not even closed yet! I already redeemed an account statement credit and moved the money we would have sent in as a payment to the Snowflakes for Equity! Which now has a balance of $423.08 for July. Not bad. Not bad at all!

I do foresee quite a few expenses in the coming months: athletic shoes for the girls, school supplies, school fees, an oil change, and rental of a sod cutter for landscaping.

We also are considering a new bike for our daughter, an entertainment center for one of our tv's that is on a cheap $20 cart and looks plain goofy, and maybe a power washer. We live in more of a rural area, near a medium sized city, and boy do our vehicles get dirty. My husband is really into keeping cars clean, but at $6 to $10 a wash, I think we could actually save money if he washed our cars at home. The only way I could get him to do that is with a power washer, about $300. Men...and their toys. It would be more efficient. Definitely not a need. I'll grant you that one. But it just might be more economical considering the nearest car wash he'll consider using is more than ten minutes away.

My ebay items are out there, but not any bids or many watchers. I didn't do the best job of researching prices, so I may need to adjust next week if nothing sells. I do have a couple things I hope to get listed this evening, maybe I'll do better with my research tonight!

Anyone else have a power washer for their cars? Is this overkill, or does it seems like a good idea in our situation?

I cancelled our Netflix membership this weekend. We can still watch it through the 21st, but we did all agree recently that we can't find much to watch on the site as we once could. Saves us $7.99 a month! We will use Amazon Prime for most streaming and of course our local library!

We purchased a pizza over the weekend from Pizza Hut, after I placed my order online, I realized there was a coupon I could use. I inquired when I picked the pizza up and saved $5.99. I love when that happens.

I made a donation today to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation in the amount of $100. My sister is running a half marathon this fall and is raising money for the charity. I picked up the fees too for another $7.69, so all the money will go to the charity. I charged this to my husband's American Express Blue Cash Everyday card. With this donation and two future charges, we only need to spend another $165 on the card to be eligible for the bonus of $150. I know I will need fuel for the van this week, I have lots of chauffeuring to do!

I did list five things on Ebay last night. Not much action yet. I have at least another five to seven more items I hope to list on Tuesday night, so they all will end on Sunday. I also listed two books on Half.com.

My daughter received a $100 bill from her grandparents for her birthday. While I'm not shocked about the amount, I was surprised when she brought the bill to me last night and asked if she could have $20 bills instead! Ah...so much easier to spend that way, right? I actually think it is just a bit intimidating for her.

Do you feel uncomfortable will large bills? Do you like to have large bills in your pocket? I've thought I might just hold this $100 bill as emergency cash, since we aren't exactly prepared in that way. Although smaller bills probably would be better in an emergency situation. What say you?

Here is the chart showing the snowflakes I have accumulated since the beginning of the month. The credit card rewards make a big difference!

I do expect additional rewards before the end of the month, thus I will wait to send this big fat snowball of money to the mortgage as a principal payment. I expect a Pinecone survey or two, a Swagbucks reward, a MyPoints reward, another credit card reward or two, AND profits from Ebay sales!

Just to be clear. We only have a balance on one of the credit cards. That is the most recent one we completed, Capital One Quicksilver. Today, I made a payment of nearly $268 to cover the utilities we charged, thus we owe about $232. I expect to redeem the bonus when it hits the account as a statement credit, thus putting what we owe to about $125. I will get this paid off right after the credit posts to the account.

And in other good news, we saved $265 in our emergency fund this pay period. Pretty good considering some recent travels and a birthday!

Do you have a mid month snowflake tally? How do you keep track of your snowflakes? What are you doing with your snowflakes?

I checked our retirement accounts...up over $42K since the beginning of the year. Very happy to see this improvement. Have you checked on your retirement lately?

My husband applied for the Southwest Airlines Rapids Rewards Premier Card today. He was approved! We are very close to the spending minimum on the Capital One Quicksilver card, maybe another $40 left to spend to meet the $500 in spending.

We received my husband's American Express Blue Cash Everyday card yesterday. We have not used it yet, but will put our regular Verizon cell phone bill and our Amazon Prime membership on the card. I have already set those charges up to be applied when due. We will use that card for another $270 to meet the $500 in spending before we move on the the Southwest card.

I just did a quick tally of credit card rewards we have received and expect to receive on cards we have applied for: $1476. Nice sum of change! I expect the total will exceed that before the end of the year. And this doesn't include the 5% savings on the Target Red Card.

Do you have a tally of your savings so far this year, with or without credit card rewards?