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?

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?

First, a couple of updates. I have received another Pinecone Survey payment, and I made another transaction on my Capital One 360 Checking account. Just two more to go. My husband just needs to spend another $28 on the Capital One Quicksilver card. I'm waiting for the American Express card he applied for to arrive in the mail. Once it does, one of us will apply for the Southwest card.

I keep seeing a bank sign that flashes 3.00%APR. I stopped to watch it the other day. It's called Green Checking, so I'm assuming this is technically a high yield savings account. This might be our next best bet for some savings on our excess cash. I will get in soon to inquire further, as I can't find anything on the bank's website.

I have looked at other area banks for their high yield rates. Most don't give the rate for over $25K. There are always stipulations such as direct deposit, or 3-5 automatic bill payments, or 10 debit transactions.

Does anyone have a high yield checking account? How does yours work? Which rate are you getting? Is it worth it to you?

I guess all my posts are going to be about rewards for awhile. All these rewards are snowflakes towards mortgage debt. Less debt is good!

Yesterday, I received my CaptialOne 360 checking debit card. I activated it right away and used it to pay for my daughter's haircuts and vitamins. The two purchases go towards the five debit card purchases I need to make to get the $100 reward. Only three purchases left to go.

I have received my bonus ThankYou points on my Citi Thank You Preferred card in the amount of 25,000. I was hoping I could redeem for a statement credit rather than gift cards. Unfortunately, those credits are not nearly as valuable as the gift cards. I would only get $100 in statement credits for those points. I did find out that I can redeem those 25,000 points for a $250 check made out to our mortgage company though. That is exactly the reward I want. I will have to call to get that ordered, but I will do that today!

We are only $40 away from making the minimum purchase requirement on my husband's Capital One Quicksilver card. We have purchased two tanks of gas and my husband charged his lunch yesterday while he was out of town on business. Again all charges made on this card are regular expenses for our household.

I'm pretty sure we will take the plunge and open the Southwest Rapids Rewards Premiere credit card soon. We will only open one in my husband's name to begin with. It does have a $2000 spending requirement. I don't want to jump on two cards too quickly. It makes it harder to track and I don't want to not make the spending requirement. I'll let you know when we are approved for that one.

I hope to have some Ebay updates later this month. I have been coming across quite a few things lately that need to be sold. I'll start with five to six items this Sunday.

Here's to more snowflakes!!

I finally have my

CapitalOne 360 referral link. I don't know that any of you want to use it, since the incentive for you is not as great as it was at the beginning of July during their Independence Day Sale. I receive $20 deposited in my account if you use my link for the 360 Checking account. If you open the savings account, I only get the $20, if your initial deposit is $250 or more. The interest rate is 0.75% APR. Thanks in advance if you use the link.

My total snowflakes for July so far total $133.47. I expect this to be much, much higher by the end of the month, since I should easily have another $400 in credit rewards redeemed by then. Thus my principal payment to the mortgage will be a nice big one compared to the $56 I sent in last month.

We started using the Capital One Quicksilver card two days ago. I used it to pay the electric, phone and internet bills, as well as that $75 speeding fine my husband incurred in May. We only need to spend $157.09 to meet the $500 spending requirement. We will then net $100 in Rewards. I expect we will use the card to buy fuel for our vehicles over the next two weeks and meet the requirement with no problem.

I'm only 70 Swagbucks away from redeeming another $25 PayPal cash deposit. I expect I can accumulate those by the end of the day.

How are you snowflakes coming along? Are you still looking for ways to accumulate snowflakes? Anyone selling on Ebay?

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards card is now offering 50,000 bonus points after $2,000 in purchases in 3 months. This is equal to two round trip airline tickets on Southwest or $500 in gift cards. There is a $99 annual fee for the Premier card, and $69 if you apply for the Plus version.

I was tipped off about this card offer from

MyMoneyBlog. I haven't decided weather to apply or not. I really don't like having to pay an annual fee...even once! I realize I would have a net gain.

I like that we could redeem the points for gift cards, so if I look at it as though I was putting my $99 on a gift card and gaining $401...then it does seem more appealing. I also think there is a possibility of flying for a vacation in the next 12 months, so that is actually appealing as well.

Will you jump on this card offer? Do you think it is worth the annual fee? Where do you fly on Southwest Airlines?

The American Express Blue Cash Everyday card shows the $150 in statement credits have been applied to the account. The new balance is now $1051. I will save this months payment I planned to make towards the Snowflakes for Equity. I will pay $150 per month on this card, until it is paid. It is 0% interest thus I'm not in a hurry to pay it off. The charge is for the trip my daughter will take to Washington DC in the spring.

My husband received a Capital One card in the mail today. It is Capital One Quicksilver. It will earn 1.5% cash rewards. I had not heard of this card, until I went looking for one for him to apply for. There are no rotating categories and rewards can be redeemed for cash or statement credits. He will earn $100 for making $500 in purchases. We will actually use it very soon to pay the electric bill. The rest will be our regular expenses and maybe a bike for one of our daughter's who is now ready to start riding again.

If anyone sees an offer for a Citi card for more than $150 in gift cards, I'd like the link. I was able to get $250 with the Citi Thank You Preferred card because I was mailed the offer. Right now I can't find anything online with an offer that good for him!

Am I making you dizzy with all this credit card offer reward stuff? It is really, really for those of us organized to keep track of it all. Please don't use credit cards if you can't avoid interest or late fees, or might not be organized enough to keep it all in check.

Another good month for snowflakes this month. I seem to be doing really well at averaging over $100 per month. Last month was $170, so this month at $119 is well below, but this has been a really busy month. I didn't sell anything on Ebay or Craigslist.

Some of the snowflakes finished up the Christmas fund this month. Happy to meet that goal so early in the year. The remainder $56 is going to be applied to the mortgage to help increase the equity we have in the house. Right now I plan only to track the actual funds allocated towards the equity. There will be equity obtained by paying more to principal which means less interest, but that is a little harder to track here.

Thursday I was able to cash in more Swagbucks for a $25 deposit in my PayPal account. I also have a Pinecone survey to complete. Those two snowflakes will be allocated to July. I expect to count the credit card rewards in July, too!

Did you track your snowflakes for June? How did you do?

The Citi Thank You Preferred card that I received earlier this month has been used just a little in the amount of $25.11. There actually was a statement issued already! That amount has been paid as of this evening.

This card has a $1000 minimum purchase to earn $250 in gift cards. We have three months to meet the goal. We will use it for everything we normally purchase and our small in state vacation at the end of the month. I expect by the end of the month we will have met the goal. Just $974.89 to go.

In fact, I did use this card today for fuel in my van, a gift card for my dad, and a book of stamps, which was around $85. I think my husband probably used it to pay for his haircut.

I do have a few out of the norm expenses that can be charged if needed. Prescription sunglasses and flute maintenance specifically.

The spending needed on these cards for the $500 in rewards bonuses is going fast. I may have my husband apply for these cards soon, so we have them on hand for another round of rewards. He will be able to apply for one additional card, Chase Freedom, so his ability to earn some rewards will be slightly larger, $600 I think.

On another note, I'm just 500 Swagbucks from earning another $25 gift card. I have not made goal at least two days this week. I wouldn't have anyway with vacation planned for later in the month. I don't want to be glued to Swagbucks when I can be enjoying my family and the beautiful scenery of the Mississippi River, right?!

Are you taking a vacation this summer? Are you flying or driving? Are you staying close to home? Who is traveling the farthest away?

Using credit cards to obtain rewards is only for those with cash to pay off purchases right away before interest accrues. And those organized enough to keep track of the charges, and due dates. We are not making purchases we wouldn't be making normally. All rewards are to bulk up the savings in our down payment fund.

The Citi Thank You Preferred card that I received earlier this month has been used just a little in the amount of $25.11. There actually was a statement issued already! That amount has been paid as of this evening.

This card has a $1000 minimum purchase to earn $250 in gift cards. We have three months to meet the goal. We will use it for everything we normally purchase and our small in state vacation at the end of the month. I expect by the end of the month we will have met the goal. Just $974.89 to go.

In fact, I did use this card today for fuel in my van, a gift card for my dad, and a book of stamps, which was around $85. I think my husband probably used it to pay for his haircut.

I do have a few out of the norm expenses that can be charged if needed. Prescription sunglasses and flute maintenance specifically.

The spending needed on these cards for the $500 in rewards bonuses is going fast. I may have my husband apply for these cards soon, so we have them on hand for another round of rewards. He will be able to apply for one additional card, Chase Freedom, so his ability to earn some rewards will be slightly larger, $600 I think.

On another note, I'm just 500 Swagbucks from earning another $25 gift card. I have not made goal at least two days this week. I wouldn't have anyway with vacation planned for later in the month. I don't want to be glued to Swagbucks when I can be enjoying my family and the beautiful scenery of the Mississppi River, right?!

Are you taking a vacation this summer? Are you flying or driving? Are you staying close to home? Who is traveling the farthest away?

Using credit cards to obtain rewards is only for those with cash to pay off purchases right away before interest accrues. And those organized enough to keep track of the charges, and due dates. We are not making purchases we wouldn't be making normally. All rewards are to bulk up the savings in our down payment fund.

I began using the Capital One card this weekend while we were at my daughter's art fair exhibit ($550 in gross sales). It was at a town 30 minutes away, thus we ate out a little bit and treated my parents to dinner at home after the event ended on Sunday.

As it stands now, I have actual charges on the Capital One card in the amount of $348.44. These charges are as follows:
$_42.05 Z Restaurant
$_26.75 Art Fair purchase
$__3.20 Frozen yougert
$_59.94 Fuel for my van
$_53.34 Groceries
$_15.23 Michael's (frames)
$127.09 Electric bill
$_20.84 Laptop battery
$348.44 Total Purchases

Our Netflix subscription will be charged to the card on June 20 for $7.99. On June 29 when my Verizon wireless bill posts to the account in the amount of $150.85 we will meet the $500 minimum purchase requirement to receive the $100 reward.

Payday is Friday and I'm juggling a few cards and due dates, but there will be payments made to this card before one statement is even issued. Gotta love online management of credit cards and cash rewards!

Using credit cards to obtain rewards is only for those with cash to pay off purchases right away before interest accrues. And those organized enough to keep track of the charges, and due dates. We are not making purchases we wouldn't be making normally. All rewards are to bulk up the savings in our down payment fund.

Now that I have completed our Snowflakes for Christmas, 2013 edition, I need a new place to put the snowflakes to work.

I will be adding these future 2013 snowflakes to our home equity. Sometimes, I may add them to cash that we are allocating to our future down payment or I may send them straight to the mortgage company to help pay down our principal balance. I leaning towards the latter. I will likely only move the money into the savings account or to the mortgage once a month. I will track it all here on the blog just as I have done with our Christmas Snowflakes.

The new goal will be called Snowflakes for Equity. I have made the goal $1000, which I think is a little high, but definitely possible. I hope to accomplish this new Snowflake goal by the end of 2013.

The exciting part is that I have money to add to it already! I received a $3 payment from Pinecone Surveys and my most recent $25 PayPal cash deposit from Swagbucks today. That's $28 towards our mortgage equity position!

Anyone working on paying down their mortgage? What is your plan? Little payments often, large lump sums, or a regular payment every month? Maybe a combination?

My Christmas fund goal this year is $750. Today I just received the final snowflake of cash to complete it! And it was the most unexpected snowflake ever...a check for $13.26 for a Diamond Class Action Settlement. I must have filled out a claim form all the way back in 2008(according to the website) Those legal filings and claims take forever!!

The balance of the Snowflakes for Christmas fund was $688 at the end of May. I have received $25 from USAA rewards, $25 in PayPal fund earned through Swagbucks and now a check for $13.26. That means June earnings are $63.26 and my Snowflakes for Christmas now total $751.26.

Now that wasn't hard at all since those small amounts of money just add right up! Have you meet a financial goal with snowflakes of cash recently? Have you received an class action settlement check, EVER? Was it big or little?

I redeemed some rewards with USAA over the weekend and it posted to our checking account yesterday. The amount was $25!

I only need $62 this month to meet the Christmas Fund goal, so this recent redemption is very helpful. I will be even closer once my last Swagbucks redemption actually arrives in my PayPal account.

I did get my free plants in the ground yesterday. Boy, am I sore from digging up that 6x9 space! I did buy $18 worth of mulch today for the bed, but it is now raining.

The girls are officially done with school. I'm looking forward to less driving and getting more organized around the house. I hope I can find some things to sell on eBay or Craigslist while I'm at.

The bad news is our water bill went up this month. We did do some deep watering for awhile this spring to make sure that the sod planted late in the fall really took. I think it was worth the extra $20+.

Have a super frugal Tuesday!

Fidelity has cut a check for the final IRA money we are transferring to Vanguard. I noticed that they did not liquidate in full and there was $50 remaining in the account. I sent an instant message to them and found out it is an account close fee. Darn. I don't like surprises, but I still want the money moved, so I have to just let it go.

I did ask what the fee was for. It covers the cost of closing the account and maintaining records for the next 2 years. This is a common industry practice apparently. I worked in the mutual fund industry and I'm pretty sure we didn't charge the fee. Of course, I worked for a load mutual fund company....so those fees were there, just not as obvious! The agent also said they have one of the lower fees in the industry. Not sure why that needed to be mentioned as the check has already been cut.

I'm excited that all the money from Fidelity is finally moved and we have one less company to keep track of. Have you ever paid an account close fee? How much was it?

I earned $3 from a Pinecone survey and received the samples in the mail to try. I expect that money to arrive in my Paypal account tomorrow. I will do a May Snowflake update on Friday.

I've been earning my Swagbucks, reading my library book, taking walks, cleaning, sewing and planning our vacation, thus not much spending other than gas and groceries. And those alone add up fast!

We will be going to a graduation out of town this weekend. Thus more spending on gas and eating. We will write my niece a $50 check. We already wrote in a simple note card, rather than buying a 'special' graduation card. Again, don't most people just toss or recycle cards anyway?!

We know we can use some hotel points for one night in a hotel. We expect to be away three or four nights, so that helps a little. I hope to take a cooler along since it is a road trip. At a minimum, snacks(fresh fruit) and drinks (water) can be bought ahead of time to save us from making convenience purchases! I'm willing to eat lunch and breakfast out of the cooler. We have already found several free things to do so I think we will have a fun time traveling the scenic byway of the Mississippi. I expect we will use a credit card for the vacation expenses to earn some cash back. We will pay for it in full upon our return, of course!

Thinking ahead to big expenses coming up in the next few months: prescription sunglasses for oldest daughter, new sneakers for both girls, school tuition, flute maintenance repairs, band camp fees, few more summer clothes for each of us, mulch for a garden bed we are carving out, two trees for our back yard, gifts for the daughter turning 13, and the deposit on the Washington DC trip.

That's the money mish mash for today!

I just redeemed more Swagbucks for a $25 PayPal deposit. I don't think this will arrive before the end of the month, but if it does it gets counted towards this month's snowflakes!

I did spend some money today because I met up with an old neighbor and good friend. Lunch at Subway was $7. Spent $10 on a 'string bag/backpack' for my daughter. And splurged on a wonderful smelling perfume at Banana Republic for $5. There were many other things I could have bought, but I'm a good frugal girl and refrained.

My friend brought me a nice bar of soap and an angel friendship ornament. A late mother's day gift. So sweet of her to think of me.

I opened a Rollover IRA at Vanguard for my husband. He signed the paperwork to transfer the last of his money at Fidelity. I dropped it in the mail this morning. Things feel simpler already.

My husband will be home for four days for the Memorial holiday weekend. I hope we can keep spending a little low, but he mentioned landscaping last night. I'm just not ready for big, BIG expenses right now.

Will you have different expenses for the holiday weekend? Will you spend more or less than usual?

Yes, I'm still snowflaking for Christmas, but the additions seem a little slow right now, thus lack of updates. I have accumulated $134.02 so far this month, which is pretty good. It's nice to think I could reach our goal by the end of June at this rate. Which means I could actually shop at those Christmas in July sales! Eh...probably not though.

_$50.00 Swagbucks
_$70.25 Chase Rewards
__$4.78 ATM rebates/interest
__$8.99 Ebay sale
$134.02 May Total To Date

I did redeem another $25 PayPal deposit from Swagbucks that should arrive before the month ends. I also redeemed my points with Pinecone yesterday, so I should have $3 arriving sometime today. With those additions. I will need just under $75 to meet my goal of $750. It does seem I'm on track like I was last year because I accumulated over $1400 in snowflakes. In fact, I might be ahead of the game.

This year snowflakes beyond the $750 are getting put towards are mortgage. I need to be adding money in there when I can and this seems like the first place to start.

I found out my daughter has just one flute lesson left before the school year ends. The teacher is offering six lessons during the summer, with a mini recital. We can probably make five lessons. I like know we will save a little bit because we don't have those fees those weeks.

I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to snowflake debt. Have you found new sources or interesting ways to accumulate them? Do you have a year to date snowflake total?

First let me show you what my kitchen cupboard and refrigerator look like at the end of this experiment.





All my family members would say there is nothing left to eat. But I see pizza, carrots and apples for dinner, just as planned. The snacks? Yes, getting slim. Bananas on the counter (not shown), slices of cheese, cashews, and maybe some peanut butter toast. These just are not there usual snacks. I plan to open the black beans for lunch. To make them tasty I wil add red onion, feta cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yummy!

The experiment to spend next to nothing still resulted in spending under $300, specifically $293.95. This includes only money spent by me for me and my girls since May 1. My husband did take out $100 cash, which I understand is mostly spent. He also spent around $42 in snacks before he left to help compensate for not eating the ill tasting MRE's I mentioned yesterday.

We set aside $900 twice per month to cover gas and groceries and the few school things that come up. Last month we exceed the $1800 by $477. Thus the need to spend less to compensate for our overspending. It was much easier without my husband here, but I might have been able to get his on board.

$900.00 Available Funds
(293.95)Our Spending
(142.00)DHs Spending
$464.05 Amount Saved

What a relief to nearly make up the amount we overspent in just a couple weeks. It was worth it. I will keep spending low for the next couple days, but I really will need to get to the store. I did pay our bills today and was able to save $670 from DH's paycheck. It may get spent down the road, as we plan a vacation or put some landscaping in our yard, but for now it is saved money.

Do you have more in your fridge than I do? Less? Anyone else want to post their bare or stocked full fridge?!

We were notified by email that Fidelity has received my husband's transfer request. The money that was in one of the mutual funds has been sold. Next step is to cut the check and get it sent to Vanguard. It's nice to see that it is moving quickly. I kind of want the market to be down next week so we can get a few extra shares during the process. But I can't control that. It is a long term investment so it doesn't really matter.

The transfer is the money he has in a Roth IRA. There is still $5K+ in a traditional IRA. I need to finalize the options for DH on that investment. Once he returns home, I can get him to sign the paperwork. It is a small sum, but at least large enough to open an account. I expect in the future, we will start adding more to our traditional IRA's as our income increases. It likely will be more advantageous tax wise. My gut says to just open the Total Stock Market Index with this money.

After we are done at Fidelity, I will look into moving money we have at American Funds, which is a Roth IRA and two UTMA accounts. It feels good to get this money combined. I like simplicity!!

No spending yesterday!! The low spend experiment is going well. Only four more days. I really hope not to spend money today, but my daughter is going to a camp for two nights, so something may come up. I'll be sure to let you know.