We bank with USAA and they provide their members a refund of premiums each year in December. It always surprises me! This year the deposit was $38.64, which is up from last year.

I'm adding this money to our escrow account for routine expenses. We were running a little low...now we are not!

I've noticed that several retailers are sending coupons in emails. I just received $5 from Hallmark towards any purchase. And I think I have one from another retailer, too. I tend to find an item worth the amount on the coupon and nothing else, so the item is essentially free.

I just happened to check the Savings Deposit Statement for our interest earnings. I was expecting the interest to show once every three months. Turns out I missed two months of accruing interest!

SDP interest earned: $166.67

Guess where I'm adding this? The emergency fund goal!!

New EF Goal Balance: $6938.32

So very very close!!

It's payday...so I'm adding $215 to our emergency fund goal. The money market account earned a mere $5.36, which is actually up from last month!

New Balance: $6771.65

The goal is to save $7,000 by year end. We should make it, since we only need $228.35. Yipee!!

I added our regular $215 to our emergency fund, plus another $6 that seemed to be hanging around! That's $221 to the goal.

New Balance: $6,551.29

Getting closer!! Only $448.71 to go.

I've just read that ESA's or Coverdale Savings Accounts are going to revert back to a limit of $500 per year investment limit in 2011, unless Congress makes changes. We have been saving in ESA's. So...now we have to make changes.

I liked the flexibility of the ESA, but it looks that most of our money will now need to go to a 529 plan. With having it in a state plan, it just seems frustrating if we move from state to state while we are saving. Have to give the state tax deduction back...at least I think that is what I read. For now, I think I'll just leave the ESA money where it is and start anew.

We also have UGMA accounts for our girls which we have not regularly been investing in. I guess I need to consider it all.

Anyone have thoughts or ideas for me?

This post is just some of my thoughts about next years goals. Things are iffy since we could be moving. The income will stay the same. The expenses could change.

We will continue to save at least 15% towards retirement.
We will contribute to our daughters college funds.
We will pay off the van very early in 2011!!
We will pay a large percentage in cash for a new to us truck.
Then...we pay off the small loan on the truck. If there is one.
And we will go on a couple's vacation and a family vacation with cash!
I will also look into converting some more rollover money to Roth Ira's.
I need to consider more to the emergency fund.
If we don't move, I need to look into refinancing or at least pay extra on the mortgage.

I'll round out all those goals out later with numbers.

Wow! It seems there are several good financial things happening this week. They are small, but fun!

Our water bill arrived this week. I was almost $9 less than usual. Cool.

Today we went clothes shopping for the girls. We bought needs only. First we bought a pair of ballet flats at Payless Shoes for $13.24. My daughter will wear these for band performances.

At JC Penney we bought a black pair of pants (band), dress (vocal performance), white pajama top, and a package of silly band rings. The total for those four items, with tax, $16.45!! I had a coupon for $10 off a $25 purchase. I actually had to buy the silly bands $1.99) just to get my total above $25! The dress was on clearance for $7.97, after the discount was applied it cost me only $4.85. I'm thrilled with the deal.

And to top it off one of the items I'm selling on ebay has a bid. I bought the item at a garage sale for $1 a couple weeks ago. I knew it would sell on ebay. So far the bid is up to $10.50!! Nice return.

And can I just say it is nice to see the stock market moving up, too! What good financial things are happening in your world?

We earned a mere $3.39 in our money market account this month. I'm adding it to our emergency fund goal.

New Balance: $6330.29

Generally, this time of month (payday) I would add $215 to this goal as well. This pay period I'm skipping that to put the money towards the van, since we earned around $225 from the SDP account.

We are still on track to meet our goal by the end of the year! Yipee.

We sold our car on Sunday, so I cancelled the insurance that I had just renewed earlier this month. The refund was $159.54. Can't complain!

Right now I'm working out whether or not I should send this in to the van loan. It may need to be saved for other things.

I do have to return the plates and registration to the county, but I do not expect a refund. The registration was due this month and I simply did not pay it.

Finally, I get to share that we have earned $225 in our SDP (Savings Deposit Program)!! We deposited funds back in July and at the end of September were credited with the interest. Unfortunately, until today I could not see the statement showing the interest. But now I can, so it is official!!

I will add this to our emergency fund goal of $7,000.

New Balance: $6,326.90

I just know we are going to meet this goal by the end of the year. Very happy about that!!

Note: The SDP is available to those serving in a combat zone. It pays 10% interest.

I just sold our car to our neice. We now have $2500 to deposit into the emergency fund.

New Balance: $6101.90

Less than $900 to go to the goal of $7K.

I made our regular deposit to our emergency fund goal in the amount of $215. The balance just keeps growing!

New Balance: $3601.90

Goal is still $7,000. We expect to meet or exceed this by the end of the year.

I'm painting our master bedroom today. I hope to get it done quickly. The nice thing is the rebate for the paint arrived yesterday. The check is for $15.

Crazy as it sounds, I need to decided where to put the $15. Right now it feels like I'm squirreling away bits of cash for different reasons: holidays, van loan, money for clothes. I guess it is a good problem to have. Decisions,decisions.

Do you ever have indecision over small amounts of money? Or is it just me?

Someone mentioned the Dow was over 11,000 which made me curious enough to look at our retirement accounts. I was pleasantly surprised! They are all up...even the ones we don't contribute to. Yipee!!

Have you checked in on your investments lately? How are you doing?

In case you are curious about what the plan is after the van loan is paid off, here's the scoop. We are saving as much cash as possible to purchase DH a vehicle. It seems likely it will be a truck. Hopefully, we can find a great deal on used and take out a very small loan.

From there our plans are a bit up in the air. We may be moving, or not. We need to keep cash available for a move. If it appears the move is further away, then we would pay off the small truck loan (if we have one). After that, I would really need to evaluate. College will be getting closer for our oldest. Overall, the goal will simply be to keep improving our financial situation, through saving, investing and mortgage paydown (if we have one at the next location).

I know. It's a bit vague. It even bothers me a bit. So it goes as a military family. I will just do the best we can with what we know at the time.

I use budget billing for our gas and electric. Currently, we pay $119 per month. And we have a $240 credit!! So, the utility company has nicely adjusted our bill to reflect our lower usage.

The new payment will now be $98! Ah...under $100. That feels good. Saving $21 per month. Can't complain.

I have never been great about saving ahead for Christmas. Surprising. It comes at the same time every year. I save for other yearly expenses on a monthly basis, but not Christmas or Birthdays.

I might change. I might not. I usually just spend what I have on hand. Can't go wrong there. I also start shopping for some things early.

Right now I actually have a little stash that I have accumulated for Christmas:

Target Gift Cards $80
Cash $160
Paypal $19.61
Cash Rewards $75
Amazon Gift Card $5

Total = $339.61

I'm guessing I need another $400, which can easily come out of cash on hand as I buy. I plan to keep earning rewards and holding on to the paypal balance. It will all help take the sting out of the Christmas spending. Oh and I do intend to scale back a bit on gifts. I'm thinking some homemade items are in order!

I made our regular deposit of $215 to our emergency fund goal. I will also add in the interest on our money market account of $2.54.

I was hoping for more. And there should be more interest to add, but the Army isn't displaying the statement for the Savings Deposit Program online for my husband yet. And it should be a chunck of change! Obviously, I will update that when I have access to the information. (Does anyone with SDP experience know when I should see the statement if we put our money in July? I thought quarterly, thus end of September.)

New Emergency Goal Balance: $3,386.90

Later in October should bring a big boost to this goal. I can't wait!!

for the car sale. No. I'm not cheating on my husband! I expect my neice and her parents to come to get the car October 16th. That is only three weeks away. I'm excited. She's excited. I'm going to make her a key chain for her new key and give her a gift card for gas. That part is her birthday present.

The car proceeds of $2500 will go to the emergency fund. I also realized that I can cancel the auto insurance on it also. I will have just paid the premium on it 12 days prior, so I will get most of that money, around $200, back.

Our car registrations are due in October also. I will only renew the van and save the money for the car registration, which is about $117. Actually, I'm allocating this money to the increase in home owner's insurance this year. Joy.

I added $215 to our emergency fund goal today. Our balance is now over $3K! Yipee.

New Balance = $3,169.36

We are getting closer to the halfway point of the goal of $7,000.

On a side note, I did sell a pair of jazz shoes for $15 on Monday night to another dance mom. Easy!

I've been in the middle of a master bedroom makeover. It's seems to be a tradition while DH is overseas! I picked up three gallons of paint from Lowe's this week to paint the bedroom and master bathroom. Each gallon is eligible for a $5 rebate. After the rebate and the 10% military discount, I paid about $17 per gallon. Right now, I don't know when I'm going to paint, but the weather is cooling down!

I already received the $25 Target gift card I requested with Best Western Rewards about a week ago. That was fast! I think I'm saving it to buy Christmas gifts, or to buy groceries when I'm spending money other places.

NJDebbie asked in the comments yesterday about our plans after we have paid off the van loan. I bet a few more of you want to know too.

My husband has been very patient in waiting to get a new (or newer) vehicle. He has driven our beater cars (okay they aren't quite beaters) for years. He works very hard to provide for our family, while allowing me to stay home. We will be then saving for a large downpayment on his next vehicle. There may be some financing, but we will get it paid off quickly, too. Our current van and the future vehicle will be in our lives for quite some time as we hope to cashflow a majority of college for our girls.

I just now have to convince hubby not to go overboard with his purchase of a new vehicle. He sure would love all the bells and whistles.

Today is payday, so I'm adding our regularly scheduled deposit of $215 to the emergency fund. We also earned $2.38 in our money market fund. A few rain drops in the bucket I guess!

New Balance on the Emergency Fund Goal: $2,954.36

By the end of the month will be over the $3K mark!!

until payday! I did make yesterday a no spend day. Yipee!! I have about $60 left to make it through these next six days. I have enough food from what I can tell. I might need to fill in with a few things.

The air conditioning is staying off again today. It is so nice to have nearly zero humidity. I can stand heat, but not humidity.

I'm going to add a disclosure when I write these type of emails, because it never fails that when I say I only have $X left, someone says I need to plan better. Maybe I do. However, what isn't said is that we have zero credit card debt, all bills are current, we only owe money on our van loan and mortgage. We have saved 15% of our gross income for retirement, made college contributions and paid additional principal on our van loan. We have even set money aside for short term needs, such as the next auto insurance premium. When I say I only have $X left before a pay day it refers to our budgeted spending money. If I need something that exceeds that I do have cash available, I am not on my last dime!! To say otherwise is insulting.

A look at some of our point accumulations reveal the following:

Debit card points: $75 worth that can redeemed for cash or a gift card at various stores.

My Points: Approximately 150 point shy of a $50 gift card to Target!! I also already have enough for $50 to Home Depot or Lowe's. I need even less of my point for a $50 gift card to Old Navy. I shop at Target much more often...so I need to figure out which card makes sense for me.

I mentioned a few days ago that I earned $5 at Amazon through the swagbucks program. I have yet to spend that. I will likely use towards Christmas gifts!

I like free money. If you like free money and would like to join MyPoints, please post your email with your first intial and last name (it can be a fake name if you want) . You will receive an invite to my points. I receive 25 points if you join! I will delete your email asap.

Interesting day today:

Slipped into a convenience store between the girls meet the teacher events to use the restroom. Bought $6 worth of junk on the way out.

Volunteered to buy clorox wipes for the elementary teacher, as well as snacks for the class in September. Cost yet unknown.

Invited to the neighbors for leftover birthday cake. Gave their daughter a fabric pouch I made out of fabric I already had and the zipper I purchased yesterday. Borrowed a music stand from them, saving myself nearly $20. They gave me two ears of sweet corn and confirmation of garage sale participation this fall.

Spent so much time at the neighbors, I felt the need to run for fast food for dinner and spent about $16. Regret it. I had other things to eat, even if it was not the dinner I had originally planned (baked chicken).

Earlier in the day, I had my daughter try on shoes that were delivered in the mail (because the store didn't have her size). Turns out they did fit, but didn't 'feel right' to her. So they need to be returned to our local store and we need to be on the lookout for another pair. Oh, and the jazz shoes from last year are too small, too. Another purchase to pursue.

As I said, an interesting day as it relates to money. A little spending. A little saving.

It's payday! I've saved $215 towards our emergency goal and made a principal payment on our van loan in the amount of $615.

EF Balance: $2,736.98

Van Balance: $13,041.00

Our regular payment on the van loan will likely hit on Monday, which will put us under $13K!! The goals are moving along nicely.

I'm very interested in refinancing our mortgage. My sister mentioned rates that were below 4%, so I went looking online yesterday. I noticed ING Orange mortgages were 4% and under and closing costs for our home would be about $2K.

With one of the scenarios, we could recoup the closing costs in less than 9 months. If applied the savings in interest to principal we would begin paying the loan off faster. It is so tempting.

Right now we are paying 6%. I would have refinanced a year ago or more, but I kept thinking we would move. The closing costs would have been considerably more, too. Well, we could still move....so I don't know what to do.

Ugh...military life makes things complicated! In fact, can I refinance while DH is deployed? I have a power of attorney, but will that make things more complicated?

Well...just venting! I'm undecided. Any thoughts, even though I didn't give lots of details?

Our real estate taxes are increasing by $98 per year. This amounts to an increase of just over $8 per month. I already had a little cushion built in, but I will need to begin allocating another $5 per month to meet this new amount.

I currently save $285 per month to include homeowner's insurance. I will increase this payment to $290. This basically our own escrow account since it is not handled by the mortgage company. I love that I can do it on my own!!

Next payment for real estate taxes is due on September 1. I will pay them online.

I've mentioned in previous blogs that I made our own laundry detergent. I have now made dishwashing detergent as well. I'm actually very pleased with the results. Here's a

link to the recipe I used. It does require citric acid. I bought mine from Amazon in a 4oz container for around $5. It will only make two batches, so the cost savings are zero at that price. I hope to buy more in bulk when I run out and bring the cost savings down.

Yesterday, I went to clean the dirt and grime off my painted white cabinets and decided to use the washing soda diluted in a bucket of water. Wow! That stuff saved me quite a bit of scrubbing on those greasy areas. I used my microfiber cloth, as usual, but this concoction was awesome! It really broke down the grime fast.

Washing soda is only around $2.99 per box and can be used for many household cleaning chores. I really like that it comes in a cardboard box. No plastic. Have you tried washing soda? What do you use it for?

Washing soda...not the same thing as baking soda, but Arm and Hammer does sell it.