I made another principal payment towards the mortgage today in the amount of $107.70. That is the last one I will make for August. That money came from a water utility refund, a Swagbucks cash and Ebay proceeds. A little work and a little luck!

I actually made five extra principal payments this month which reduced our mortgage principal by $557.48! That is more than a regular mortgage payment reduces our principal. And yes, that is the total snowflakes for the month, too.

We are still waiting on our Southwest credit card statement to close so we can start redeeming gift cards. It should close on Saturday, so we are close to getting our hands on that $500.

I sent the OBi adapter for VoIP back to Amazon. Their estimate of shipping is $5.37. That is how much my refund will be reduced. Most of my family is not real excited about permanently giving up our land line. We do actually call home when we are out to check on our kids. So, for now, we are keeping it. I might still try Ooma, but I'll be looking for a good price. Maybe used on Ebay, but need to see how that works.

I've come to a screeching halt installing my Google Voice calling plan. They don't have ANY numbers in my area code. Or my last area code or the one before that. Clearly, this Google Voice things is not available everywhere. Too bad I didn't check before I bought the adapter!!

I bought the OBi adapter on Amazon for $39.00. Shipping was free with our Prime membership. No tax...thanks internet. I can return to Amazon and pay $4.99 plus $0.75 per pound. Since it is less than a pound, I expect the refund to be reduced by $5.74.

I could also sell it on Ebay. I see others listed for slightly more than I paid but those include free shipping, which means the shipping would have to come from the proceeds. And I would have Ebay fees on top of it. I think it really ends up being better to return it even if I get shipping deducted. Live and learn I guess!!

Now I need to search my other options. I'm leaning towards the Ooma, which is three times the cost of the unit I bought. This service will charge me the federal fees of $3.71 per month. I did notice I can use a Citi promotion for one day shipping from Amazon if I buy the Ooma unit from there. Tempting!

Or we could just skip the land line altogether. Oh geez, I really thought I had it figured out. More to come later.

My daughter is a Junior in high school this year. This means college is going to be upon us soon. I can tell by the mail we are beginning to receive too!

The school sent out information about a seminar for ACT test preparation. It's a 7 hour course on a scheduled day off of school and is $79.

My daughter is an all A student. She tests well on standardized tests. No test anxiety. She writes well, too. Does she NEED to take this seminar?

What alternatives are there for preparing for this test? There seem to be books available (library and Ebay), and a practice test for less on the ACT website. What is really necessary?

While I wait for those of you ahead of me to weigh in, I'll keep browsing the ACT website to see what I can find.

If you read my post this morning, you know we had abandoned the plan to put an antenna in our attic, primarily for safety reasons. The biggest issue was climbing IN and ACROSS our attic which has no floor boards to walk on to fish a cable across and down to our basement. We just didn't feel safe.

The new plan still starts in the attic, but goes outside and along the edge of our siding to the connection that is already available outside. This does not require us to get IN the attic. We can attach the antenna by simply standing on a ladder BY the attic opening. Safely!!

We are excited. We have put in some cash to make this happen, however, we will quickly recoup the money by cancelling our basic service from the cable company. And this is the same amount we would have spent by going IN the attic.

It's not hooked up yet, but we have the beginning plans for tv service that will cost us $0 per month. How do you receive your television service? How much do you pay?

I was talking with my sister last night. She is a teacher. She has taught English as a Second Language students, first grade and now kindergarten. Her public school district supplies all kids with crayons, pencils, scissors and glue, among other things.

She teaches in a school where many children come from poverty. Not all, but many. The parent teacher organization is nearly non existent. Other elementary schools have very active and generous PTO's. Some teachers actually get a Starbucks coffee everyday by an active group of parents! Whoa.

You know what my sister wants? Not Starbucks. She wants hand sanitizer and tissues to keep her and the kids healthy in the classroom. She currently buys these out of her own pocket. And did you know first graders and kindergartners go through lots of tissues!! I have encouraged her to at least mention the need in a newsletter. Not all parents will respond or be able to contribute, but some will.

My youngest daughter (8th grade) actually had 3 boxes of tissues on her school supply list. This had always been the case for us in all three districts our children have attended. My oldest simply had a request from the band directors last year to donate. We did...happily!

I will pick up more tissues today at the store. I will give them to the band and my sister next time I see her. I will also get a couple large containers of hand sanitizer for her as well. I will likely spend less than $20 but it will make a difference.

I hope if you know any teacher, in any grade and any subject you consider giving a tissue and or hand sanitizer donation. They really can use these things...and they are often not provided by the school.

Does your child's school ask for these types of donations? Do you give? Do college level teachers (I think there are a few of you here) need these things as well? Let's discuss!!

I was able to redeem some Swagbucks today for a $25 deposit in my PayPal account. I hope it arrives before the month end so I can count it towards this months snowflakes and send in to the mortgage.

I listed a few things on Ebay last night. Specifically a few Creative Memories items. I only made two small scrapbooks of our two Disney vacations. The last one was 4 years ago. If I make another vacation album it will be digital! Apparently this is the way Creative Memories is going forward too. They discontinued many items recently and thus there is lots of demand on Ebay. I figured I might as well get rid of them now while there is some demand. I'm hoping for about $20+ from my items.

I took the girls to Panera Bread for lunch. It was completely spontaneous, but fun since we don't get to do that kind of thing often and it is much harder to do during the school year. Spent about $20.

I think tomorrow may be a no spend day!

Yesterday I needed to get groceries. I tend to shop at SuperTarget as it is the closest and I'm used to their setup. I often, but not always, go online to clip/print coupons from their website. I did that yesterday and found two that I was able to use. At the same time, I clicked on information about Cartwheel, which I understood to be a smartphone app. It is that, but those of use without them can still use it!! I loaded coupons onto my Cartwheel and was able to print out my discounts which had the bar code the cashier needed. What is really interesting is that I ended up with discounts I didn't even load! Have no idea how that happened. I saved $2.36 because I printed off the Cartwheel savings. I did use my Red Card too and saved another $4.67. The other coupons were a savings of $2.50. And I got another $0.35 off for using my own bags. It all helps!!

We made a trip to Menard's to return an item we didn't end up using. When we bought it I was pretty sure we wouldn't need it. We should go with our gut on those types of things. At least we were smart enough to return it for a refund, which was $13.90.

I received a $10 coupon from Kohl's in the mail. I will definitely use this later this week for some new undergarments. I will try to stick to the $10 if possible.

Did you return or sell anything recently? Have you used Target's Cartwheel yet?

The only thing in my mailbox yesterday was a check! I wish every day was like that. Although I'd settle for a deposit into our checking account everyday, too. The check was a return of a utility deposit that we were required to pay last year to have our water turned on. A nice $60 back in our pocket.

I know they told me it would be returned. I just didn't make a note of it anywhere. My husband thought I was probably tracking it. Well no, once the money is gone, I don't expect it back.

I know you all will expect that I will put it towards the mortgage. I'd like to do that, but we have just spent quite a bit recently. There was also an unexpected expense of a rental car of $110 to get my husband to a school. The government won't reimburse as it was not authorized. The airline had to route him to an airport two hours away!! I'm sure he will check with the airline today about compensation on his way home, but I'm not holding my breath with the airline providing compensation. That $60 helps soften the blow on that charge. That's my thinking on it right now...I may decide to throw it at the mortgage in the end.

I received my $25 from Swagbucks yesterday and redeemed my $3 from a Pinecone survey, which should arrive in my PayPal account today. I will then transfer that money to checking. That money will go the mortgage as soon as I have it!

I'm about ready to make a change to our home phone. We will buy an Obi adapter for about $40 that will connect to our internet. We then plug our regular phone into that. The provider will be Google Voice so we can make local and long distance calls for free. Google Voice does not provide 911 service, but Anveo provides that for $12 per year, which is all we will pay after the initial hardware investment. That is a huge savings!

We currently pay $30.76 monthly for our home phone, which includes all those taxes and zero long distance. If we do use long distance we are charged $0.14 per minute. I use my cell phone if I need to call long distance. We get very few calls on it, but it is nice to have since all of our cell phones are based in another area code. We can't really port our current number to Google Voice without a lot of work around, but we can pick a new number for free which I have decided is just fine. I will need to notify family, schools, and service providers of the new number. A bit of a pain, but worth it for the savings.

We may also invest in a tool that crimps CAT5 cable so we can have our internet router, and OBi system upstairs rather than the basement. We lose some processing speed by having it in the basement. Our house is already prewired with CAT5 and coaxial cable, so we just need to pull out the cable from the wall and put on the adapter plug(RJ45). I might not be using all the right terminology, but I do know what the plan is! The tool is about $15.

I'm excited about all of our possible changes and reducing our bills. I now just need my husband to be home long enough to make these decisions and help me make the physical changes.

I know some of you have already ditched your landline which is a great savings! Does anyone use VOip at there home? Do you use Google Voice? Tell me about your experience.

Here's what I've been doing:

Volunteering my sewing skills to hem marching band pants. The band only has 180 members, so it didn't take long with many hands. Turns out to have been fun and free entertainment with some nice ladies.

Confronting the neighbors (2 adults and four kids) playing basketball after 10:30pm on a week night. The hoop and driveway are really, really close to my daughter's bedroom. I hope I don't have to do it again. Ick!

Earning my daily Swagbucks. I'm honestly getting a little tired of it, but there's an addictive quality that I can't yet let go of. Waiting for my last request of $25 to be deposited in my PayPal account. Only 500+ Swagbucks away from the next redemption.

Completed a Pinecone survey. I cashed out my payment earlier today. I think it should be in my account tomorrow.

Today is payday. I need to pay bills and get that Southwest card paid off!! I keep seeing lots of money going out in our future. Band picture (only $7), Band jacket(?), pictures for youngest daughter, fundraisers(!?), driver's ed, at least one tree for the back yard...I hope that is it. Not sure. I really would like to buckle down and spend NOTHING!!

I will keep today a no spend day since I have cleaning and bills to take care off. No need to do anything else, but make a trip to pick up my daughter from the last day of band camp.

I think I will also gather some items to take to Goodwill tomorrow. I know I have things in the basement that have already been set aside for that, I just need to do it!!

Little bit of everything, huh? Have a frugal day!!

I'm using some of my downtime this week to research lowering some of our costs and increasing our interest income. I will be looking at cell phone service, voip home phone service, and tv service and ways to reduce those costs. I will also be looking at different banks, likely reward checking accounts as ways to increase the interest on our cash without the risk of the market.

I did find out we signed an 18 month contract last July for television service. We have thus used 13 months of the contract and would owe for service not yet billed on the contract if we cancel early. When we cancel, whether early or on time, we hope to use over the air service. We will need to install an outdoor antenna in our attic, so there will be some upfront cost. The antenna alone is $85, but we are paying $39.05 a month right now, so that will be recouped quickly. The hardest part likely will be crawling into the attic and connecting the lines already installed in the basement to the line attached to the antenna. This may require the purchase of some tools, which I hope to find a the best price possible. We hope to install BEFORE we actually cancel to confirm we get the reception we are expecting.

I'll update you later in the week with other research. In the meantime, I know about Ting and Republic Wireless, are there any other no contract plans anyone uses? Tell me what you know!

I have some random updates that are money related that I'll just throw out there for the enjoyment of those of you who like this kind of thing!

Last month a house just like ours, except for walkout basement vs daylight windows, sold for $5,500 more than what we purchased our home for last year. This is the amount ours was listed at but we negotiated down, but they didn't or couldn't. I'm thinking I can look at this as the current market value of our home, right? I like that kind of equity.

I found out the information above when I went looking for our property tax amount online. Turns out they have not certified property taxes yet, thus no statement. I know the taxes will go up since this is a new home and we did get a reprieve last year. I want to know how much, so I can plan.

I sold those Box Tops for Education on Ebay. My net profit is $10.11, which I will add to the Snowflakes for Equity.

We had garage door issues recently. The opener wouldn't close the door. It would open, but not close. We tried all the trouble shooting tips for the sensors, but it was a no go. We purchased a new set on Amazon which arrived quickly with our Prime 2 Day shipping. We swapped out the sensor that was the problem and it worked!! Cost about $25. Annoying, but no big deal.

My daughter, age 16, finally decided to get her permit and is driving a little. We will need to get her signed up for driver's ed by the end of the month at a cost of $375. Steep, but probably worth the education she will get. Of course, I will put the fee on a credit card when the time comes to earn rewards and possibly a bonus!

I was notified by USAA that our next six month premium for auto insurance will be due in October. No change in the premium...just $433 for six months. This will go on a credit card, too! I'm sure once our daughter has her license the premium will go up...but by how much is the question.

I will try to make today a no spend day. I have paint I purchased last week that needs to be applied. Might as well take advantage of the cooler weather to get it done.

I noticed that iTunes gift cards are 10% off at Target this week. I hope to stop in to get at least one as a Christmas gift. I will use some of the Target gift cards I have to make the purchase.

Was that enough random updates for you? What was your favorite piece of information?

It's been so mild most of July that we are barely running the air conditioner. We still are running it because of allergies, but we stay pretty comfortable with fans and keeping the temperature a semi high level.

This month's electric bill is $19 LOWER than June. Now the bill is still $121, but we are cooling a 2500 square foot home, watching tv, using the dryer and dishwasher and spending time on the computer.

Were any of your utilities lower than last month? Were you expecting a lower bill or were you surprised?

Already some August snowflakes are arriving! So exciting. Here's what I have thus far:



Clearly some of those were earned in July, but they all arrived yesterday. I may just get those sent in to the mortgage soon. I do have a couple more that I think will arrive soon, so more than likely I will wait. The Capital One reward money was from depositing $500 in the savings account during their Independence Day sale. A little bit of that is interest, which is better than I get in my checking account for that money!

It was a spendy couple of days recently. Registration for school was the primary expense. We pay $65 for each of our daughters. We also purchased a family activity pass for $145. We definitely would have spent that much money on activities (football games to see the band perform, basketball games to see the pep band perform, three music concerts and a two plays) last year, so we expect the same this year. It is nice to have it prepaid! I did put the entire $275 charge on the Southwest card. I bought pictures for my oldest daughter and paid with a check since I forgot to prepay online with a credit card.

We purchased fertilizer, sprinklers and paint at Home Depot and did remember to get the military discount! I charged these expenses to the Southwest card as well. I think it was about $100.

We received a call from our gym that we owe a Club Enhancement fee. Not sure the amount since this is the first time they have indicated we owe one. A little annoyed since this was not disclosed at the time of sign up, but I bet it is in our contract. I will be looking before I pay it.

Ebay has been slow. I have two items that are relisted at lower prices and still no interest. Based on previous experience it really seems these things should sell! If they don't, I will just take a break or end up donating them.

Do you have any August snowflakes yet?

I mentioned in my last post that my husband will be traveling for work. I guess one of the trips is cancelled...due to funding. So likely less savings if he is only gone one week.

I sold two items on Ebay last night. One person has paid. Waiting on the other. I also have one item with a bid that should end tomorrow. It's all moving along.

Today I need to get bills paid. I keep putting it off! Surprising, since I usually like to do it. I think it is just that I have other projects that are getting my attention. That bathroom painting has put my interest back on some improvements around the house and I would like to get a few things sewn and mailed to my sister. But I will pay the bills so I get work on the fun stuff!

We attended a free concert in a local park last night. Our daughter played with a flute choir ensemble prior to the city's municipal band concert. It was very good music and a cool beautiful evening free of bugs. Now I want to go to another one!!

Does your city have free music you can attend either indoor or outdoors?

I was checking on some of the credit cards we have been using. Double checking that they are at zero balance. I requested the first one I opened to be canceled. I then looked at the Citi card and realized there were 2110 points. I looked around on the site, but wasn't interested in any CDs that could be redeemed for 600 points. I did notice that I can link my card to my Amazon.com account and use my points for Amazon purchases. My 2110 Thank You points are equal to $16.88. My only other problem is that I don't have anything I need to buy! I will wait to close this card until I have used the final points and then get it closed. I'm sure something will come up that we can purchase on Amazon. They have EVERYTHING!

Today I returned a rug I bought earlier in the week. Another $16 back in our pocket. I also found out that DH was paid from the Army for a trip he made last week. He drove his own car and thus was paid mileage. We made money (about $160)since his out of pocket expenses were less. Of course this is to cover the cost of operating the vehicle and depreciation. I think I will save it towards some upcoming vehicle maintenance. Oil changes are about due, and I know they will be checking the brakes, since we might be due for new pads. Of course, we'll charge them on the Southwest card to help get us to our $2000 spending minimum.

It looks to be more gorgeous weather this weekend. I hope we can get out and be active. We are keeping the windows closed and the air on because allergies. We all seem to get congestion when we have the windows open. Hopefully not too much spending!

Will your weekend be a spendy one or frugal?

The painting did get done yesterday and it looks so much better. The girls wanted the same color that their bathroom was painted in our last house. A light blue, specifically Pale Flowers by Valspar available at Lowe's. I did not buy their primer based paint becdause it so expensive and not necessary for this paint job. Saved myself $10-$15 by making this choice.


The towels and shower curtain are the same too. The decorative mirror in the picture was purchased at an art fair for $25. I thought the message was worth the price for two teen girls. I hope to find a few cube shelves for above the toilet. I see they are available on Amazon for about $15, but I'll look for locally first and even consider a used set.

Sorry I don't have any before pictures. Although I probably do somewhere; from last year when we moved in. Just imagine builder white. Although most of our walls and ceiling are a buff cream color.

I sold another item on Ebay, likely netting about $8. I will put that in the mail today. I also was able to redeem Swagbucks for another $25 deposit in my PayPal account. I will add that to the Snowflakes for Equity once I have it in my account.

Do you know how to paint? Do you paint often or infrequently? Any one not know how to paint a room?

I sold two of the CDs I listed on Ebay yeterday afternoon. They are already at the post office. Not sure the net, the gross sales of the two together was $13.62. This money goes to the Snowflakes for Equity, of course!

I got some motivation with this cooler weather to paint my daughter's bathroom. They have been asking and mentioning it for months! With paint and cool weather means open windows and no air conditioning. Might see how long we can keep them open, but allergies could become an issue.

A little spending because of the paint and trip an hour away, but it is all good! Trying to keep up with the Swagbucks codes today, but so far have two...oh well, I'll get goal done after the painting is done!

I was earning my Swagbucks this morning and got the joy of watching

this commercial for 2 Swagbucks (in my Inbox). I don't generally watch everything put in front of me, but this got my attention. It is appropriate for everyone, but those of us here at Saving Advice might appreciate it even more!

Would you eat the marshmallow, or wait? Are you patiently saving? Or skipping it all together (not that you'll tell me)?

The Southwest Rapid Rewards card arrived in the mail yesterday...time to starting tracking our spending towards $2000 in purchases. I still can't decide about redeeming for airline tickets or gift cards. I guess there is time!

Yesterday seemed like an 'in' money day. The mail brought the much awaited check from Citi Thank You rewards. A check for $250 made out to our mortgage company. It's in the mail this morning with the slip indicating our loan number and that it is to be applied to principal.

I actually took a picture of the check so you can see it is really true. Rewards for spending on things you purchase anyway!



I sold an item on Ebay yesterday, too! I will net nearly $19. I already put it in the mail as well. I don't like to keep the customers waiting. I will apply the funds to the Snowflakes for Equity once I redeem all proceeds from PayPal, which will likely be at the end of the month.

I still have four items on Ebay. The auctions end on Sunday. I have more things to list though. In the decluttering process I have found a few movies and cds that we are no longer interested in keeping. My husband saw the pile last night and promptly whet to his truck and brought in 8 cds that have been in his truck for a year without use. There are a few I can definitely get some cash for!!

Of course, there was still some outflow of cash yesterday. It is so hot here, ice cream sounded really, really good. We purchased from the store, so we should have several treats over the next few days. The nice thing is it actually feels a little cooler this morning.

If you didn't see

my post yesterday, check it out. You could make $50 in a few simple steps!

A little oops. I forgot to add more items to sell on Ebay last night. Still no bidders on the items I have listed, but it is still early in the week. It may be the items are not in great demand. A couple might sell better closer to Christmas for gifts.

Since I think we'll be around home this weekend, I hope to put some items on Craigslist. We have several items that would be great for a college student or someone moving into a first apartment. These items were purchased for my husband when he was living in Virginia for 9 months.

My husband and I both received credit card offers in the mail today. Mine for US Bank...offering $100 to open the card and spend $500 in 3 months. I'm sure I will pounce on this once we get closer to completing our Southwest card purchases. We are still waiting for that card. My husband's offer was from Citi, no bonus just 18 months 0% interest. Pass. We need cash if you want us to open a card with you!!

I did receive a $5 Target gift card this week for a Planter's nut purchase. I tossed it with the Christmas gift cards for now. Although, I should probably use it when I'm there today and just add $5 to the Equity Snowflakes. Yep, I'll do that, since it is the goal right now.

I'm also on a very minor decluttering kick! I went through our cup of pencils and pens that sit on the kitchen counter. I also thinned out the junk basket that sits nearby as well. It looks so much better. Now to find another drawer that I can purge from!!

What kinds of things are you doing of late that save you money, make you money or improve your life in some way?

We met the minimum spending of $500 on my husband's Capital One Quicksilver card and earned $107.53 in rewards. The first statement has not even closed yet! I already redeemed an account statement credit and moved the money we would have sent in as a payment to the Snowflakes for Equity! Which now has a balance of $423.08 for July. Not bad. Not bad at all!

I do foresee quite a few expenses in the coming months: athletic shoes for the girls, school supplies, school fees, an oil change, and rental of a sod cutter for landscaping.

We also are considering a new bike for our daughter, an entertainment center for one of our tv's that is on a cheap $20 cart and looks plain goofy, and maybe a power washer. We live in more of a rural area, near a medium sized city, and boy do our vehicles get dirty. My husband is really into keeping cars clean, but at $6 to $10 a wash, I think we could actually save money if he washed our cars at home. The only way I could get him to do that is with a power washer, about $300. Men...and their toys. It would be more efficient. Definitely not a need. I'll grant you that one. But it just might be more economical considering the nearest car wash he'll consider using is more than ten minutes away.

My ebay items are out there, but not any bids or many watchers. I didn't do the best job of researching prices, so I may need to adjust next week if nothing sells. I do have a couple things I hope to get listed this evening, maybe I'll do better with my research tonight!

Anyone else have a power washer for their cars? Is this overkill, or does it seems like a good idea in our situation?

I cancelled our Netflix membership this weekend. We can still watch it through the 21st, but we did all agree recently that we can't find much to watch on the site as we once could. Saves us $7.99 a month! We will use Amazon Prime for most streaming and of course our local library!

We purchased a pizza over the weekend from Pizza Hut, after I placed my order online, I realized there was a coupon I could use. I inquired when I picked the pizza up and saved $5.99. I love when that happens.

I made a donation today to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation in the amount of $100. My sister is running a half marathon this fall and is raising money for the charity. I picked up the fees too for another $7.69, so all the money will go to the charity. I charged this to my husband's American Express Blue Cash Everyday card. With this donation and two future charges, we only need to spend another $165 on the card to be eligible for the bonus of $150. I know I will need fuel for the van this week, I have lots of chauffeuring to do!

I did list five things on Ebay last night. Not much action yet. I have at least another five to seven more items I hope to list on Tuesday night, so they all will end on Sunday. I also listed two books on Half.com.

My daughter received a $100 bill from her grandparents for her birthday. While I'm not shocked about the amount, I was surprised when she brought the bill to me last night and asked if she could have $20 bills instead! Ah...so much easier to spend that way, right? I actually think it is just a bit intimidating for her.

Do you feel uncomfortable will large bills? Do you like to have large bills in your pocket? I've thought I might just hold this $100 bill as emergency cash, since we aren't exactly prepared in that way. Although smaller bills probably would be better in an emergency situation. What say you?

Here is the chart showing the snowflakes I have accumulated since the beginning of the month. The credit card rewards make a big difference!

I do expect additional rewards before the end of the month, thus I will wait to send this big fat snowball of money to the mortgage as a principal payment. I expect a Pinecone survey or two, a Swagbucks reward, a MyPoints reward, another credit card reward or two, AND profits from Ebay sales!

Just to be clear. We only have a balance on one of the credit cards. That is the most recent one we completed, Capital One Quicksilver. Today, I made a payment of nearly $268 to cover the utilities we charged, thus we owe about $232. I expect to redeem the bonus when it hits the account as a statement credit, thus putting what we owe to about $125. I will get this paid off right after the credit posts to the account.

And in other good news, we saved $265 in our emergency fund this pay period. Pretty good considering some recent travels and a birthday!

Do you have a mid month snowflake tally? How do you keep track of your snowflakes? What are you doing with your snowflakes?

I checked our retirement accounts...up over $42K since the beginning of the year. Very happy to see this improvement. Have you checked on your retirement lately?

My husband applied for the Southwest Airlines Rapids Rewards Premier Card today. He was approved! We are very close to the spending minimum on the Capital One Quicksilver card, maybe another $40 left to spend to meet the $500 in spending.

We received my husband's American Express Blue Cash Everyday card yesterday. We have not used it yet, but will put our regular Verizon cell phone bill and our Amazon Prime membership on the card. I have already set those charges up to be applied when due. We will use that card for another $270 to meet the $500 in spending before we move on the the Southwest card.

I just did a quick tally of credit card rewards we have received and expect to receive on cards we have applied for: $1476. Nice sum of change! I expect the total will exceed that before the end of the year. And this doesn't include the 5% savings on the Target Red Card.

Do you have a tally of your savings so far this year, with or without credit card rewards?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's to more snowflakes!!

I finally have my

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

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

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

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

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

I went to the frequent flyer rewards site to see what the gift card options are. While they have over 50 stores, only a couple of them are ones we shop at frequently. Kohl's would be the best, but I don't spend $500 there...even in a year! I am not a fan of Walmart, but would shop there if I had a gift card.

There are several others gift cards that would be appealing for gifts. Specifically, Applebee's, Eddie Bauer and Bath & Body works. I'm sure I could make it work, but I really want the full value of the reward and not have to work so hard to get that value. Cash really appeals, not so sure about all these gift cards and airline miles.

I did see that this Southwest Rapids Rewards Visa offer is good through August 6, per a discussion on

FlyerTalk. Of course, it could change at any time. I'm going to mull it over another day or two. I still need to discuss with my husband as well.

In other financial news today, I did receive my $25 PayPal deposit from Swagbucks. I directed PayPal to deposit it, along with $3 from Pinecone, to my bank account. More snowflakes for July!!

Yes, we do participate in credit card rewards. We are responsible to pay them off on time without interest. We only charge what we would normally purchase and have the cash to pay off. Currently, all credit card rewards are helping to build equity in our home.

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

I was tipped off about this card offer from

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

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

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

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

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

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

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