I ran errands today. In our town, some of the stores are only available on the other side. A twenty minute drive. I try to combine my shopping when I'm over there. I was hoping to do the Amex offer at Staples where you spend $75 there and get a $25 statement credit. I was going to buy gift cards for one of the stores I need to go to...Petco. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the Amex card!!

I bought three hair products for my daughter at Ulta. They are each priced at $16. But Redken is nearly always buy 2, get one free. I also had a 20% off coupon, so my total came down to $27.39. Each bottle lasts her one month, so an average of $9+ per month.

The cats were down to their last morsels of food. I went to Petsmart since I'm more familiar with that store. I would have gone to Petco, IF I had remember my Amex card!! I spent about $40 on food that I think lasts about 2 months.

I browsed around in Micheal's craft store, but didn't buy anything. Nothing I needed, even though I saw several things I liked!!

I spent less today because I didn't use the American Express card at Staples to buy gift cards, but the offer is still good for all of November. Maybe longer.

I noticed Walmart was offering the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4S for 97 cents in our area. I believe both were offered with Verizon. That is who we have for our cell plans. My husband and I need to upgrade soon as we are losing battery power fast these days. If we all upgrade it will cost at least $120, since Verizon charges a $30 upgrade fee. Boo. I will have to go into the store to hear more about the offer in person.

This is probably a loaded question, but iPhone or Samsung Galaxy? Which is better and why?

I've been in a few conversations recently about the need to get some Halloween decorations. This is surprising to me in some ways. Is Halloween decorating a needed expense? Is any holiday spending necessary? Or do you think of them as wants.

I took some pictures of my front entry cabinet (its officially a dry sink). This is where I store non Christmas decorations.

And you will notice that the Halloween decorations do dominate over Easter and Valentines Day. We accumulated a few extra Halloween decorations a few years ago when we hosted a Halloween party for my daughters and their friends. It was fun, but definitely not necessary. I did a good job keeping the costs down and having leftover decorations for future years.



This years Halloween spending should be less than $5 for two small bags of candy. Our neighborhood is small and the number of kids coming down this way was about 10 last year. I expect it to be similar this year. We have not decorated yet, and will likely just put something out on the porch or the door, so it seems like Halloween to the kids coming to the door. I doubt much of the items in storage will even come out this year. My girls are too old to trick or treat, so this holiday is becoming more and more of a non event.

Now I will admit that I found myself pinning Christmas and winter porch decorating ideas. Last year, we had a wreath out with a red bow on a tree shaped chair. I think I may have put a container of dried branches, too. I think I have some things here at home that will work...so I hope to not get sucked in to all the cool ideas on Pinterest.

How much will you spend on Halloween decorations? Candy? How do you look at holiday spending...want or need? Do you feel pressured by our culture or society's expectations to decorate?

In decluttering news, I pulled out my file of papers that need to be filed...I'm in the process of getting like papers together and tossing and shredding what I don't need. Here's a picture of that mess:

Yesterday, the market was up AND we made our regular Roth IRA contributions. At the end of the day, our total retirement accounts exceeded $250,000 for the first time!! Yippee!! I can't believe we made it there and I really look forward to seeing where we might be at the end of the year. At the end of last year we had just over $188K, so this milestone is amazing. It helps when the S&P 500 index is up over 22% for the year.

In other smaller money news, I recently completed two Pinecone Research surveys. I redeemed my $6 to be sent to my PayPal account. I also worked hard today to get my Swagbucks to 2500 so I could cash them out for $25 in PayPal cash. I hope to get it before the end of the month so I can apply it to this months snowflake total.

I listed a coat on Ebay yesterday. I put it up as a Buy It Now and maybe even a little high as it was only worn a couple times. I hope it sells!!

I bought my first stocking stuffers of the season today. I read MoneySavingMom on Monday and learned about $2 coupons on Lindt chocolate bars. I printed two off and made my purchase at Walgreen's this morning where the candy was on sale for 2 for $4. Thus, I only paid tax of $0.28 out of pocket!! Here's the

blog link with offer details.

Have you reached a retirement milestone this year? Are you holiday shopping yet?

Our trip back to my parents house was fantastic...and fast as always. They have such a beautiful home and land that we have enjoyed for 17 years!! We took the opportunity to take family photos. I hope to use my immediate family picture for our Christmas card, if I decide to send those out this year.

The rental for the Uhaul trailer was about $83 with tax and insurance. They threw in six rental blankets for no charge. We were able to help my parents move some very heavy items to their temporary storage unit, so that was one trip. We came home with the couch and loveseat, a shop vac, a leaf blower, two bags of fertilizer, weed killer, a hoe, bug spray, a fern plant, four wall hangings, a plant stand, a hedge trimmer (that needs a battery), and a fire extinguisher!

Unfortunately, driving a four wheel drive truck nearly 500 miles while towing a trailer does use up quite a bit of fuel. My husband said we spent $160 in fuel! Yikes. Therefore, the not free couch and loveseat, plus all the other items cost us nearly $250. It seems like a lot, but we sure could not have found all those things used for that price.

We did move our old furniture set to the basement storage and it is taking up more space then I prefer. I will live with it for a little while and see if I can fit it in better down there. Otherwise, I think we need to sell it, rather than save for our daughter's future needs.

I made a snowflake payment on Friday to the mortgage company in the amount of $32.35. I love less debt!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I did take a few pictures of our new trees. They were half off of $150, so $75 each. We planted them ourselves, which we got done in less than two hours, including clean up.

After you are done browsing the trees, check out my

post from earlier today. I have coupon link there!


Celebration Maple



White King Hawthorn, we planted two of these, which is shown in the first picture above. That extra sod will likely be tossed out with the yard waste, since we don't have any open spots to replant it!

I traveled to meet two good friends today. A little gas, and about $12 for a latte, sandwich, drink and brownie. Well worth the money and time spent to be with friends.

We also stopped in a Hallmark store, where I realized that I do have three birthday's to recognize next week. I bought three cards for about $5. Not too bad. I will use some of our recently earned gift cards to purchase gifts, although one may need to be cash.

We have an upcoming trip as a family where we hope to take a picture with extended family. We need to start looking in the closets to see if we have coordinating clothes in decent condition for the picture. I'm hoping only one or two of us need something. And I hope we can find those fast and inexpensive!

Do you take a family picture with any frequency? What kind of clothing do you opt for? Casual, or dressy?

I think I'll refer to any payment I make over $100 to the mortgage a snowball. Therefore anything over $500 is likely a blizzard. And if it were to ever happen that I'd have over $1000 to send at once, well I'm thinking an avalanche seems about right!

Today's snowball payment towards the principal balance of the mortgage was $192.84. Much of the money came from those Southwest Gift cards: $67.82 that I used on Amazon, and $8.47 at Walmart. We also have earned $59.77 in Chase Freedom rewards, which I redeemed towards a statement credit today. I probably mentioned earlier last week that I had $25 from Swagbucks and $9.78 in interest and ATM refunds from our bank. And last but not least, after paying all our irregular bills for the year, I had a surplus of $22 in our escrow account. I'm throwing that towards the mortgage as well.

All those little snowflakes add up. I've already accumulated $275.97 since the beginning of the month! And we have now exceed $8000 paid toward the principal of our mortgage. Less debt makes me happy!!

In other news, we purchased three trees for our backyard at a nursery yesterday. They were 50% off for cash and carry. We paid $75 per tree. All are over 7 feet tall and a couple inches in diameter. We picked up a Celebration Maple tree which is already showing off it's red leaves. The other two are White King Hawthorns, which have some orange berries that will stay on the branches even after the leaves fall. Those will make for some nice winter color! We used our credit card for the rewards, but we have the cash on hand for that purchase, as it was one of our goals this year. We got them planted pretty easily after we brought them home yesterday and now I can't stop looking at them!

Do you plant in the fall? Do you prefer another season for planting trees? Any new snowflakes for you?

I can see my husband's mid month pay pending in our bank account. It seems so early! However, I realized that Monday is Columbus Day, a government holiday. Therefore, the next business day is October 15, the official payday. So it is really on time. Just as promised. Now I just need the government to fully open so his travel payments from September can be paid.

I did purchase my running shoes on Amazon. They should arrive today. My body can't wait. I used Ebates to connect to Amazon and I have earned $2.18 cash back on that purchase. I like cash back...only wish we didn't have to wait so long to get it from Ebates.

It will be another spendy weekend. We have to pay admission for another band competition. We also will have guests again. It means more spending on food, but both sets of guests are helping with that, which is much appreciated. All meals will be here at our house, so that keeps things less expensive than if we went to a restaurant.

I've noticed our dryer isn't drying as efficiently as it should. And it may have been a fluke last night, but the washer didn't seem to be spinning things as dry as they could have been. Those were sheets and towels, so maybe that was the issue. I need to pull the vent house off the dryer and see if it needs to be cleaned out. That is usually the issue and I hope it is this time. However, I know our dryer (and washer) is over ten years old. Fingers crossed I don't need replacements...although I will consider a repair first.

How old are your washer and dryer? Do you clean out your dryer vent regularly? Did you know lint is a common cause of house fires?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I sent in the snowflakes, or really a snowball, to the mortgage today. I mentioned these yesterday in my post. The actual amount sent in was $83.13. Less debt makes me happy!! Have I said that before? Sorry, if I have.

Our mortgage is with Wells Fargo. While I was online making the payment, I saw once again that they offer a credit card with 5% back on grocery stores, gas stations and drugstores for 6 months. We would likely get the best return on the gas station expenses. We shop at Super Target which I don't think counts as a grocery store and we rarely do any drug stores either. If we spend $400 a month on fuel, which is a high estimate, we would get $20 back per month for 6 months or $120. Not a bad snowflake for just charging gas to this card. I'll ponder it a bit more and talk to my husband.

I see another snowflake in the future. Ebates cash back should be deposited mid November. I recently made a purchase of printer ink and earned 16% back, that was $8.88 on that purchase alone. The total cash back I'm expecting is $14.76, not bad for purchases I do anyway.

I'm about ready to do a little shopping with my Amazon gift cards. My husband has a birthday this month and wants a movie, as does my daughter for a Christmas gift. I also need new running shoes...and I think I found a great price on a pair I will love! Even though I have gift cards, I know I have to pull that money out of the checking account and send to the mortgage, so I'm hesitating a bit there. Silly me...delaying a payment to the mortgage. I can't help it. Sometimes it is hard to spend.

So should I go for the Wells Fargo card even though I will only get 5% on our gas purchases? Do you use Ebates, or other cash back service for your online shopping? Should I shop for my items today, or wait? I'm interested what you think.

We are having guests this weekend. This is the second of three in a row. All guests are coming to visit and see my daughter perform with her marching band. It is a good show!

Having guests is just about as expensive as it is to drive somewhere. This set of guests suggested we go out to eat. Even if we split the bill, I would guess our portion would be equal to the amount I will spend on groceries for the whole weekend. Okay, maybe not. It will be cheaper to eat at home.

I'm making a double batch of chili for tonight. Leftovers will be frozen, and used another time for dinner or lunches. Tomorrow morning, we can have toast or banana bread and fruit. I also have eggs as an option. My sister likes cream in her coffee, so I picked up half and half and some more coffee....my brother in law drinks a LOT of coffee.

Tomorrow afternoon for lunch before we go to the performance, we will have sandwiches. I bought three types of lunch meat, probably not necessary, but I knew we would eat the remainder for lunches in the coming week. I also picked up cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Darn. I forgot more mustard. Mayo it is.

Saturday night we will have tacos. I have all the fixings. I picked up extra ground beef, so I will make this up and freeze the taco meat for another time. Sunday morning will be a repeat of Saturday morning. More basic eating.

I seem to have followed in my mother's pattern with guests where I want to have plenty of options. I have nuts, chips and crackers for snacks. I also bought beer and wine. I bought twice the amount that I would normally buy on a weekend with two extra people. Geez, I must think they are super hungry people. They aren't.

I shopped at SuperTarget with coupons and my cartwheel and saved $18! But my bill still came to $102. Boo. I hope we can extend our leftovers for many days after the visit.

How do you plan for guests? Wing it? Plan out each meal? Do you eat at home or go out to eat? Do you have a go to meal that you think works great for guests? I love to know!

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

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

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

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

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

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

I seem to have a few bits and pieces of financial information to share. Most of it good!

I sent $26.99 off as a mortgage principal payment. This money was from Swagbucks and $1.99 usage of one of those Amazon.com gift cards. Yes, I could have rounded up, but I thought it might mess with my tracking of the gift cards. I will update my snowflakes for September tomorrow.

Remember we cancelled our tv service last month? Our bill arrived with the expected $40 credit for service we paid for but did not receive. I was also expecting the bill to include a cancellation fee of about $99, but it wasn't there!! I'm not going to call them about that. So we have a nice low bill for internet and phone this month.

Our credit for the $99 annual fee showed up with the new billing cycle on the Southwest card. I had also made a return of $5.75 that had been charged to that card. I requested a check for the credit balance in the amount of $104.75. It should arrive in 10-14 business days. It will be nice to see that money back.

My youngest daughter has a band concert next week. They are to wear black pants, white shirt, and black shoes. She tried on the pants and shoes and they still fit. The shirt was outgrown this summer. We will stop by Kohl's today to find one and use our gift cards. We will also take a look at coats, but I don't expect we will buy today.

My husband is not going out of town this week due to the government shut down. That trip will really just get delayed. It will still need to happen at some point. I'm kind of happy about that though, since he has been doing so much traveling lately. I think pay will now continue on schedule as there was a law passed yesterday ensuring pay for military during a shutdown. That is how I understand it anyway. That means I can invest and pay bills as normal.

So what do you think I should have titled this post? Do you have some lower bills this month?

This government shut down is looming and it is affecting us. First affect, my husband's battle assembly scheduled for this coming weekend has been postponed to the end of October. This is good since my daughter has a band performance that he would have missed. Now he can see it.

He is also scheduled to travel this week. He will find out tomorrow whether they are to continue or postpone that one as well. I'd prefer it be cancelled. We are already waiting on two travel reimbursements from earlier in September that have still not been paid. The amount owed to us is $236.31, which we sure would like to have as soon as possible.

My husband was paid for all work done in September. I can see the paycheck pending in our checking account for tomorrow. However, all pay will stop, while work continues until the new budget is signed. He will get an IOU from the government. The next expected check is October 15, which will be on time if the budget is signed in the next week or so.

The good thing is we have cash to cover a paycheck or two. My plan is to postpone our investments in October if the pay is delayed. We might as well hang on to that money while we are waiting on a paycheck. Some of the bills later in the month are put on credit cards anyway, so those can be delayed slightly as well. It's the food and gas we will need to fork over out of savings until we are paid back.

We are some of the lucky ones. Civilians that work for the government will not go into work, and will not be paid for any days they are off work. I hope they have a plan!

Do you know anyone that is affected by the government shutdown that likely to happen? Any other good ideas for planning for a delayed paycheck?

I'm amused at my husband. He has mowed the lawn three times this year, been in charge of watering about the same amount. He has also sprayed for weeds and fertilized. Today he is aerating our lawn in preparation for putting down grass seed (Aerating is important in places where there is clay soil generally). He knows what a lawn needs, but actually doesn't have much time to spend on it. I'm just happy if it stays green during the spring and summer and it gets mowed. I don't even mind doing the mowing. He seems to be the one to be all the expense in to the yard, but not as much of the effort. Not sure if that makes sense, but it does amuse me! We actually let our back lawn go dormant this summer because of the lack of rain and my desire to NOT to spend money on water. He didn't seem to mind.

The aerator is $55 to rent for four hours. It should just take him an hour or so to do. After he's done with that we will run out to get grass seed and fertilizer. Another $40-$60, I'm guessing. I do like a nice looking lawn. I just don't always like the expense that goes with it. If there were some more neighbors home on a Friday morning, we might see if any of them want their lawn aerated and help cover/split the cost of the rental. No one else is home to ask, but at least we got the task of my husband's to do list! We also agree this is likely the only time we will aerate while we live at this home. It isn't something we do with much frequency.

Let's just say this is one of those tasks I just have to go with to keep the peace. Now if we were going into debt for the lawn that would be another story.

What kinds of equipment have you rented? Would you rather buy than rent, or hire out than rent? Do you aerate your lawn?

Again, in the mail today, I received a $10 off a $10 purchase at Kohl's. This is the second one this month. I used the last one last week when we shopped there. Clearly, they want me to come back!

I am DONE cleaning our windows. I even cleaned the outsides of some of them. The others I couldn't reach without a ladder and they actually aren't too bad. The windows seems to get dirtier here in this more rural town. And the spider webs are really bad!! Ick.

I'm craving a soda, which is really odd, since I have pretty much stopped drinking pop almost two years ago. I must need more water! If I can avoid the temptation to pick up a soda on my next outing, I will declare today a no spend day. Again!

There isn't much financial going on. I'm looking forward to payday just so I can do something financial! My husband is taking a couple days off work, so we might use one of those restaurant gift cards. That means I can send the same amount of money to the mortgage. That would be good.

Did you get a Kohl's $10 coupon this month? Did you use it? What did you get?

I decided I should track the spending with those rewards gift cards as it happens. No need to delay paying the mortgage down, right? I set up a spreadsheet with each card and it's original amount, the amount used/remaining and the amount sent in. Or something like that!! This way I can keep track of what I need to send in.

I already sent $50 in last week when I spent a $50 gift card at Walmart. Today I'm sending in $123.15 for gift cards spent on Amazon and at Kohl's this weekend. At this point we have spent $173.15 of the gift cards from the Southwest Airlines Rapids Rewards card. And it has all been matched with our own cash that we have sent in to the mortgage.

In other news, I'm still waiting for my husband's travel payments to shake out, so I can pay off his expenses on our Chase Freedom card. It should be done this week. It was nice of him to charge gas while their 5% back promotion is running. That will just mean more rewards from that card, or a forecast of future snowflakes as I see it.

This snowflaking debt is fun and so satisfying. Did you make a snowflake this week? Did you save it, spend it or pay down debt?

The girls and I went shopping yesterday at Kohl's, where we picked up a couple pairs of jeans, a shirt and a pair of shoes. The total before discounts was $104.97, but I had a $10 off coupon and a 20% off which saved $29. Of course, tax was added back in, and the total became $81.29. I used the gift cards we earned from the Southwest Airlines credit card bonuses. Each card from Kohl's is $50, so I still have $18.71 left on one of them.

We also rented Star Trek Into Darkness from Amazon last night to watch as a family. We used the Amazon.com gift card to pay for the $3.99 rental. The Amazon gift cards we received are $25 each. I only loaded one on to the account, so we now have a $21.01 credit there.

The plan all along has been to match the spending on these gift cards with cash applied to the principal balance of our mortgage. I'm having a mini debate with myself about how to handle this specifically. Should I send in the actual amount we spent yesterday, or would it be easier to track if I only sent in the money when I use the full gift card? If I do the later, I really only need to send in $50, as I have only used up that one Kohl's gift card. It really all works out the same in the end. I will mull it over today. Either way I will make a payment to the mortgage tomorrow!

I might have a little more Amazon.com spending to do. I noticed that my hair dryer is getting too hot and actually melting on the side. That can't be good! It still works, but I sure don't want my hair to catch on fire. I think I'll get that order placed today!

Do you dry your hair with a hair dryer or air dry? I'm pretty sure air drying would be the most frugal.

Last night, I came home to a note from my daughter, that said, "We are out of conditioner. We have two shampoos in the closet but no conditioner. What is with this madness?" Made me laugh.

Then this morning I found we only had two partial rolls of toilet paper in the house! Yikes. Time to go to the store again. When my husband heard I was going he said he needed deodorant. Now it seems I had a list of things to get.

I stopped by Walmart to purchase the above items in addition to counter cleaner and toothpaste. I did buy more than one of several of the items. I had two coupons which reduced my expense by $3. I spent $53.13. I used one of the $50 gift cards we earned with our Southwest Rewards card. So just a little out of pocket. I will get that $50 sent off to the mortgage this week.

The toilet paper I wanted to buy at Walmart had three different sized packages, 12 rolls, 20 rolls and 27 rolls. I noticed the signage on two of them had a graphic stating "Low Price". I did the math on my phone calculator, the lowest price per roll was on the 20 roll package. This was the one with out the "Low Price" sign. I just thought that was interesting. Apparently, Walmart knows they can sway purchases to higher priced items by putting these signs up. I will say the package I bought was probably $2 cheaper than I pay at Target. That part is a little annoying.

It was nice to stock up on a few things knowing that once I spent that money on the gift card it was heading to the mortgage. What kinds of things do you keep heavily stocked in your home?

I should have mentioned this yesterday in my post about the Target deal, but iTunes gift cards are 10% off again this week. I bought a $15 one last time for my oldest daughter. I paid $13.50 for it with Target gift cards I had. She buys stuff on there quite often. And since then, my youngest daughter actually made an iTunes purchase, so I'm thinking she needs one in her stocking too. I can use my newly acquired Target gift cards to make the purchase!

Also prepaid phone cards at Target are 10% off as well. We don't have one of these, but if you do, that is a savings to take advantage of.

Snowflakes are slow to come by so far this month. I earned $0.37 last month on my CapitalOne 360 Savings account. Our bank refunded our ATM fees of $8, and gave us $0.05 of interest. Thus my snowflakes amount to $8.42. A little paltry.

I know that I have Swagbucks money coming as well as $525 in gift cards from Southwest. So I will just patiently wait and know it will come together. I could also make something happen with some Ebay or Craigslist sales, but the truth is I'm not motivated.

I'm going to try to make it a no spend day. I received yet another $10 coupon to Kohl's, so that is tempting, but probably should wait until I can take one of the girls along for some of their needs.

Know of any other good savings deals out there this week that might be on someone's NEED list?

Thanks for the nice get well wishes. I did have a smoothie this morning. And I have been taking Vitamin C, among others, since day one of the cold. It is more of an energy issue than congestion, which is actually very minimal. I have done cardio at the gym each morning this week ranging from 20-25 minutes. Each day is a little better.

I filled up the tank with gas on the way to the gym and spent $51.04. After the gym, I stopped by Target for a few items, spending $45.42. I bought two items that were not on my list. One was a snack, which was probably not needed. The other item was buy 3, get a $5 gift card. Since we ALWAYS need these, I like to stock up during this promotion. The $5 gift card will get used and then added to the snowflake pile! My only regret is I didn't have the coupon that I usually use on that promotion.

Now time for chores! My motivation is that I will reward myself with a movie I borrowed from the library. Free rewards are good don't you think? Do you reward yourself for tasks that you dread?

I've had a cold for over a week now. The lack of energy has been awful. I made it to the gym yesterday and today, but only did cardio exercise for about 20 minutes. After that I was wiped out!

After a little rest today, I did some clean up in our garage. I seemed to handle that just fine. Clearly, it wasn't as strenuous. The lack of energy is leaving many things undone around here. I'm feel this week will be the crawl back to getting those things done. Next up is a load of laundry. And then if I still am up for it, homemade biscuits.

I expect today's spending only to be for the flute lesson, a $20 bill in my wallet will take care of it. Tomorrow, I will stock up on needs that have come up since my last shopping trip: hair mousse, a cat collar, a loaf of bread, fuel for the van and it seems one other thing.

I hope all of you are well and stay well. It's no fun to be sick.

Just noticed my Snowflakes for Christmas ticker has disappeared. I still have the coding in my blog settings and it looks correct when I compare it to the other one. I tried to copy and paste to get to the TickerFactory site, but I'm just taken to the main set up page. Does anyone know if these tickers expire if not used for awhile?

I'm not actually surprised by this, but I was unable to return the allergy decongestant product my husband bought. It is a controlled substance, thus no returns. He paid $15.50 for 10 pills. It is possible we will use them at some point. It just isn't the brand and combination we prefer. Oh well, I tried!

While I was there, I picked up four photo prints for my daughter that were taken when she was visiting a friend. I figured $0.86 to capture some memories was worth it. If I didn't make that purchase it would have been a no spend day. At least it is low spend.

Can you think of other things that cannot be returned?

I ended up buying groceries yesterday after I realized we needed something for dinner. I made a quick list for the week and got all the grocery shopping done a day early. It was a little smaller grocery bill as I will use some things on hand to make a few of the meals. I like when that happens.

As a result of that trip, today has been a no spend day. I'll take it. Those seem a bit rare around here lately.

I paid off our Target credit card charges and some gas charges on the Chase Freedom card. We are back to zero on those. The Southwest Card has about $572 due before the end of September. I will pay that off in full on Friday (payday). No interest! I like that too.

I expect to purchase gas this week, a hair product and write a check to the flute teacher. Not too bad. I also still need to return some meds we bought that we won't use. That will be $15 back in our pocket. I'm also avoiding school fundraiser number one. Magazines. I don't need to spend the money and I don't need any magazines. We actually plan to send some money in directly to the band program this year, so I can skip those fundraisers too!

Did you have a spending day or a no spend day? What did you buy? Or avoid buying?

The vehicle registration 'bill' came in the mail yesterday. For my van and DHs truck the yearly tags total $480. Next year will be lower, as my van will be old enough for the lower rate. The savings will be $78. This means I could save a little less each month to compensate for that, but I have a feeling a teen car will be in our future, so I should just keep setting the same money aside.

I know I paid the registration last year with a credit card, and paid an additional fee to do so. I justified it since the charge helped to earn a credit card bonus reward. May do that this year, if I see a card we should get for the rewards. I have until mid October to decide on that one.

I save monthly for the car registration money, so I'm all set to pay it. Do you save monthly for your vehicle registration? Or just come up with the money when it is time?

I always find it interesting to hear about the things people buy. I try not to make judgements. But I find it interesting to hear of people buying wants, and then complain they didn't save enough, or don't have enough for some need.

Sometimes I just want to shake them and say, "Do you hear what you are saying?" What you are doing isn't matching up with your goals. You aren't going to get where you are going by doing that same thing over and over.

Of course, I don't usually say anything. I do at least take a moment to look at our own spending. Have I bought something lately that is taking away from my goals? Could I do better with my spending? What am I doing right?

I do know I sent DH to the store this evening for more tissues, ibuprofen, tea, and 12 hour decongestants. Apparently there has been a run on the decongestants this weekend. So instead of the generic I was expecting, he bought an allergy/decongestant combination. It was the only thing available at the store and it probably cost twice as much as I expected him to spend. In reality, it wasn't a need. We have the four hour decongestants that would work. The problem here is that my own husband doesn't think the same way about wants and needs. He assumes that since I asked for it, it must be a need. I probably would have made the trip normally, but I'm really run down with my cold.

Do you find yourself taking a step back once in awhile to see how you are spending? Is it really needs? Are you justifying your wants as needs?

As I expected, our Chase Southwest Airlines Rewards card statement closed over the weekend and the bonus miles were awarded. We now have 53,128 miles available to redeem. This translates to $525 in gift cards.

I will be discussing which cards to order with my husband, but the possibilities I'm interested include Walmart, Lowes, Sears, Amazon, Kohls, JC Penney, Barnes and Noble, Eddie Bauer, Aeropostale, Bath & Body Works, Panera, Bed Bath & Beyond and Pier One. Of course, I won't be getting one of each, but those are what I have narrowed the choices down to.

I really try to avoid Walmart, but I could easily get groceries and toiletries there to use the gift cards. We always end up buying some clothes at Kohl's over the course of the year. I expect with fall weather arriving we will be there soon! And Amazon would definitely get used, since we have their Prime membership, I do buy things there when they are less expensive and they arrive just two days later!

Home improvements are always on the list, thus Lowe's is an obvious place to spend some of the reward miles, too. Many of the other cards I listed above aren't very common places we spend money, but they are often given as gifts. Turns out I think we are giving fewer gifts this year...so that means I probably don't need those. I could always buy the gift cards I need at Walmart, too!

I noticed a $10 credit on our USAA card, which we haven't been using. It was a reward I earned in April. I believe our auto insurance will be charged to that card any day, so just a little less money to send in. Of course, I will count that $10 as a snowflake for September!

What gift card would you choose to redeem?

I just have some random money thoughts to share.

The water bill arrived. It was $40 more than last month and our lawn looks worse! We made an effort to water new sod in a small section of our yard as well as a new tree, but it wasn't worth spending a lot more on water to keep the lawn green in this past heat wave. So right now our yard is more yellow than green.

We turned our cable boxes in on Friday. The bill for September service was already printed and mailed. I was told to pay it in full. I will then get a credit on next months bill for the television portion. At that time we will also be billed for the final months of our contract which came to $99.80. That is all going as planned.

We earned $28.44 in interest in August on our cash. Sure wish it was more!

Our girls have Nook Color Tablets. Barnes and Noble no longer makes these. Recently, we have had trouble with one of the power cords. Then the other one got stepped on and the connection was bent. We made a trip to Barnes and Noble to look for a new cord. Unfortunately, they don't have any left in stock and don't know that they will get any more in. We checked Office Max and Best Buy. Also not available. I have looked online, but original Nook Color power adapters are not available! This will make the Nooks we own completely obsolete. Luckily, the one that has been trouble does work and on the way home from our outing I bent the connection on the other back and it does seem to work...for now. We need to find at least one cord as a back up, since both are a bit iffy at this point. It is disappointing to think these tablets might not be able to hold up long term because they no longer make the appropriate power cord. Ugh!!

Random enough for you?!