I think I've mentioned this offer before, but I thought I would bring it up again in case it may benefit anyone in their debt pay down journey.

Chase has a credit card called

Slate that is currently offering 0% interest for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers. The really nice thing is that you can transfer your balance from another card(s) for no fee in the first 60 days. This is only worth it, if you can pay off the balance you transfer in full within the 15 month time frame.

If you already have a Chase card, it is unlikely you could transfer that balance to this card, but you could call and ask!

And just so you know, I don't get any compensation for this referral. Just trying to help my fellow savers!

No spending today!

The food is definitely dwindling and my kids are searching high and low for snacks. They did dip into that bag of chips I bought at Menard's yesterday.

Today, I cooked up chicken and rice and will stir fry it with the seasoning packet later for dinner. This dish will help use up some green onions. I will steam the final bits of broccoli and carrots in the fridge too. I just realized I should try to regrow the onion roots in water and see how well and fast that works. More experimenting!!

I don't think this is related to the experiment, but my daughter asked for yellow and white tissue paper for to take to school for a project. Fine, except we don't have yellow. She said she would just color on the white to make it yellow and it would be no problem. I did offer to buy some before she said that. I don't want the experiment to impact their needs for school. I guess it was more of a want anyway.

I think the lack of snacks has helped me stay on track with my diet this week, too. I don't want to overeat and use up what could be eaten the next day. Clever diet trick if you want to try it.

Tomorrow I expect to go to the store. I will try to make this the final run before May 15th when the experiment ends. I also will get my haircut because I'm way overdue, and Great Clips is having a $5.99 sale right now. I think I can swing that this week. We are running low on toilet paper, but I don't think I'll experiment with stretching that out!!

Did you have a no spend day today? What about in the last week? If not, do you think you could try it for one day?

Our homeowner's insurance is increasing for the next year by $87.61. That works out to be $7.30 a month. Can't complain. It just seems these types of bills go up every year!

We have at least $85 in credit rewards that I may redeem soon to add to the snowflake fund. I likely will wait another 10 days for the current billing cycle to close, so that I can redeem any new rewards. I figure I might as well add this to my $750 sooner than later. Once I meet that goal all other snowflakes will be saved for the next mortgage down payment. Just ready to get to the next goal!!

I also redeemed more Swagbucks for $25 in PayPal cash. Meeting goal everyday helps build those Swagbucks up fast. I think I'm averaging about $50 per month.

It is beautiful weather here in the Midwest. I will be getting my exercise in the yard today mowing the grass. I also need to decide where to put some garden beds, too. I will take the girls with me to Menard's this weekend to pick out flowers to plant for Mother's Day. This is a bit of a tradition, as my husband is often away on that day. It just times out right that it is time to buy the annuals at the same time Mother's Day rolls around. I will use Menard's credit to pay for the flowers and potting soil.

I can't forget to make a grocery run. We may be able to wait until tomorrow. Right now I think we have enough food to sustain ourselves. In fact, we may be able to go farther than we think!

Oh, and I still have not decided on Mother's Day gifts for my mother or mother in law, but I'm leaning on sewing something for each of them. I think they will appreciate them. As long as I have everything I need on hand, my only cost will be postage which will be minimal for mailing something made of fabric.

Looks like I will be busy today. I better get moving!!

I think today is going to be the hardest spending day over the next two weeks. I need to go to the store in preparation for company. I want to make wise choices without going over board. It's my sister, brother in law and my parents. If we need something, or decide we want something I don't have, we'll just swing by the store. I tend to buy extra snacks, just in case, someone is hungry. I'm going to try not to do that.

My sister is coming primarily to run a 1/2 marathon. Her tradition is pasta the evening before, so that's cheap. A jar sauce and pasta. I may add ground beef to my list for my brother in law, my parents are vegan so they won't eat it. I should look at the grocery ads to see if anyone has a deal on that. I need a vegetable, too. Roasted asparagus sounds really good, but it is a bit expensive.

Sandwiches for lunch. So a loaf of bread, and one kind of lunch meat. I may pick up cheese as well. My daughter will eat the leftovers for her lunch next week. I will put out some carrots, and apple slices, too.

Clearly I'm back wards planning here, because breakfast is actually the first thing I will feed them. They arrive late this evening. The easiest thing to make is an egg casserole, but I usually add sausage, which increases the price. I could just do scrambled eggs, or steel cut oatmeal in the crockpot. I'm starting to lean towards the latter option since I have the ingredients.

I'll let you know the results of my grocery shopping and meal plan once it is complete. Before I even get to that I've got some bathrooms to clean and laundry to start.

I'm still open to inexpensive ideas for Mother's Day. What are you getting your Mom? Or do you get to skip giving a gift? I'm sure I could if needed.

Something has definitely gotten out of hand around here. I think we are doing some spontaneous spending that is adding up faster than we realize. Since my husband is going to be gone for over two weeks, I'm going to take the time to not spend...as much as possible.

Last pay period we were over budget by $477. Yikes. I did have to call for furnace repair which was $117. We signed our daughter up for some summer classes for $155. We bought some clothes, which was at least $65. The rest? Not so sure.

My goal is to spend less than $450 through May 15. I'm pretty sure I can do this, but I do see a few events that could make this difficult.

First, I have guests this weekend. However, they often bring some food with them, so it is not all on me. We will go to a band concert which will cost me $6 to get in. I expect they will pay their own way. I will have additional gas to get to a race my sister is running in a town south of us. The biggest expense is food, but I think I can do simple eggs in the morning, sandwiches at lunch, pasta for dinner, and have someone buy bagels for Sunday morning.

The following weekend is Mother's Day. I have the cards, but now need to think of inexpensive, yet thoughtful gifts. I thought of sewing something, but I would still have to mail the items to both my mom and my husband's mother. We have done gift cards for my mother in law so that is a possibility. I'd appreciate any ideas!

I returned some batteries to the store today. My husband purchased them for $19.99. Later I realized I could probably get them cheaper with my Amazon Prime membership. I was right. Amazon offered them for $12.71 shipped to our house. Love that!

We earned $24.73 in interest on our money market account for the month of April. I just save this money...adds to increasing the down payment money even if just a very little bit.

My eBay buyer's eCheck cleared today. I will net $8.99 on the sale. It will be added in as a snowflake, of course!

Anyone else on any kind of spending freeze, or is it just that time of year where the money flows out quickly?

I filled out and printed the transfer request to move my husbands Roth IRA at Fidelity to Vanguard. He signed the form and I will get it mailed tomorrow.

He has decided to invest most of it in the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund. The rest will go in the 500 Index Fund. I tried to tempt him with the Vanguard REIT Index Fund, but he wasn't interested.

My husband still has a Traditional IRA account with Fidelity. It has a bit over $5,500 in it. This is his only Traditional IRA. I need to look into which fund would be right. The amount does meet the minimum investment, but not enough to put it into Admiral Shares. These shares usually have $10,000 minimums. I'm thinking the Total Stock Market Index or go a little more specialized with a Mid Cap Fund, which we currently do not have in our portfolio. I have time to look into it. I won't get this one started until later in the month.

The consolidation of investments has begun, and what is even better is that my husband thanked me for working on this. Isn't he nice to thank me for doing something I like to do?

I recently realized that I really would like most of our money at Vanguard. You really can't beat their low fees for investing.

Right now, we have money in four different places, between college funds and retirement. I would like to get it down to two. Vanguard and my husband's TSP.

The first one I will be dealing with is Fidelity. We only have Fidelity because that is where my husband's previous 401k was and we simply rolled it into an IRA and even moved most of it to a Roth IRA. Currently, Fidelity holds 15% of our total portfolio. And sadly, about 31% of that amount is in cash (which is 5% of our entire retirement portfolio).

My first step is to determine where at Vanguard I want to move the money. Since this is a small portion and we do not have any international investments, I think I will suggest to my husband we put it into the International Stock Index. Most of that will be in a Roth IRA, but about $5K is in a traditional IRA. The nice thing about moving retirement money around, is there is no tax implications...unless we convert the money from the IRA to the Roth. I don't think that is currently in the cards.

I will end up doing most of the work for this change, hopefully online. I will likely need a signature from my husband. And if he can agree to the change tonight or tomorrow than I can get any paperwork done this week, otherwise, I will need to wait until his annual training is over.

We have about $10K at American Funds. This is a loaded fund, which means you pay the broker/dealer every time you make a purchase into the fund...usually 5.75% of your purchase. The fund has to be doing pretty well to offset those kinds of fees! Luckily, we did not pay the fee on these, since at the time my father in law was the broker and he was able to invest us at NAV (Net Asset Value). We have a UTMA account for each of the girls and a Roth for my husband there. We haven't been adding to these accounts, so I think it is time to get them moved, too. I will work on these once Fidelity is completed. I need to think about any tax implications on the UTMA, each of them has less than $1500 there.

A new goal to work on, I'm excited!! Oh, and right now I'm thinking half of our down payment in a CD paying 1.2% for 15 months, and the other half in Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund (VDIGX). If we put less in the fund, we have less exposure to market risk, but still an opportunity to benefit from the market. If we lose money, it could change our plans for housing, but it isn't a huge deal at this point for us. We will be accumulating more cash in the mean time too!

Do you have your investments in one place? If not, how many different companies do you do your investing with?

I ran across

this article on Yahoo today, where the couple paid off $50,000 of debt in one year by living on less than half their income, living with their parents, and having a grocery list of ten items.

The grocery list of ten items was: eggs, milk, bread, chicken, salmon, broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus, berries and oatmeal.

Could you live on just these ten food items for one year? I actually think I could. Just not sure about the rest of the family!

I'm still researching and pondering this down payment investment. I briefly mentioned putting the down payment money into a stock fund to my husband. He seemed surprised. I did tell him I wasn't sure yet, so I think he just let it be.

If only we could know the future or expect future results based on prior returns...but we can't. I know that if I lock the money into a CD for 15 months I can get 1.50%. Maybe I should be happy with that given interest rates.

I went to Vanguard again to use a tool they have to suggest recommended investments. Including our risk tolerance, investment time frame the tool suggested 60% in the Bond Index, 28% in Total Stock Market Index, and 12% in International Stock Index.

This is slightly different from another recommendation the site gave me another time. I think that time I put in a longer time before withdrawal. Likely three years rather than 2 year or less that I picked this time.

I tend to like the newer suggestion only because only some of the money is put in stocks to take advantage of market appreciation. The rest stays in bonds were it is likely to be more stable while interest rates are this low.

I really am aware that putting money that we need or may want to use in 2 years in the stock market is generally a big no. I can't ever see myself advising anyone else to do that same investment for such a short period of time, but right now all I am doing is pondering my options.

I'm just so frustrated with low interest rates! And I don't want inflation to erode the purchasing power of this money. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is looking for something better.

I appreciate everyone's interest and input in the topic. Feel free to share more ideas and thoughts. will not be deciding anything this week. In fact, I have company coming and a small trip planned and hope to even get out in the yard and enjoy spring this weekend.

I checked my spam folder tonight, which I rarely do. Turns out I was receiving Pinecone Survey requests in the last couple weeks. I just didn't know it since they were in my spam folder! I was able to complete one survey tonight, but it seems I missed out on a couple others.

I wonder if this explains why I still have not been paid for returning a product to them. Maybe they thought I was inactive. Well, I'm active again as of tonight and will receive my $3 tomorrow in my PayPal account.

All Pinecone Survey money is added to my Snowflakes for Christmas fund. I was able to redeem my Swagbucks today for $25 in my PayPal account. I hope I receive that money by the end of the month, so I can count it towards this months snowflake total!

The only thing I have purchased since Sunday is gas for my van. I must not have filled up my van the last couple of weeks, because gas prices seemed lower to me. It still cost me over $50 to fill up my tank. I need to fill up about every 7-8 days right now.

That's all the news from here for now!

I noticed that I have some rewards with USAA. One was a $25 credit on our credit card statement for having spent over $250 at a home improvement store. We purchased a storm door, which easily helped us reach the goal for that reward. I will pay off the card and add $25 to our Christmas fund by the end of the month.

We also have accumulated enough reward points with USAA to redeem for $25. I will wait to redeem those until later in the year and hope there are more points to redeem at that time.

I plan to put two to three items up on Ebay tomorrow night. The proceeds will be added to our Christmas fund as well.

I've decided that if I accumulate more than $1000 in snowflakes this year, that I will put the remainder elsewhere. My first instinct is to put the money towards our mortgage, but the second thought is to start using it to fund vacations. Once I get to the $1K mark, I will decide for sure.

I'm also very close to earning that next $25 from Swagbucks that I will redeem for PayPal cash. It will take another three to four days most likely as I'm at 1925 SB's.

Anyone earning any great snowflakes, credit or debit card rewards? Selling on Ebay or craigslist?

I'm slow. I'm still investigating options for cash we have on hand. Right now the money is in a money market account, earning 0.85%.

I started noticing how many credit unions exist around our area. I'm taking note of the names and locations and researching online. One credit union has a 36 month CD for 1.50% which seems really good. Or I could really lock the money up with a 60 month CD at 2.0%.

However, this money is what we are holding on to for our next down payment. Which we might need in about 2 years at the earliest. So I'd be better looking at a 16 month special CD rate of 1.05%.

The rates just aren't that exciting. I want more interest!! I will do something soon, just still haven't decided.

What is the best interest rate you are getting on your cash? Is it with a credit union, bank or other institution? How long do you have to keep your money invested without a penalty?

While I was at the gym today, I thought if one ever needed to lower their water bill that showering at the gym would help. Of course, that assumes you have access to a gym and that it wouldn't be costing you MORE to shower there.

I completed a Pinecone survey on a item that I got to try at home. I was required to return it by mail. I expect I will get compensated in the next week, after they have received it. That will go to the snowflakes for Christmas.

I got a quote on flood insurance. Coverage for our home was $458 per year. It said we were a medium risk for flooding. This town is actually recovering from a major flood from almost 5 years ago. We are not in a flood plain, but when it rains the water is quick to fill up in low lying areas...including a mini stream through our back yard. Not sure that we need the insurance, but at least I know what it might cost.

We are still waiting to hear about my husband's promotion. It could be another two months before we know, but I sure would like to know sooner than later!

I made a conscious effort to make all my long distance phone calls on my cell phone last month. Didn't even go over the limit. Easy. Except for people calling me, it does make me think that I could go to cell service entirely. At one time, I was interested in fiber optic phone service through Ooma. It is a significant upfront cost of over $150. Of course, this would be recouped with lower bills. We will definitely spend more by keeping our land line. Why it is so hard to cut the cord on a land line?

I plan to list at least two items on Ebay Sunday. One is a DVD set for a tv show. We bought it used on Ebay earlier this year and I expect I can sell it at the same price I bought it at. With the fees, I will recoup only part of that, but most is better than none. This show is now on Netflix if we decide to watch the episodes again.

I had considered taking four hour road trip this weekend, but decided there will be plenty of those trips coming up this summer for a graduation and a birthday. I decided we better stay home and save the cost of fuel and snacks. We do have some things to get done around the house.

I hope to earn another $25 PayPal fund from Swagbucks by the end of the month. I'm at 1336, so just need another 1164 in the next 13 days. That should be no problem.

Oh, the big money news, is that we saved $307 this pay period. We put it in our savings account. I would have liked to have saved more, but the storm door and our anniversary outing did dip into those extra funds we had. I'll take the three hundred and be grateful!

That the money news from here. I'll be back tomorrow...if I don't get washed away in all this rain!

I've noticed the utility bills going down as the temperatures are warming up. That reminded me that I usually turn off the pilot light to our gas fireplace in April. I went to the basement and flipped the switch to off until late October or November.

I also turned off one of our cable boxes we have in the basement that seems to have the fan running nearly all the time. I'm keeping it off to see if I notice any big change in the electric bill. We rarely use it...so it may need to go OR at least be exchanged for one that isn't constantly running!

I think our water bill may go up though. We have sod that may need to be watered a little extra this summer, with potential new trees and plants. I also am letting my 16 year old do her own laundry, which means smaller loads, but more of them. Not the most frugal, but a good lesson.

What are do you do to keep your utilities low?

The two clothing items I had on Ebay last week netted me $12.93. Not bad for used clothing! This snowflake will get added to the Christmas Fund.

I read our town's newsletter and noticed they are sponsoring a city wide garage sale on Saturday, May 18. I don't really know if I have enough stuff for a sale on my own, but I do have things. We even have furniture I might be willing to put on a sale. I think this is going to be a way to meet some neighbors...I need to join forces with someone with lots of stuff!

I would apply any furniture proceeds to new furniture. We have two couches that are showing extreme wear now that we have had them 17 years! Our kitchen table is still functional, but is just as old, worn, and dated. Something to think about as this sale draws nearer.

Anyone else selling on Ebay, or gearing up for a spring garage sale? Did you find any new snowflakes this week?

Today, I'm going to run some errands since they are all on one side of town. I will return two items to Kohl's that we don't need. I will used a $2 off three cards at Hallmark...I hope to buy the $0.99 cards to make my out of pocket expense around a $1. I will pick up a pair of capri pants for youngest daughter at Old Navy. I seemed to have received another $15 reward from them. They just keep sending them to me...and I only buy stuff when I use their coupon! They should cost me just over $5. I may stop at Barnes & Noble to pick up an item or two. I have gift cards we were given for Christmas that we still have not spent, and I think my July birthday daughter has a few things on her list I could get with those. I also plan to drop books off at the library...it seems I'm always there either getting books or dropping them off. Libraries rock.

We are going to a Show Choir event at school tonight. Tickets were $10 a piece, which all goes back into the music program. It should be entertaining! We want to get good seats, so I plan to prep taco fixings for dinner so we can get out the door fast. The meat was seasoned and cooked yesterday and just needs to be reheated.

This whole week has been pretty frugal. No trips to the ATM. No last minute trips to the store. I have spent much of my downtime cleaning floors, dusting blinds, doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms. I have a big list and I just keep finding something on it I can get done! It feels pretty good.

Next Friday is payday. It seems early, but I think I'll be ready for it anyway. I know there will be some money to save from it and that is always nice.

Did you have a frugal week? Do you see some debt payoff or savings in your future?

March was an exceptional month for snowflakes. I found snowflakes in our house which I sold on Ebay. I received a snowflake reward from our bank. There were lots of snowflakes from Swagbucks. And Pinecone sent two surveys for even more snowflakes. See what I mean? Snowflakes were everywhere!

Here's the breakdown:

Last month my total Snowflakes for Christmas was $216.07. Once I add in the $202.95 from March, the new total is $419.02. More than half way to the goal of $750!

In my opinion, one can snowflake their way to any goal. Savings or debt, they both work! How are you using your snowflakes?

I will be back on Monday to update where we are on our yearly goals since, the first quarter will be complete at that point. I hope you will consider joining me by commenting on my blog or posting to your own blog.

I said I wasn't going to list any more things on Ebay for awhile, but when I received the mail on Tuesday, I changed my mind. In the mail box, was a lunch bag from Lean Cuisine. I sold two of them last week, rather quickly, so I put this latest one up and it sold within 24 hours.

I received the Lean Cuisine lunch bags free by entering in codes from meals we purchased. Not exactly free because we did outlay money for the meals. A nice bonus for something we buy anyway.

Lean Cuisine just sold out of this years free lunch bags, so I suppose the price they may attract on Ebay will be higher. Maybe I should have waited!

At any rate, I have $8.37 to add to the Christmas Fund. March has been a good month for snowflakes. I will update you on my monthly results tomorrow!

Have you ever sold a promotional item on Ebay or elsewhere?

I'm still working on my whole 'save money for the next down payment' plan. I did calculate some numbers. I wrote them down with pencil and paper. I don't know where I put them!!

If memory serves we need to save about $800 a month to meet our goals of having enough cash to cover the real estate agent, and to accumulate the equivalent of 20% of the value of this home when we purchased it. I think. It could be I added something else in there to try to save.

All I know is that seems like a lot of money. The money we spent on vehicle maintenance last week is getting repaid when my husband is paid on Monday. I will be setting aside $300 towards property taxes. I expect they will increase greatly this year, likely in September, since this is a new home. I can't expect that taxes will stay under $1000 forever. My point is, I don't have $800 to save. Maybe next pay period.

I think this will all be possible and easy once my husband gets promoted and gets his raise, but that may not be until August. The government just moves very slow!

I still have it on my radar. I need to have a plan to accumulate more cash for the next house we buy. I'll update you when I get clear on it and find those calculations I did earlier this month.

I saw an advertisement around here on the internet that there are only 20 more days to fund your IRA or Roth IRA for 2012. That means tax filing deadline is that far away, too! Get get those things done, if you haven't already.

See? I could be a financial counselor!

I'm busy today working on my application for the Accredited Financial Counselor grant available for military spouses. There are only fifty available each year. Fingers crossed I could be one of them.

Thanks, BeAWealthyWarrior, for peaking my interest and giving me that little nudge to move that direction. I'm excited about the possibilities.

The application is not too hard. I do have to write a little bit about my skills, how it will help me professionally, and a difficult financial experience. I'm taking my time getting my thoughts together...much different from how I usually write my posts here. I'm more of an off the cuff writer here.

Want to give me a pep talk about my skills and abilities to be a financial counselor? Do you think I have what it takes? You can say no if you want...I won't be mad.

We are actually getting snow here in the Midwest. It has been falling all day, but it is melting on the roads, driveway and sidewalks. My kind of snow!

I sold three items on Ebay this week for $15.93. I will net less after fees, of course. Two items didn't sell. I may relist those another time. For now, I'm taking an Ebay break.

I earned enough Swagbucks to redeem for another $25 PayPal deposit. The second for this month. The first one just arrived in my PayPal account tonight.

All of those snowflakes will be added to the 2013 Christmas Fund as usual! I will post an update next week to show the total of all March snowflakes and where I stand on this years goal.

Are you in an area with snow? Did you earn any snowflakes this week? What kind?

I'd rather be happy about money than sad and frustrated with it. Money is a tool. Not an end all happiness destination. Happiness comes from within. There are many happy, yet financially poor people. And there are many sad, yet financially rich people. I'd like to be both happy from within and financially rich. So far it seems to be working...not that we are rich in some circles, but definitely rich in many others.

I saw Suze Orman on CBS this morning. I'm not always a big fan of her, however, I did like her

little video about how to be financially happy. Easy enough I'd say!

Are you financially happy? Are you on your way there? Do you agree with the three keys Suze laid out?

I sold three items on Ebay this week for a gross total of $20.46. One was earlier this week, and has already been mailed. The other two items ended tonight and I'm waiting on payment. I will add the net amount to the Christmas fund.

If you followed my snowflake accumulations last year, you noticed how small amounts of money over time became a large amount of savings. I believe it was over $1400 in 11 months! If that impresses you, I encourage you to read my blog post about

compound interest as it applies to savings. I found a great calculator that you can explore, too!

Anyone else have Ebay or Craigslist sales this week? Have garage sales started in your area?

I found a few snowflakes in the last two days and we haven't used the ATM again yet! All good news, right?

First, I noticed the rewards at USAA were enough to cash out for $25. I think there was a promotion a month or two back where if you made a certain number of purchases or a purchase at a certain dollar amount you received a reward. I think that is where most of those points came from...though I am not positive. At any rate, I'm taking the $25.

I also accumulated enough

Swagbucks to cash out for my first $25 PayPal deposit this month. I wonder if I can get enough the rest of the month to get another one? I already have 500 Swagbucks towards it!

And finally, I added a $5.03 to the Christmas fund from our own money. The $0.03 is interest on our checking account. And the $5 is stupid tax for the ATM fiasco last month. If you read that post, you have to believe this is the first time I have ever paid an ATM fee without it being reimbursed later. Ugh...still at little mad about that one!

We added $953.60 to our savings this payday. Feels good to put quite a bit of that back to savings after pulling some funds from there to pay off the truck and an another withdrawal to pay for our daughter's flute. We still have a little ways to go to get back where we were at the beginning of the year.

Wow! Just realized that those snowflakes plus the savings deposit are actually over $1K. It fun to be able to save big chunks of money!!

Spring break begins just about now, as the girls are just getting out of school. I think there will be some extra expenses for fun, but low key overall.

What kinds of spring break expenses do you expect to have, if any? Did you find any snowflakes recently?

I'm off to another town today to meet a friend for lunch and social time, so this is a quick update.

I relisted two items on Ebay with lowered start prices. I added another three items. Since I started these on a Tuesday evening, I made the auctions just five days long, so that they end on Sunday. Sunday is my preferred end date, and tends to be a good day of the week for people bidding on auctions.

I'm still busy doing some mortgage calculations. My first order of business is to decide where I want us to be in 2.5 years. Once I know that, I will decide where to put the money. I'm leaning towards a combination of saving cash and sending in extra principal payments.

I wrote a little essay last night on saving for retirement on

my other blog. I have deemed March Retirement Savings Month! I hope to write several more post themed around retirement before the month is out. You will likely see a few of them here.

I have enough Swagbucks to redeem for $25 in PayPal cash, so I will be cashing those in soon.

I'm looking forward to payday this Friday. It will be the first payday we don't have to pay on the truck loan! I plan to put most of the money in savings to help make up for that last big payment we made.

What are you looking forward to this week? Something personal? Financial?

Happy Blogoversary to me! It's been five years since I started my blog and now we have no debt except our mortgage. Our emergency fund has doubled in size. And our retirement accounts have increased 2.5 times. Based on my experience, blogging is a great way to make great things happen financially!

I transferred the net proceeds from my Ebay sales to our checking account last night. The four sales net us $35.77. This snowflake goes to the Christmas fund!!

The stock market it moving up fast! I still think there will be a correction this year, but I'm no expert. Just because the market is up, doesn't mean you missed the boat in investing. Now is always a good time to invest if you are in for the long term, 10 years or more. I hope to write a few posts on investing for retirement soon.

When did you first start investing for retirement? How did you start? Savings account, mutual fund, an IRA, Roth or 401K?

We are now debt free except for the mortgage! I really like saying that.

This mortgage was taken out on our brand new home in our new town in July 2012. It is our first VA loan, which did not require any down payment. This means we paid an insurance fee to do so. I can't say I'm too proud of those last two statements. My thought process was to get into a house without our equity, so that in the next move, we have the down payment ready to go in cash, without needing to sell the house.

Our rate is 2.75%. It is adjustable, but fixed for five years. After five years it can go up 1% per year, up to five percent. The maximum rate the loan could ever go is 7.75%, which isn't a bad rate historically. However, we won't be here for much more than six years and maybe only three. I'm also not too proud of buying a house considering the need to move frequently.

Were there houses to rent here? Yes. Did I see too many that met my standards, would allow cats and had a fair rent for the space? No. I actually did some calculations that put us at spending the same amount for housing whether we rented or bought. If we rented the rent would be high, but would equal our house payment, plus real estate agent fee when we sold. So, I chose the house. We get to deduct interest. We get to decide if we paint or not. We get to keep our cats with us. We are in control.

In the next 2.5 years, I would like to build our house equity and down payment fund to a total of 20% of the original value of the home. We had over 10%, but not the full 20%. I actually may increase that goal, but for now I think it is the most logical and obtainable.

The proceeds from our last house are in a money market account earning 0.85%APR. I'm on the lookout for a better rate right now. I have thought about sending it in to the mortgage, but that would not jive with my original thought process. Sending the money in would decrease the balance owed and decrease the amount of interest we are paying each month...thus increasing our equity faster. I do know that! And it is a little appealing.

I'm thinking that an additional principal payment every month to the mortgage would be the best. It increases the equity and reduced the interest paid each additional month, just not in the same way as sending in that lump sum. I will need to run some numbers to see where we might end up in 2.5 years and see what the difference would be. I know which will be better, but by how much is the real question.

So, the main goal going forward is to increase net worth, which will increase easily as we save and continue to pay down the mortgage. I will likely start tracking this soon on the blog, so stay tuned.

I think I opened up a big discussion topic here, so feel free to chime in with your thoughts and ideas. Be nice, but honest, please! What would you do based on the situation outlined above?

I'm looking for higher interest rates. We have FNBO Direct for our money market account, which currently pays 0.85%. I want more!

I did some online searching and found Everbank, which has a 6 month promotion of 1.25%, combine that with their ongoing rate, it works out to 1.01% APR for the first year. That's better than our current rate.

I just don't know if I want to move it. I'm not familiar with the bank. It feels like a hassle, but I know it is a matter of setting up the account and making the transfer. With more money comes more responsibility, right?

I do want the money to grow, so this would be one step in getting a little more cash flowing in there. Too bad interest rates are so very very low! Ick.

Has anybody used Everbank?

My previous post is about some snowflakes.

Our money market paid us $25.59 in interest for February. I just leave the interest in there to compound on itself. I don't really want to get in the habit of spending that money.

Our water bill was $4 less than last month. The electric bill was $30 lower. It's always nice when utility bills are less than the month before...if only that could happen all year long! Generally, when our bills are lower, the savings gets added into the truck loan repayment amount. After that is paid off, that amount will go to savings.

Swagbucks deposited the last $25 Paypal cash in my account today. I have already requested it be sent to my bank account. I have enough Swagbucks to redeem for 3 $5 Amazon.com gift cards. I will redeem two today and one tomorrow. That will give me the first $15 in snowflakes for March!

I guess I'll have another $3 snowflake next week. I just received a Pinecone survey to fill out. If I do it today, I should have that money in my Paypal account on Monday.

My three ebay auctions end on Sunday, so those will also add to my snowflakes in March. One has a bid, the other two are being watched. I need to see what else I can put up on Sunday when those end.

Try to keep your weekend frugal!

February was a good month for Snowflakes primarily because of

Swagbucks. I earned $75 in cash and Amazon.com gift cards from that site alone. That is the best month I have ever had. I will admit I was on the site a little more than usual. The weather just made me want to stay in and cozy up with the computer.



My Snowflake Christmas fund balance for the year is $191.07. At this point I am ahead of schedule on my $750 goal, which makes me happy!

I have three items up for sale on Ebay this week. I am happy to report that one item has a bid, so it will sell. The other two have people watching.

Any news ways your have found for earning snowflakes this month? I'm interested in new ideas.