I've been doing more shopping, in the stores and online. It's going well. I've used coupons, and have stayed within budget so far. I think Etsy is my next stop for unique items for my daughter's. They will likely browse first to give me ideas of what they like.

I used the $5 Amazon promotion discount for spending $35. On the same purchased I used my Citi Thank You card points to redeem $9.08 towards the purchase. I will pay that off and retire that card. I was glad to open it for the bonus, but can't say it is one I really want to keep.

I received a $3 Pinecone payment today in my PayPal account. Technically, I already spent it when I made an Ebay purchase. But I will be adding that $3 to my snowflakes.

I used $75 worth of Kohl's cash in the last couple of days to purchase two infant clothing items for my new niece, a 3 pack of pairing knives, two scarves, a belt, pantyhose and two containers of lotion. Not too bad. More than half of those items are gifts. I'm splitting the knives between three people. The scarves and lotions are for two teen nieces. I received the Kohl's cash when I purchased a KitchenAid Stand Mixer on Cyber Monday. It was a great deal with free shipping, 20% off, $15 in Kohl's cash for each $50 spent, a $50 rebate from KitchenAid, and I went through Ebates for another rebate. I think the stand mixer cost me about $180 after all those discounts. The mixer was a splurge, but we have been looking at them on and off for over a year.

The check engine light in my Honda Odyssey has come on twice in the last two days. Boo. It's about time for an oil change. So my van has an appointment on Monday. Hoping it is an easy fix and inexpensive as possible. At least we are working on a credit spending goal, so that will help.

My Christmas cards are mailed. I found a deal online before Thanksgiving for 25 photo cards. Then I bought envelopes because the type I bought didn't come with envelopes. After Thanksgiving I pulled out the Christmas decorations and found a full box of cards (with envelopes) that I bought on clearance at Target. I'm guessing I paid less than $1 for those. I guess they wait until next year. If I remember to use them.

I have joined the 2014 52 Week Money Challenge. I have ten dollars in my wallet, that I will put in an envelope to cover weeks 1-4. It's a beginning. I will likely put larger amounts in my Capital One 360 account. No exact plans for the money other than to find another way to save and accumulate money. This money will come from income, rather than snowflakes.

Enjoy the season! Stay warm. Eat light. Rest deep.

I have some snowflakes for December already. I had my final Ebay auction end Monday. The sale net me $7.41 for a clothing item I would have been lucky to get $2 for a garage sale!

I also shopped on Amazon yesterday and used my final Amazon.com gift card we earned from the Chase Southwest Airlines Bonus a few months ago. The balance remaining was $21.10.

I just sent the total of those two snowflakes, $28.10, to the mortgage. We are officially over $3,000 in snowflake earnings this year. Yippee!!

I have some used books and cd's to take into the used book store for cash. They aren't bringing much, if anything, on the online sites so I'm going local.

Thank you to the person who opened a Capital One account with my referral. Much appreciated!! You earned me $80.

I opened a Capital One 360 Savings and Checking account for my husband today to get the Black Friday special bonus offers. With the checking account, he will earn $125 on Day 50, if he completes at least 5 debit transactions before the first 45 days. I deposited $50 to cover some small transactions, which should be plenty. I deposited $500 in the savings account to meet the requirements to earn $75 in the next 30 days. We sure can't complain about an extra $200 in less than two months.

I was my husband's referral. I earned $20 for that referral and $20 for the second person who opened an account with my referral. Capital One was offering $100 total bonus for referring two people during the Black Friday sale. So make that $300 in less than two months. I should have the bonus money in full by the end of December. We have been very happy with all of our experiences with Capital One, including credit cards.

There are lots of snowflakes in the works. I can see about $1215 arriving in the future months, including the $300 above. I can't wait to see what else comes up!

I know many of the regular bloggers already have Capital One 360 accounts, but if you are lurking AND want to earn $200, check out the Black Friday Sale at

Capital One.

You can earn $125 by opening a Checking account. You must use the debit card five times within the first 45 days. On day 50 the bonus is credited. There is no minimum and you do earn interest on Capital One 360 accounts.

To earn an additional $75 you can open a Savings account. The minimum deposit required is $500 and will start earning interest on day one, including the bonus. The bonus will be available for withdrawal on after 30 days. No additional requirements beyond the minimum deposit are required.

These are taxable bonuses, as they will be reported to the IRS as interest. The links is my personal referral codes. If I refer two people, I can earn $100. I expect to refer my husband, so just one of you can help me get a bonus! Thanks for your consideration.

After having family here for Thanksgiving we were left with an abundance of leftovers. I think we will be covered for most of the weekend!! Yummy.

I sent in a $32.51 snowflake to the mortgage last night. This snowflake is made up of $6 from Pinecone surveys, a $1.51 Ebay profit, and the $25 credit from American Express for the Staples offer. That Staples offer credit was applied FAST! I wasn't expecting that. So cool.

I did pay off the purchase of our new dining table and chairs in full yesterday. I took the money from savings to make the $1121.36 payment. Not fun to see the balance go down, but we like the table and I'd rather have the savings go down than see a large credit card bill!

I did sell four things on Ebay this past week. My profit was $1.51 for one auctions. Two auctions were my daughters things and she earned $18.86. She is saving her money to purchase a Photoshop program, so small amounts help. I sold an item for my mom, and she earned $5.50. The one item I had that didn't sell has been relisted and will end on Cyber Monday. If it doesn't sell then, it will be time to donate.

We bought quite a bit of wine and beer last night. We found a deal on a case (12 bottles) of wine. Each bottle was $3.98. The store offered 10% off with the purchase of 12. The manufacturer of the wine is offering an $18 rebate for the purchase of 12. This works out to $2.08 a bottle. And we drink and like this wine, so that is a bonus! I will get that rebate in the mail as soon as possible.

I will do a more complete November snowflake update in a couple days, but it looks like so far I have accumulated $146.78 this month. Not terrible, but not my best month by far. There are a lot of snowflakes forming in several areas, but those may not come to fruition until December or even January.

Time to start all that baking, I mentioned yesterday. What dish is your favorite to prepare and eat for Thanksgiving?

Capital One 360 is having a Black Friday sale starting Friday thru Monday, December 2nd. This means bonuses for opening a new checking or savings account. The amounts have not been announced yet. I already have a Capital One checking and savings account. If the bonuses are good enough, I think my husband will be opening some accounts! And I will be his referral, hoping I can earn a little more cash.

Here's what the current ad looks like:


Does this offer peak your interest? Do you already have a Capital One 360 account?

I sold one of my listings on Ebay today. I don't like to disclose specific items since someone could go looking. But considering I probably could have thrown these out, but yet they clearly are useful to someone, I feel pretty good netting $1.71 for them. It does look like people are shopping on Ebay more than a couple weeks ago. My items are being looked at AND watched. Fingers crossed for bids.

Youngest daughter came home sick this morning. Nearly 100 degree fever and a sore throat. Pretty sure it isn't strep since the sore throat was starting the night before last. After some pain meds and a movie she is feeling better. And she is always good with the fluids when she is home sick! I think straws help.

I made the second Swagbucks goal today. Usually I just do the first one. I received a Pinecone Survey in the mail today, so next week I should have more money in my PayPal account to add to November's snowflakes.

I'm going to make a store run. There are some good groceries sales right now. I also want to use the $10 grocery coupon at Target before it expires tomorrow.

Have a super weekend and stay warm and dry!

Yesterday, I went down to our basement storage room and found enough stuff to get rid of to fill three large storage bags. The good news is, I got it to Goodwill this morning.

I listed five items on Ebay this evening. I made them three day auctions to end on Sunday. If they sell, I hope I can get them mailed out before the holiday. If they don't, I will relist on Monday as seven day auctions. This means they will end on Cyber Monday. Not sure if all of this is great planning or not. It's worth a try. If they don't sell by that time, I will give the items to Goodwill. Actually, I have a book series listed that would probably go to the used book store for a little cash.

I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my side of the family. We are unable to travel due to my husband's work commitments, so my family is traveling here. Such good family. So now, I'm planning dinner and other meals for their visit. It feels like a lot of work!

After MonkeyMama's post about the new Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus offer, I'm considering applying. My husband and I have both done this offer in the past. I'm pretty sure it has been more than a year since I applied. We can meet the minimum. I just wasn't planning to apply for two cards in such a short time. My husband applied for the Chase Freedom offer just yesterday. I know I sure would like an extra $550!

Do you serve and plan your Thanksgiving dinner? Or do you take a dish or dessert?

I read

MyMoneyBlog this morning and found out about a new bonus offer for obtaining the Chase Freedom card. It is now $200 cash for spending $500 in three months! No annual fee. Wow. That is quite a return!!

I already have the Chase Freedom, but my husband does not. He did roll his eyes at me this morning when I said I was probably going get another credit card for him. He was approved. The real test is to see if the bonus is actually given, considering he has received bonuses from Chase Sapphire and Chase Southwest Rapids Rewards cards in the last 12 months. I decided it was worth the chance! I will let you know once it is applied.

Since we only need to spend $500, I will likely pay the electric, internet and cellular phone bills with it. I also expect to buy some gas as well. That is an easy $500 to spend without spending money on things we don't need.

I expect this will be likely be one of our first rewards in 2014. I think I should look to beat my 2013 snowflake total, don't you? Will you apply for this bonus offer, or do you already have the Chase Freedom card?

As a reminder, we are opening credit cards for bonus money and rewards as way to EARN income that we can't by earning interest on our savings. Savings rates are very low, so this is a way to boost our income. We have great credit. Pay our bills off ahead of schedule and without paying interest. We close cards after we have redeemed our rewards in most cases. I do NOT suggest this method to those who cannot pay off a balance in full.

The budget billing amount for our natural gas has been lowered from $43 to $28. A nice surprise! We do have quite a bit of money on credit going into the high gas use season, so I'm sure it will work great.

I have a Pinecone $3 payment in my PayPal account this morning. Another snowflake for November!

The glasses we ordered online for my youngest daughter arrived this weekend. She is thrilled with her pick. Last night we went to Target to have them adjusted and soft nose pads added. So far so good. I believe she wore them to school today. I told her to let me know if she gets any headaches, as that could indicate a problem. I don't anticipate any however. We did pay $135 for the glasses, so not ultra cheap, but I know there is a savings there over other places we have purchased from in the past.

We thought a new timing belt was in our future for our Honda Odyssey. We remembered the dealership mentioning it last year, saying it should be replaced every five years. They also mentioned a mileage amount for replacement. We were at the year mark, but under the mileage. We decided to wait a year. Last night we pulled out the owner's manual, which states every 60,000 miles under extreme weather conditions (very hot and very cold). This does not apply to us. We are nearing 80,000 miles and don't drive in these extreme conditions mentioned. Turns out our Honda has a maintenance minder code that will tell us when to replace the timing belt. We will wait for our van to tell us when it is ready for a new belt. Glad to not have to spend that money now.

Do you participate in budget billing for utilities? Have you ordered glasses online? Does your vehicle tell you when to do maintenance?

My snowflakes since January 1st are getting VERY close to the $3,000 mark. We have accumulated $2,943.23. Only $56.77 to go to make that milestone.

I sent in a recent accumulation of snowflakes to the mortgage. The amount was $42.85. That included Swagbucks, a couple Ebay sales, and a Pinecone survey.

That last Ebay sale had a non paying buyer. I received the fee credit back this morning. I have not decided whether to relist or not. I think I may need to be done until after the holidays.

I'm pretty sure I have some snowflakes in the pipeline. Just not sure what they are or when they will arrive, but I KNOW I can meet the goal by year end if not by the end of the month.

Over the weekend I bought two locally handmade soaps. They smell wonderful made with herbs. I may keep for myself or give in someone's stocking for Christmas. Our town has a rather new venue that is basically an indoor farmer's market. About half the space is supporting upstart businesses who are permanent. The other half is more traditional craft/farmer's market fare, which changes week to week. The facility also has a large culinary kitchen where you can take classes. It does feel good to support handmade and local items. Have you bought anything locally made recently? What did you buy and what type of event/venue was it?

Oops! One of my Ebay customers ended up with postage due. It was $0.54. The buyer chose to inform me so it wouldn't happen to another customer of mine, and didn't expect or want a refund. I did refund the money because I sure didn't want that to happen. And it is just the right thing to do!

My $25 from Swagbucks arrived in my PayPal account. I have requested the money to be transferred to our bank account. I will make another mortgage payment with my recent snowflakes soon!

I did go to Snapfish yesterday and made a 4x6 collage photo as our Christmas card. With shipping I paid $3.75, since they were having a 50% off sale. I purchased 25 cards. I will now need to find a good price on 4x6 envelopes!

The sewing project was slow today. Unfortunately, I had to take it apart. It was too small to fit the case of the piccolo. I will have to make the fabric a little bigger. It was a good experience and I expect as a result I will be able to go a little quicker tomorrow.

I talked to a friend on the phone today. She organized her daughter's closet and dresser and I found things in my basement to donate while we talked. A great use of time!! And the phone call was free because I called with the Ooma.

That is the news from here. Do mail Christmas or Holiday cards? Anyone send New Year's cards?

I called and cancelled our home land line today. The cancellation is effective today. We will get a prorated credit for remainder of the month that we have been billed for. I was disappointed to find out that we will still be charged the Universal Service Fee for the broadband internet portion now. This means our savings will only be $19 per month rather than $30. However, we can get free long distance on the Ooma, so I still think this works out very well considering all of our family and some of our friend are long distance.

My daughter did pick out a pair of glasses online. I ordered them this evening. These weren't cheap, but cheaper than I paid last year. The final total with scratch free, UV and anti glare lenses shipped was $134.94. I know I paid over $225 last year at Target for her glasses. If they don't fit, or seem right visually we can return them for a refund. The company will pay the shipping from what I read online, if a return is requested.

My husband was able to get a free haircut at Great Clips today in honor of Veteran's Day. A nice benefit as he does get his haircut with more frequency than the girls and I who have long hair. I'm sure he still tipped generously!

I'm considering a Red Cross donation for those in affected by the typhoon. Those images of destruction are so sad. I just remembered we may have some airline miles we could donate. Not sure if that is the right help or not though. I will check our options.

Do you donate to disaster relief? Have you donated airline miles? Have you purchases glasses or contacts online? Was it a good experience?

Here's a list of money tidbits from recent days:

I completed a Pinecone Survey today. I expect I will get my $3 payment for that later in the week. I'm also secretly hoping to get a sample!

I'm trying to convince my daughter to try purchasing glasses online. We looked at Target optical, but noticed many of the glasses are plastic frames, and she prefers the wire ones with nose pads. We will look at other local stores as well, but I think online might save us quite a bit of money!

The return I made to Lands End at the end of October ended up arriving as a check in the mail, rather than a credit to my card I originally purchased with. I read on their website that this was because the purchase was over 9 months old. Either way I got the money!

We rented a movie on Amazon last night for $2.99. Since this was gift card money used I will match the purchase and send the funds to our mortgage debt.

Our bank reimbursed us for $3 in ATM fees and paid us a whopping $0.03 in interest. I always include these in our snowflake accumulations.

I have Ebay auctions ending today. One will sell, the other four are definitely up in the air as to whether they will or not. The proceeds also go to the snowflakes for equity goal.

We turned on our gas fireplace last night. As a result we will definitely see higher bills. I'm okay with it as it seems to make everyone happy and cozy in the evenings. My goal is always to wait until November 1, so we did make it a little longer this year.

We will be making another trip to the library today. We went Friday when the girls were off from school, but they have now read all the books! They want more to have with them during the week. Libraries rock for free entertainment!

I plan to log into our banks, and investments and various accounts to update our new phone number today. This means I can call tomorrow to cancel our land line. I just paid the bill that includes the phone service for the month of November. I expect they will credit days not used to our next bill, which will only include internet service.

My birthday is next Sunday. I tend to get $100 from my parents each year. I'm looking forward to getting some new socks, a purse, a shirt or two and a fleece to spruce up my wardrobe. I will be looking for good prices, so I can get the most for the money.

Well, that is my list of money tidbits. I had more than I realized. Do you make use of your library? Do you receive money for your birthday? Do you spend or save it?

First I want to apologize for the Christmas topic before Thanksgiving. My girls are very irritated at all the Christmas advertising and music they are seeing this early.

At our previous home we would put out lights on the eaves of the house and our bushes, in addition to garland and lights on the railing. Last year, with a new home we found ourselves with very small bushes, and no railing. I managed to put out a wreath on the porch, which was fine, but not quite enough.

This year I have begun browsing Pinterest for porch ideas. I came across a simple way to put a tree with lights on my front porch. It is basically a tomato cage turned upside down in a pot and wrapped with garland. And the best part is I had everything I needed to put it together. I intend to add real pine cones for a natural look. My mom has picked some up from her yard to bring to me. I will add white lights once it is placed on our porch.

Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea of what this will look like.


The color may look inconsistent in the picture because I used two different types of garland. In person it is not very noticeable. I think I used 6 strands of 6 foot garland to cover the tomato cage. If I have one more somewhere, I may wrap it around the bottom to make it wider. I also intend to put something heavy in the bottom of the pot to keep it from blowing over.

I figure this configuration will save me from buying a porch tree at the store that might cost $40 or more! It will at least be a frugal experiment. Do you have a frugal holiday decorating idea?

I read on MyMoneyBlog that the Southwest Rapids Reward credit card is offering 50,000 bonus points through November 18 for spending $2,000 in three months, if you are interested.

I made another sale on Ebay today for which I probably will net about $5. Happy about things finally selling this week! I redeemed Swagbucks for $25 in PayPal cash. I hope it arrives soon.

I received three Kohl's coupons in the mail yesterday. On one mailer I got 15% off plus $5 off a $5 purchase. The other mailer had a $10 off a $10 purchase! I don't think I can use the dollar off coupons together, but I hope to use the larger one and the percentage off one towards a new purse, which I will likely purchase with birthday money.

I'm still slowly decluttering this week. I need to get down into my storage room, where I'm sure I'll find quite a few things we just don't need. I hope to make my run to Goodwill tomorrow morning when I take my Ebay sale to the post office. Less clutter before the holidays feels good!

Tomorrow I hope to show you a frugal holiday decoration for my porch that I made from things I already own. Stay tuned!

I've talked from time to time about canceling our home number and going to cell only service or trying out VoiP. Since the youngest daughter seemed pretty concerned about keeping a home phone we have set up a new VoiP phone number. It is a Ooma Telo. And we were able to actually get a local phone number. Yippee!!

I purchased the Ooma directly from the company at the end of October for $99.99, which included free shipping. This was a special referral offer, that has since expired.

Our current phone bill is $30.80 each month. We get like 5 calls from people we know. The rest are telemarketers! The Ooma Telo will charge us $3.72 each month for federal taxes. After we recoup the initial cost, we will be saving $27.08 every month! I will call to cancel on Monday if things seem to go well over the weekend.

We have made a test call on the Ooma and it sounds perfect. No complaints in quality at all! Let me know if you have questions. I will try to do a review in a month or so to let you know how it continues to work.

I'm often browsing for higher savings interest rates, but honestly, I have not jumped on some of them. I think I'm afraid of locking up the money for too long. I'm annoyed with myself for this. I really need to figure out what that is really about.

If you would like to search for higher interest rates, I recommend the website

DepositAccounts.com. They have the rates categorized by type, location, and includes a calculator to show the interest you can earn.

I think the highest rate we are earning is 0.85% APR in our money market savings account. This isn't the lowest, but there are higher rates. Some do require some hoops to jump through and at a minimum we would have to move our money.

What is the highest rate you are earning on your cash? Does anyone have a long term CD? Anyone have good luck with a high yield rewards checking account?

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?

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?

MYTH: I don't need to save because Social Security will take care of me when I'm retired.

TRUTH: Social Security was never intended to be a person's sole income in retirement. The average monthly benefit for a retired worker in 2013 is $1,262.

I found that tidbit of information in our newspaper last weekend. I was reminded that the SSA no longer sends out benefit statements, which listed your employment record and expected benefits at different ages. This information is still available, but is now available at

SocialSecurity.gov. You can set up an account to view your personal information. It is good to check this site once a year to make sure your earnings are being reported correctly.

My husband and I are not planning on social security in our retirement, but I was reminded that without 10 years of work experience, I'm not even eligible for my own social security. If I remember right, there is a spousal/widow's benefit that would give me some benefits. Not that I'm expecting or planning on it.

We are getting free furniture this weekend. Specifically, a sofa and loveseat. My parents are downsizing from a 4000 sq ft home with five bedrooms to 1400 sq ft apartment with just two bedrooms. They are trying to sell/give away much of their furniture. Since our living room set is about 17 years old, we figured it was a deal to take a set they have owned for five years. They are giving it to us, but we are needing to rent a trailer to hook to our truck. The rental for two days is about $60, plus an extra $10 for damage insurance. We know from past experience and inquiry that our insurance does not cover rental trailers, therefore worth the cost should a major accident occur. I won't count the cost of fuel in this purchase because we would have spent that visiting them anyway. A new to us couch and loveseat for $70 is a very good deal.

We could sell our old couch and loveseat. Right now I think we have the storage space to set it aside for awhile. It could be a really good set for an apartment. And since our oldest daughter is a Junior in high school, it isn't that far off to think she might want it in a few years. She doesn't care whether we keep it or not. She said it is up to us. So we'll see how storing it goes. If it gets in the way or takes up more space then I'm expecting then we will sell it.

So are you planning on Social Security? Do you know anyone who believes in the myth above? Was your couch purchased new or used? Do you think I should save our old set or sell it?

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?

Since Monday, we have been eating from the pantry, fridge and freezer. No run to the store for extras or preferred meals. I spent so much money last weekend getting ready for guests, I thought we needed to rein it in. There have been a few complaints but for the most part everyone has had their preferred food for breakfast and lunch. At dinner, we have been eating different things since we don't have the quantity to feed all of us, or we want to use something up.

Today for lunch, I'm going to finish some soup and have some refried beans with sour cream and lettuce on the side. My husband is coming home for lunch and will have eggs and toast, which is what I ate for dinner last night. It feels good to stretch the grocery budget and actually use up what we have already purchased!

I am going to the store today since we really are out of options for dinner. I will also be buying another round of groceries for visiting guests! This should be the last weekend for that for awhile at least. My mother is bringing the ingredients for the meal on Friday, so that helps with the planning and spending.

What is the oddest thing you have eaten for a meal when using up your food on hand?

I'm still a bit interested in a VoIp phone line, rather than a land line. My youngest daughter is very insistent we keep the home phone, primarily for safety reasons. I sure don't want to make this an issue where she feels unsafe. Not worth that. My Money Blog has a referral for the Ooma, which would be $99 plus free shipping. This would save nearly $30 over the price on Amazon right now. The monthly savings to our phone bill would be about $25/mo, as we would still need to pay the taxes. Ooma does include 911 service, so that is a positive. The offer ends at the end of October. I'm sure I can make a decision by then. I was all up for it a few months ago, when I was thinking of using Google Voice, but it was a little less expensive.

The fixing issue has to do with our toilets. They aren't running, as in filling up with water, but they are bubbling inside the tank. It's odd, and very annoying. We think the mechanisms are probably cheap and need to be replaced. A bit irritating since it's a 'new' house. They should be a relatively inexpensive fix since DH can replace them. However, he's been so busy I might actually attempt it myself! I'll follow the directions and look for a You Tube video that shows me exactly what to do. So much cheaper than a plumber.

I'm also going to buy those running shoes on Amazon today. The pair I have is over a year old. My back has been sore, my feet are sore while I work out...it is just time! I'll use my Amazon gift cards and then make ANOTHER payment to the mortgage.

Have you done your own plumbing repairs? How often do you buy new running shoes? Anyone else enjoying VoIP telephone service?

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 used more of the gift cards we earned from the Southwest Airlines credit card in the last few days. Today, I spent $41.53 at Walmart for kitty litter, laundry detergent, soap, a few name brand food products, and a large hand sanitizer for my sister classroom. We also made a shoe purchase at Kohl's for $45.46. I also let my daughter rent a move for $2.99 from Amazon.com to watch on their day off from school. (Those count as October snowflakes, in case you were wondering!)

As I have said several times before, I am matching the money spent on the gift cards and sending it to pay down the mortgage principal. Those purchases equal $89.98 less debt on our mortgage. I just sent the payment off earlier today.

We have now spent just over $265 with the gift cards we earned and all of those funds have been matched and sent to pay down our mortgage. Including our mortgage payment that posted yesterday, we have paid $770.21 on the principal balance in the last 15 days. Yippee!! Less debt makes me happy.

I already have $6 from Pinecone, and a little interest from my Capital One 360 account to add to the snowflakes for October as well. It's a good start.

In other news, I did find out that many of my husband's civilian coworkers are applying for unemployment since they have been furloughed. This is allowed in our state, but maybe not in others. Unfortunately, one man just moved here from another state and has not met the 18 month resident requirement. He is still going to apply to see what happens. He may need to apply in the state he moved from as he still has a legal residence there. I hope the shutdown ends soon for all those families affected.

I also heard in our city that a group of women are collecting baby formula and food to hand out to those who were counting on WIC checks this month and don't know when they will receive them. Have you heard any good stories like this in your town?

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?