It feels like we are in that spending mode again. We had two marching band activities this weekend to attend. One was out of town, so their was fuel involved. We spent $12 for admission to one, and $15 to the other. Five dollars was spent on concessions.
My parents met us at one and then took us to lunch afterwards.

Last night my husband and I attended a party at a coworkers home. We bought Subway sandwiches for our girls since there is nearly nothing in the house! We also picked up our own beer to bring. We did have a really good time so it was worth it.

Prior to the weekend, I picked up paper goods at Target for a party we are having at our home for my husband's promotion. I will buy food and drinks later in the week. That part will add up, but I'm excited to have a social event at our home.

I also did some clearance sale shopping at Kohl's and Target last week. I got a very large bag of organic potting soil for $2 at Target, which I used some of to plant 2 $2 pots of mums. I bought some lanterns for decoration that were all marked down, two may go back if we don't use them next week. I'm also returning a hair product. However, I'm keeping the $3 shirt from Kohl's, the slippers for a Christmas gift ($5), an Eddie Bauer wallet ($6) for a birthday gift, and a lotion set as a Christmas gift($4). There were a few other things bought at really low prices, that will definitely get used. I'm not always the best clearance shopper, but I seemed to find just the right items at the right prices. I did use my 20% coupon to get the items reduced even more than they were marked. And now they have sent me another $10 coupon...so I may sneak up there and see if there is anything else worth putting a couple dollars into.

I'm looking at two flutes online for my youngest daughter. One is used and around $800 and another is $1200. The more expensive one is barely used and would save us over $300 from buying brand new. One ends today, so we should decide if we are really want that one or not.

Have you bought anything on clearance recently? What was the best deal you got?

We finally got our CD with Navy Federal CU established. It seemed like it took forever to get the account established, and the money transferred. It was very quick to fill out the request yesterday and it was established within a very short time after that.

The certificate is for 1 year at 5% interest. The maximum amount was $5000. I'd have put more in if I could. This is savings that has been in our money market account. I noticed when I moved the money that we had not had any withdrawals from the account since December 2011. So tying the money into a CD for a year will not be an issue.

What is the highest interest rate you are currently earning on your cash?

We went to see Garth Brooks in concert on Saturday in Chicago. It was fabulous!!!!

Now I'm playing catch up on everything needing to be done here at home along with paying bills since today is payday. I'm also trying to estimate my husband's travel reimbursements for a couple of recent trips. He actually worked Saturday and Sunday morning in Chicago, so our transportation, hotel and some food were covered! This made the cost of the trip far less expensive. The work part wasn't even originally planned for the date we chose to go to the concert.

I just wrote a check for $55.11 for my daughter's high school graduation cap, gown and tassel (and maybe a stole?). They get to keep everything! When I graduated, we only kept the cap and tassel. The gowns were rented and turned back in right after graduation. We are skipping the fancy announcements since she doesn't care for them. We will likely make our own...although as I write that I'm really wondering if we should just get 25 of them. Those would cost $28.75. Although, then I'm realizing those wouldn't have her name on them, and to get the name cards adds even more ($18+). Now I'm back to making our own. Since ALL of our family is out of town, we really don't expect too many of them to make the trip for the ceremony. She also isn't into the open house party thing either. So...we'll keep it simple and frugal.

I had over $31 from Chase Rewards that I redeemed and matched with an extra mortgage payment. Included in that payment was a recent purchase made with Amazon gift cards and our US Bank rewards. This all means $57.12 in snowflakes and less mortgage debt. I like that!!

I have earned more than $5 from Ibotta and should be able to cash out now. I just need to make that request. I completed a Pinecone survey last night and received credit this morning, so claimed my cash!

I went shopping for groceries today and spent under $90! It seems like forever since my bill was so low. I did try to make our meal plan using things we already had on hand. Tonight I made egg casserole because I had the milk, eggs and bread on hand. I did buy mushrooms, sausage and cheese for it. Would have been cheaper to just do eggs and toast, but I will use the extra cheddar cheese for tacos later in the week and extra sausage on our pizza. I made sure to use my Target Cartwheel app for savings, as well as a few printed coupons. I always love a successful trip at the grocery store!

Now I need a nap! It's been a tiring few days. How was your weekend? Did anyone else see Garth Brooks?

Our cell phone bill is $246. This is with Verizon. I'm sure those of you with Ting are sitting there with your mouth hanging open!!

We have been using our US Bank Cash+ card to charge our cell phone bill so that we can get 5% off each month. This month that was a discount/reward of $12.30.

Once the statement closes, I apply the reward to the statement balance and then pay the remainder. Today that meant $233.80 out of pocket.

It appears I can pick this same 5% discount on cell phone services for next quarter, too. So I'm signing up again.

Someday, I may get Ting or a similar service. But for now, I'm happy with the additional 5% discount offered by my US Bank credit card.

I mentioned earlier this month that I realized with my daughter turning 18 in March, I might not be able to contribute to her Coverdell Savings Account next year. Vanguard did confirm that after her birthday, we can no longer contribute to her account.

The plan has been to contribute $2000 per year for each of our daughters. If I stay with our current plan of contributing by month she would only have $501 as of her birthday. This is short $1499 of the goal.

I have made a new plan to get the $2000 into her account by her birthday in March. We will contribute $667 for January and February and $666 for March. The additional $500 invested each month with come from our Roth contributions in those months. For the first three months of 2015, our Roth contributions will be $208.33 each, rather than the $458.33 we currently each contribute monthly.

Beginning in April, the contributions for our oldest daughter will end. Our new Roth contributions will increase to $541.67 each for the remaining 9 months of the year. In the end we will contribute to all accounts the same amount we usually do, but the timing and monthly amounts will be different.

I could just take from savings in March and make up the difference, but I guess I just don't want to do that. Maybe if the market is way down, I will consider it to make sure we are getting a few more shares purchased. But for now, I like the new plan!

I did make progress yesterday in establishing our new Navy Federal Credit Union accounts. I need to get the $5000 in there before I can open the CD. Or at least that seems the easiest way to do that. The transfer is in process and likely will not be completed until next week. This is the first time I have taken money from our money market account since 2011!!

I also opened a US Bank Checking account. I received a mailed offer to open one for $200. It does require a direct deposits of $500 in a month and I think for just one month, but since we now have extra money that we are just planning to save, I will direct deposit those funds long enough to get the bonus. US Bank indicated they will let me know when my account is ready to use. Once it is, I will log on to my husband's My Pay account and direct the deposit. Should be pretty easy!

I still want to open the Discover checking account for the $50, but I have some time (end of the month) and I want to get the other accounts going first.

Our vehicle registrations are due in October and both vehicles will cost us less than last year! This is simply because the vehicles are older. The van went from $329 per year to $251. Savings $78. The truck went from $150 to $120. I save for these all year, so this means I will have some extra funds and should adjust how much I save each month going forward.

Have you opened a new bank account lately? Did you get a bonus? Have you had any bills come due that were lower than expected?

This post will be all over the place...although I think financially centered!

Our electric bill is lower by $16.97 because it is a co-op and they have return some of our capital credits. Our auto insurance went down to under $400 for the next six months. That saves about $35 I think.

All my eBay listings have ended. The only other thing I sold was my daughter's Nook. She gets the profits of $34.12 since she originally paid for it herself. I have some chives plants I pulled from our landscape beds that I hope to sell if even for $1 each. I have five I need to list on Craigslist. I may also put the unsold items back on eBay on Sunday. My selling is SLOW!

I plan to open a bank account with Navy Federal Credit Union to take advantage of the 5% CD, which is only for $5,000 max, but that is an easy $250. I still need to open the account with US Bank for at least a bonus of $150. I also have an offer of $50 for opening a Discover bank account.

My daughter applied to three colleges over the weekend. As of this morning, she has been accepted to all three. Application fees came to $125 for all three. She paid with her debit card and we will reimburse her. I wanted her to have the experience of paying with her own card and handling it all on her own. The only thing she needed from me was to confirm her social security number. She does actually have it memorized at this point!

My husband's unit is getting a new commander this weekend. It's common for the commander to have a little reception after the ceremony. They are to pay for it out of their own pocket. He isn't responding to my husband's email, so my husband has taken it upon himself to order the cake, drinks, flowers and purchase napkins and plates. He took $160 out of our bank account. Praying we end up getting reimbursed!! It seems we never do for these things. Sometimes my husband is just too nice.

My husband was also asked by a coworker if we had any cell phones we weren't using. Yep. Four to be exact. We are selling for cheap, or even giving her one if she'll accept it. She is just downgrading from her smartphone, which is costing her too much time and money. We have kept our old phones simply as backup since they aren't worth anything to sell.

My girls started back with flute lessons last night. Twenty dollars per half hour for each of them once a week adds up to $160 to $200 a month. No small change really. They have both benefited greatly though, so it is worth it.

It just came to me yesterday that I should find out if there is an age limit for contributing to our Coverdell Educational Savings accounts. Yes there is. It is 18. Since my oldest daughter turns 18 in March, I need to try to get her full 2015 contribution into her account before that date. I will likely just change amounts for our Roth's and younger daughter to compensate for larger contributions during the first three months of 2015. I'm just glad I know ahead of time!

My youngest daughter is selling magazines for school. I'm pretty sure we are skipping the entire thing. I don't need any magazines and I'm really tired of asking others if they need any. They are way over priced because it is a fundraiser, too.

My 52 Week Savings Challenge account held at Capital One 360 now has a balance of $1,098. Those $57 deposits twice a month do add up!

Okay, I think you are caught up with the financial happenings here. Did you know there was an age limit on Coverdell Savings accounts? Are you taking advantage of any bonus offers from banks or credit cards right now?

Our combined retirement accounts have now exceeded $300K!! Specifically, the total is $300,180.92. Nice to meet a milestone.

We sure can't complain considering just over 11 years ago, in May 2003, our retirement accounts only totaled $25,742. Yep, just 11 years ago look where we were. Money really does compound and grow when invested. We have another 20+ years until we retire, so there is a lot of time to accumulate more.

Check your balances this weekend if you can, and enjoy how far YOU have come, too!

With the new promotion and increased income, I figured I should check out where that puts us with taxes. We are still in the same tax bracket of 15%. But 15% of more is still more taxes!

I also realized and kind of knew that we would no longer be eligible to claim child tax credit on our daughter that turned 17. That right there is $1000 more in taxes than we have had in the past.

I have estimated that taxes(after the credit for one child) on our taxable income will equal $4,891. So far in eight months we have only had $2,308 withheld and withholding another $450 for four months will still put us short. I went ahead and changed withholding from 8 to 7. This will have us withholding $488 each month for the next four months. I could have made it more, but decided it was okay to keep it where it should be for next year and we will just owe the government again this spring. I expect in the end we will owe $630.

I plan to set aside $105 for the next six months for this particular debt. This way it won't be a big surprise or burden at tax time.

Each pay period we will have $440 more income after all the changes. DH and I did discuss this last night and he is all for just sweeping the money into savings knowing a move, and college are in our future. Seems like the best plan for now. We may evaluate retirement at the first of the year.

Do you evaluate your taxes anytime during the year? Or only at tax time?

My husband received his promotion order yesterday. His promotion from Captain to Major is effective September 1. This means a pay increase which we will see on his pay mid September.

I feel like I have been waiting all year for this! I'm sure he feels the same but for different reasons.

This pay increase feels like a lot of responsibility for some reason. It is a gross increase of $1,150.20 per month. I need to figure how much more taxes we will owe, adjust withholding if necessary, decide if we should increase retirement contributions and really decide overall what to do with the increase. I sure don't want to just spend it away!

As far as retirement contributions go, we currently save 17.8% of my husband's gross pay towards retirement. Do I try to maintain the percentage, or increase the amount but not worry about the percentage of gross?

In the end, I think I will play with the numbers over the next week and try to see what feels the most comfortable. I also should talk with DH to see if he has any preferences on what to do with his hard earned money! I think he will opt to save it in some way and we have discussed that previously.

As I finish writing this, I had the idea that maybe the entire increase (minus taxes) will get saved, but just among various places. Retirement, regular savings, and maybe a taxable investment. A little to each of those may feel good.

I'll let you know what we decide and how it will look. If you had a large increase in income what would you do with it?

So tired this morning. I had to pick my husband up from another airport that is nearly 2 hours away. He plan landed just before 11pm last night. So glad he was awake enough to drive back. I told him to ask for mileage reimbursement from the Army because that just isn't right that I needed to drive to get him. If it had been a school night or winter driving, I would have insisted on him getting a rental car.

I completed a Pinecone survey last week, so I expect another $3 next week in my PayPal account.

I sold three items on eBay this past week. One was an auction and the buyer has not paid. Boo. The other two were small sales, but I will have that money to throw at the mortgage.

I made another Target run yesterday, as another couple school supply requests were needed by my daughters. While I was there I stocked up on Kleenex, and vitamins which earned me two $5 Target gift cards. I used the one I earned from the previous day towards the purchase. My out of pocket expense was $53. So easy to drop big money sometimes. I used a $0.75 coupon on each of the three Kleenex bundled packages and was able to earn one of those $5 gift cards. I figured out that each box came to $0.77!

I did return two clothing items to Target that I purchased last weekend. That put $30 back in my pocket before that purchase above, so it does offset some of my new spending.

My youngest daughter and I got a free hotdog and soda from our school's booster club when we went to view the end of marching band showcase. I think they should have given them to the marching band kids after. It was so hot for them.

And it seems I have now been tagged in the Ice Bucket Challenge as well by my sister. My daughter still has not done hers, so now our whole family needs to get it done. My sister did point out that

SMA is similar to ALS only in babies. Her friend's daughter died as a result and she was less than 2 years old. She's donating to both causes. I may do that as well.

Hoping the weekend can be a little less spendy! But groceries will need to be bought.

My personal Roth IRA account has passed the $100,000 mark today! Specifically, my account balance ended up at $100,033.02. It feels good to reach that milestone and with my automatic investment tomorrow it may go even higher.

I added up the remainder of the retirement accounts and we are less than $3,000 away from meeting a combined retirement balance of $300,000. I'm really thinking we can meet this by year end unless the market drops significantly. I do know we plan to invest nearly four times the shortage amount, so you can see why I expect to meet the goal.

Have you checked your retirement balances? Are you pleased with your progress for the year? What is the next milestone you are looking to reach?

Ha. I just typed that title in reference to money, but unfortunately it also applies to my figure! I did just get back from a walk, I guess that is where my brain still is.

While Laura, writer of Wife of the Deacon, and Klarose are watching their pennies, I am beginning to feel the need to do this as well.

My parents want us to take a vacation together before my daughter goes to college next year. Because of school schedules and the potential move in the summer after high school graduation, we have determined that Christmas break would be the best for all involved. Now we are trying to determine where. I prefer to drive, but not more than 8 hours away. I was asked about flying, but only if there is a great deal on tickets. Unfortunately, this trip was mentioned until about three weeks ago. I do not trips that are planned at the last minute (well, what feels like the last minute), since it is hard to save for.

The other factor that is coming in to play is needing to buy new tires for both vehicles this fall, including new timing belt for the van, easily $1500+ for all of those. I've known about these, but figured those could just be cash flowed. And that is still true, but that takes away the cash from upcoming checks and doesn't leave a lot for a trip. Of course, it also doesn't help that my husband's promotion order has not been cut, and therefore no pay increase yet.

I also want to get my youngest daughter a new flute this year. I was hoping sooner than later, too. That alone is about $1500.

It feels even more important to tighten any extraneous spending if we can. And I'm hoping we can. I will definitely be looking in the pantry to try to stretch a few meals. And if I keep the slim down mantra in mind, maybe I can lose a few pounds at the same time!

Are you cutting back on anything to reach a goal? If you had to slim down your spending, what would you start with?

Our automatic deposit of $57 was transferred to my Capital One 360 savings account yesterday. I have now made deposits to cover weeks 1-21 and 36-52. The balance in the account is $1,041.20. This includes a little interest and a few customer referral bonuses received from Capital One.

I really like having the challenge money set up automatically. It makes it so easy. I just need to record it each payday and that is it.

If you haven't read before, the money that I'm saving with the 52 Week Savings Challenge is going towards my daughter's band trip this spring. I actually plan to continue the challenge into next year and apply any extra towards a new flute for my younger daughter. It seems to have become a fund for those bigger expenses teens have!

Are you saving automatically for anything? Are you in on the 52 Week Savings Challenge (you can start at any time)?

Today is payday. I paid off charges made to various credit cards, so we are back to zero on all except one. No interest has accrued on any of course!

I made a big payment towards the principal balance of our mortgage in the amount of $349.41. This includes the planned $275 we make on the loan at mid month. We accumulated $48.08 in rewards on the Chase Freedom card over the last two months. That snowflake money was included in the payment in addition to some Pinecone survey and eBay proceeds. It all adds up to reduce debt! We only have a little over $3,600 to meet our the goal of paying off nearly $14K on the mortgage this year.

I have a bid on one item on eBay. There are several items listed and most at Buy It Now prices, so one has to wait until someone pulls the buy trigger. I may change these on Sunday to get some movement on them. I want the cash for them now.

I still haven't hit $100K in my Roth IRA account yet. The market has been down recently, but it could still happen this year. And I don't mind buying some more shares at lower prices!

I hope everyone has a thrify weekend!

I have some money tidbits today. I earned another $3 from Pinecone.

On eBay, I have a bid one one item and now someone watching another item.

I sent my $5 Starbucks egift card from Discover to my sister who is prepping her classroom for school. My mom is there helping. I thought they could use a coffee break sometime today. I've had the egift card in my email inbox since May! I think it's time someone used it.

Nothing is decided about college. We really enjoyed our visit to the college north of us. I personally would go there in an instant!

I purchased some items from iHerb today. I had over $9 in rewards, met the minimum spending for free shipping and paid less than $13 out of pocket for about $25 worth of items.

Citi Thank You card was not in the mail again today.

We decided not to go to our state fair, as it is now a two hour drive. We are coming up on the busy marching band season and need some time at home. I expect not going will save us nearly $150! That is a plus.

I'm going to open the box my wedding gown from 18 years ago is preserved in today. I will be trying it on and hoping I still fit in it(just kidding...that will never happen!!). Actually, I will be washing it and preparing to send it to an

organization that turns gowns in to Angel Gowns for babies who have died in the hospital. I have decided this is a better use for it than sitting in my closet. My daughters are not attached to it and don't have any interest in wearing it.

Those are my tidbits. Do you still have your wedding dress? Save any money this week? Will you visit your state fair?

The automatic investment to my Capital One 360 Savings account has taken place again. I added $57 to the 52 Week Savings Challenge. This means I have invested weeks 1-20 and 37-52. Only 18 more weeks to go! In our case that should be just 9 more deposits of $57.

The actual balance of my Capital One 360 account is $984.20, which includes a little interest and $60 in referral bonuses received.

This money is earmarked for my daughter's band camp trip in the spring of 2015. I'm not sure when all the money will be due, but we should have no trouble meeting the schedule!

Are you still participating in the 52 Week Savings Challenge? How are you doing?

I noticed that FNBO Direct where we have most of our emergency fund cash has reduced their interest rate from the measly 0.85% to 0.75%. I think it's time to move banks for a little better interest rate.

I probably could do a short term CD, but since I have a feeling we could be moving, I need some of that cash for the next house and I don't want it tied up. Or the potential to lose any extra interest, which would reduce the effective rate in the end.

I'm considering going to EverBank for their 6 month interest rate of 1.4%. I would then move the money after that to another bank that is paying closer to 1%. Anyone have a better idea? I have nearly $40K that I would put in the account.

If anyone here was considering changing to Ooma, today is the last day to receive the unit for $99 after a $30 activation rebate.

I have already referred one person this time around! For me that means a $20 credit to my credit card in about six weeks. The Ooma can actually make you money when you refer people to the service.

If interested, use my

referral code here to learn more.

I'm just slightly over $600 away from meeting my Roth IRA balance of $100K! Maybe today?! It helps that the market was up yesterday and my regular contribution posted.

I'm looking into a couple new snowflakes. I may apply for the Citi Thank You Preferred to get a $200 gift card bonus after spending $1500. I think it is available online, but I have a mailed offer, too. I have had this card in the past and obtained a bonus on it. I will need to read the fine print to double check that I would be eligible.

The other possibility is to open a US Bank Checking account to get $150. A direct deposit is one way to obtain the bonus; the other is to make three bill pay transactions. It's for first time customers and some of the checking accounts are free if you have a US Bank credit card, which I do. I also have to leave the account open for 180 days. That seems like forever, but it wouldn't be too hard to make it work.

At some point, I will likely apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card again. I know it has been over a year since I applied. My husband has done the offer twice since then, so it is my turn again. This one is actually the most lucrative offering 40,000 bonus points for spending $3000 in 3 months, plus an additional 5000 points for adding an authorized user. And that equates to $450 in cash. I will likely wait until later in the year for this one, with my fingers crossed the bonus goes up a little bit!

There may be other great offers out there, and plenty of websites that share them if you want to go looking. These are the few that have caught my eye that I'm considering doing before the year is out. At this point I have stopped signing my husband up for offers since he has the job and is most likely the one to sign for any new mortgages that could be about a year away...or more. Right now we don't know.

What credit card or bank offers are you doing to get more cash in your wallet? Is your retirement account reaching a milestone of any kind?

I made an online purchase with a company I have purchased from in the past, although it has been a couple years. I submitted the order on July 9.

I remembered to use Ebates and found a 20% off coupon which help off set the shipping they added of $6.99. My total was to be $22.50.

As of Tuesday, July 15 the order was still showing as processing! I was shocked, since it had been nearly a week since I ordered. I sent an email to the company, asking when the items would be mailed and stating my disappointment in the slow service.

The next morning, they had apologized without explaining and credited me the shipping cost of $6.99. Now I only owe $15.51. As of this morning I can see the items have been shipped, with expected delivery of Tuesday July 22.

I'm glad I inquired and that they have compensated me for the slow service. I don't expect I will purchase from them again, however. They are plenty of other sources for the items I bought.

Do you agree that waiting nearly a week to fill and ship an order is slow?

If you have considered using the

Ooma as your home phone line, they are offering the unit at $99.99 with free shipping after a $30 activation rebate. To get the offer, and learn more about Ooma home phone lines, click my referral link here.

If you have questions, feel free to ask, I will do my best based on my experience using Ooma.

I do receive $20 for each referral that purchases an Ooma unit.

We have some areas of our yard where the grass doesn't grow well, or is completely dead. This is mainly along the house and on the north sides. We have wanted to get this spruced up for ourselves as well as future buyers.

My husband wanted to hire it out. I was willing to hear the estimate. The one guy he called never called back. Haven't seen them in the neighborhood lately either.

I decided that since it was primarily dead, that the areas were soft because of so much rain, AND the weather was cooler that I would dig these areas up today. I got them all done in less than 4 hours! Maybe it was less. The old grass is in yard waste bags to be picked up next week.

We will get plastic edging to match what already exists, weed block, and rock for the areas I dug up. This equates to 80+ feet of edging and over 150 sq ft of rock. The rock will be the most expensive part. My labor is free compared to hiring someone.

We are going to look at rock prices tonight and hope get the project started or complete this weekend. It seems my husband is all up for it now that I did one of the hardest parts.

Do you hire yard work out? Do you do your own? Do you even have a yard?

My husband's paycheck is pending in our account, so I started paying bills. All of them are online!

I paid off the Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa card in full. I pulled money from savings for this one since it was the card I put my daughter's new computer on. The statement ends on the 23rd, so I should see my Rapid Rewards points soon after. Then it will be time to redeem more gift cards!!

I saved $57 in my Capital One 360 Savings account for the 52 Week Savings Challenge. That means I have now covered Weeks 1-19, and Weeks 38-52. This money is going to that band trip in the spring. I will easily have it funded by November!!

I paid our Target Red card that we put all of our groceries on, in addition to the Chase Freedom card that we put other expenses on when we aren't working on a particular bonus card. Chase Freedom is offering 5% cash back on gas stations this quarter. Our reward for this statement was over $15. We cannot redeem the rewards until they are over $20, so we have to wait awhile longer.

I also recorded the automatic savings for our Roth contributions of $458.33 each and $167 to each of our daughter's college fund. It is so easy to keep investing when the money is transferred automatically. I don't have to think about it much, except to record the transaction in our check register.

I paid an additional $275 to our mortgage, which is planned on the 15 each month. I added $40.64 in snowflakes for a total principal reduction of $315.64. Less debt! Yes.

The other good news is that I was able to set aside $231.78 in savings for this pay period. It may get pulled back out for some upcoming expenses, but it is there for later and that feels good.

The weather is cool, and way less humid this week, so I'm going to try to keep the windows open and the air conditioning off as much as possible, so save a few extra dollars. It does make one of my cats quite frisky smelling all that fresh air!

Did you pay extra on your mortgage this month? Are you using a rewards card to get cash back on gas this month? Are you still participating in the 52 Week Savings Challenge?

This summer is one for the books right now. Of course, it can change. It has been significantly cooler. No days above 90 degrees for us yet. And of course, lots of rain, which is good plants and bad when your neighbor's basements fill with water. I feel bad for those people. Sad to see so many belongings on the curb for pickup.

We have had many days, with the windows open! This means no air conditioning. And then of course that equates to lower electricity bills. I like that! I mentioned

electricity savings in my last post if you missed it.

With all the rain, we have not needed to water our lawn even one time. I expect this could change as we get into fall though. Of course, we are mowing a bit more as the grass is growing at a nice clip with all the rain and cooler weather.

I'm taking advantage of the cooler weather today to get our bathroom painted. We still have plenty of paint from our big paint purchase in March or April. I posted a little paint tip on Your Organized Friend when I started on the project this weekend.

Have you been painting or doing any chores because the weather is cooler? Is YOUR weather cooler? Have you been getting more rain than in a usual summer?

I hate to say it but school shopping will be upon us before we know it. I try to do some of the shopping online during the summer clearance stores have this time of year. That gives us a few new items to start back to school when it is still hot.

I try to remember to use

Ebates before I get to the site, but sometimes I'm shopping and about to checkout before I remember. In that case, I close the tab with my shopping cart still full and to to Ebates. I find the store I'm shopping at and Ebates pulls their site up for me. Most of the time, my cart is still there, but this time I'm logged into Ebates to get cash back on the purchase.

Most recently, I have used Ebates to make purchases through Vistaprint for my daughter's business cards, Snapfish to order photo prints, Redbubble for my daughter's birthday t shirts and GNC for my husband's vitamins.

Don't forget to check out online shopping for vacation needs, too! I always find it hectic to be shopping before a vacation, and it seems shopping for some things online limits the stress of running to multiple stores.

Okay...thanks for listing to my reminder! I plan to get at least ONE thing listed for sale today to start off our SA Selling Challenge. Do you have anything up for sale?

I have been participating in the 52 Week Savings Challenge for more than half a year now. I make my deposits twice per month on payday. I also decided mine would be equal amounts of $57 each.

I also started the challenge with $10, and have an additional $60 in the account that have been earned from Capital One 360 referrals (thank you!). My balance with interest as of July 4 is $869.63.

If I were following the weeks, we could say that I have deposited money for weeks 1-18 and weeks 39-52. That is 32 of 52 weeks, so more than halfway to the goal.

I recently decided that this money will fund my daughter's band trip. Although, we may have her put some skin in the game, for spending money, or work the fundraisers hard.

Are you participating in the 52 Week Savings Challenge? Are you still on track to complete the goal? Did you know you could start any time?

I see the market has continued to go up in the last couple weeks! I'm still not to my personal goal of $100K or to our joint goal of $300K, but we are sure getting close.

As of July 3, my personal retirement account balance reached $98,956.03. I'm so very, very close. If the market goes up and I make my regular investment for July, I expect I can meet the $100K goal. I can't wait!

Together our retirement accounts are approaching $300K. The balance on Thursday was $296,180.13. Sometimes this seems like a lot of money, but it sure doesn't feel like enough to retire on right now.

We will keep investing and moving forward to that eventual goal. I expect to increase our retirement contributions with my husband's pay raise that comes with promotion. We don't have word yet, on when that is official or the effective date.

How are you feeling about your retirement portfolio?

The Capital One 360 offers are now up on their website. My referral link is

here. Remember to read the fine print for all offers so you know what is required of you. There is only one offer available per person. No double dipping!

Here is a screen print of the offers available. You can get $100 for opening a checking account. You must use the debit card at least 5 times for any amount within the first 45 days. The $100 is deposited to your account on Day 50 automatically. I opened mine with $50 so that I had money to spend once I received the debit card.

If you open a Savings account with Capital One 360 you must deposit $500. The cash will earn .75% interest beginning on day 1. You will earn $76 immediately upon opening, but you cannot take it out for 30 days.



Here is what you will see when you click on my link:



Are you planning to sign up for these offers? Have you participated in Capital One 360 offers in the past?

I just found out this morning that Capital One 360 is running a sweepstakes where you have the chance to win $1,776 each day through July 14th. It is a way to share what you are doing to declare your financial independence. I entered using Facebook, but you can enter through Twitter, Instagram and Email also.

I know we all have ways we save and improve our financial lives. We might as well share and have the chance to win some cash!

Check out the sweepstakes and enter if you chose

here. I do not get anything for passing this information along. Just thought I'd share...since it would be fun if one of us here were to win!

Don't forget to come back to my blog on Monday for information about the Capital One 360 Independence Day Sale that begins on Monday through July 3.

Do you enter sweepstakes on a regular basis, just on occasion or never?