It's my youngest daughter's birthday. She 13...so now I have two teenagers. Today is not really frugal. We have treated her to gifts, lunch out, and soon a movie at the theater. The most frugal part was homemade cupcakes and with frosting.

Last year on her birthday we were actually accepting delivery of our household goods, thus moving day put a crimp in the birthday celebration. We were able to unpack quite a bit of kitchen items and did get a cake baked. It definitely wasn't the same.

We will also be traveling back to our old town to meet up with her old school buddies for a party. We did call it a birthday party, but did ask only for 'presence not presents.' Her idea and a good one considering some of them she hasn't seen for many months. Email and texts do seem to keep the connections going.

In other updates, I still can't refer a friend to Capital One 360 as my checking account I opened is still in verification mode. I am waiting on deposit of some Swagbucks money...seems to be taking longer than usual. I also decided to leave that extra mortgage payment as is. I didn't even call. They money is there and isn't causing any harm to pay it early. I will just replace the money in our checking account when August payday arrives.

Do you sometimes splurge on birthdays? Or always? Or do you keep them simple?

I believe we are now done with the three credit cards I took out in my name for the rewards. With the spending part that is! Now to pay them off before interest is due. Those companies are not getting one extra cent from us.

I charged the Washington DC trip early last week on the American Express Blue Cash Everyday card. That charge of $1201 has posted. And the rewards of $150 are already available! I plan to redeem the reward and put the $150 I would have paid into the equity fund. I will do this when I pay bills this weekend. Right now my plan is to pay the money off at a rate of $150 per month, since the account is 0% for over a year. I will keep you posted, so you know I'm keeping my promise to pay it off.

The Citi card was just under $500 in charges when we left for vacation. I have not added up our expenses yet, but I can see the balance on the card is around $885. There are also charges of over $300 pending, so we can put a fork in that card. We have met the $1000 in spending to redeem $250 in gift cards once the rewards post. I will also have this card paid down right away when I pay bills this weekend. I'll keep you updated.

I think I mentioned that I'm just waiting for one more charge to post to the Capital One card to meet the $500 in spending. It is our Verizon bill of $150. Since I'm expecting $100 in rewards, my plan is wait for the rewards to post and redeem as a credit, pay the balance and save the $100+ in rewards in the equity account. I might change my mind and wait for a check, but I doubt it.

Now...I have to talk to DH about applying for these same cards, so we can start the cycle again for another $500 to $600 in rewards!

We are currently taking advantage of credit card bonus and reward offers to make a little cash since we can't get good interest rates on our savings with out increased risk. While credit cards do involve risk, it is risk we able to manage by charging only our regular expenses and paying them off right away. I only suggest this to those responsible enough to avoid any interest charges.

We are back from vacation. Yep, it was a quick three day road trip, but fun and entertaining! I've done the laundry and purchased $100 worth of groceries. DH has mowed the lawn. Now I will need to get the receipts tallied. We did eat out every meal except breakfast. And a couple of the meals were a little pricey, but we enjoyed our time together and the food.

I opened the mail to find that DH has been issued a fine for speeding. This is from one of those automated photo enforcement things. The intersections are well marked so you can avoid speeding or running a red light easily. He was going 48 mph in a 35 mph zone, and received a $75 fine to be paid in about two weeks. He was disappointed, but it clearly shows speeding, thus we will pay the fine to the city.

It is always nice to be home and the cats are glad to see us, too. I was unpacked within 30 minutes of being home. How quickly do you unpack after a trip?

I don't have much time to write this but I wanted to post a quick update. We have had a low key weekend, and spent part of our day with the other Army families at my husband's unit. We met his co-workers for the first time and many very nice family members. It was a good day.

The spending on the credit cards for the rewards is going well. As I said before, we will meet the minimum $500 spending on the Capital One card at the end of the month when our Verizon bill posts to the account. I just got the first statement, so I expect the rewards to be applied by the next statement. I paid for the Washington DC trip with the American Express Blue Cash Everyday card this week. That card also had a $500 minimum purchase limit, and we easily met that since the trip was just over $1,200.

In the meantime, we are working on the $1000 of purchases on the Citi Thank You Preferred card. At last check we have spent $460.70, so we are nearly halfway there. Our vacation expenses will be charged to the card, thus I expect we'll be over the minimum to receive the rewards by the end of the week.

Quick enough? I'll get more details to you when we return from vacation.

I purchased this chair yesterday for $99 plus tax. Yes, I did purchase it on the Citi Thank You Preferred Card. Yes, it is a want, and not a need. But I have to say I'm excited to have it. We all are...all four of us went together to pick it up!



It is shown here in my living room with our cat Riley trying it out. She approves. It doesn't match the living room, but I think I might get one that does. This is very close to our entry way and could use something there. This actual chair has been moved to our basement guest room where we have plum and gray bedding. It looks great down there, too!

Yesterday included buying a prescription for my older daughter for just $5 and a few fill in grocery items. Oh, actually we did buy her prescription sunglasses earlier in the day as well...just under $150. That went on the Target card to get the 5% off!

I hope to keep the rest of the week low on the spending side, but I did hear my youngest ask about pajama shorts and since she has none I think we'll keep our eyes peeled for those and I'd love a new top for summer vacation next week.

Have you given in to any wants recently?

I booked three nights of hotel stays for our mini vacation get away. Total cost $172.48!

Here's how it is going down:

First two nights will be at a Marriott Residence Inn. We will get the government rate of $77 a night for a two room suite. We will get a King bed and the girls will take a pull out couch. They serve free breakfast and have a manager's reception in the evenings we are there. There is a kitchenette, if we decide to eat in for a meal or two. We do like to eat out on vacations, but at least it is an option. With tax the total stay will be $172.48.

The third night is in another town. We will stay at a Hampton Inn. We used Hilton Honors points we accumulated last year during out long extended stay in a hotel during our move to make this hotel stay FREE! We get free breakfast at this hotel as well.

An average of $57.50 a night is not bad in my opinion. And considering we should get three breakfasts and two dinners for four people included makes the deal even more valuable.

Our other costs will be fuel for the van, additional food and snacks, and admission to some attractions. We hope to have a nice mix of free activities in there as well. I think it will turn out to be just enough time away and low on the vacation expenditure scale as well.

Do you like to stay at hotels that include a meal? Do you save up points for free hotel stays? And don't you think it takes forever to rack these stays up? I do!!

I finally had to verify my account with Swagbucks today. I had redeemed $25 PayPal this weekend and it was refunded. I reordered and was prompted to verify my account. I did this by text message. The other option was snail mail. And now my PayPal money has been reordered!

I was reminded again that it is always good to look at your bills. Our Verizon wireless bill is sent by email. The amount is nearly always the same. Until this month. I was really hoping it wasn't because we went over our minutes. Luckily that was true.

The problem was our Employee Discount of 15% was not applied. Thus our bill was nearly $19 more than normal. Yikes!

I spoke with two people at Verizon today. The first was able to adjust the current bill and change the amount due to the normal amount. It will be deducted as usual at the end of the month. The second person I talked to was in the Employee Verification Department. She confirmed my husband is eligible. He has been eligible, but did not know why we were not given the discount last month. She kept indicating we would receive something in the mail to confirm employment once per year. Well, we haven't received ANYTHING. Not sure what the deal was, but it is correct for now.

Have you had a bill error recently? How did you contact the company? Phone, email, instant chat? Did you get resolution to your problem?

I mowed the lawn yesterday, thus quite a bit of walking. I also spent nearly an hour digging in the dirt. We have a section of our lawn that still needs sod installed (we were told this week). I am digging out the crab grass in this area. We could (maybe should) have used Round Up to kill it, but at this point it is too late with sod arriving soon. I still have about four to six square feet to finish this morning. I actually like to dig in the dirt...is that weird?

We did spend money yesterday on fertilizer, grub control (don't like finding those when I dig), and a new spray nozzle. I think we need to find a new place to buy fertilizer though. It was nearly $35 a bag, for just 5000 square feet. I think I seen them for less than $20 before. Oh well. It's done this time.

We also bought 4 gourmet cupcakes and a bunch of asparagus at a local indoor farmer's market. We spent $8 on the cupcakes and $3 on the asparagus. The asparagus was just cut at 1130am that morning and we purchased it around 3pm. These were our Father's Day treats. Both were very yummy!!

We also made our trip to the grocery store spending about $125. This included hair conditioner, toilet bowl cleaner, wine and a new pair of ear buds for our youngest daughter. The rest was food. I did use quite a few coupons...at least $10 worth if I remember right. This should last us until we leave for vacation.

Have you been getting outside now that the weather is warmer? Are you out for exercise, relaxation or both?

It's a low key weekend here. It's hot and muggy, my husband had two wisdom teeth pulled Friday and we were busy with the art fair last weekend. It feels good to stay relaxed.

I have earned enough Swagbucks for ANOTHER $25 PayPal cash deposit. This will make $350 from Swagbucks since the beginning of the year. Not bad, huh?

I took a walk around the neighborhood, stopped at a garage sale and bought two hanging shoe holders for $1 each. I will use them in hall closets to keep gloves, hats, sunscreen, umbrella and such organized. They are a pretty teal and black floral too!

My husband's wisdom teeth were not impacted, but needed to come out due to cavities. Since they are far back in the mouth they could not be drilled, thus just a basic visit to have them pulled. He says it would taken an Act of Congress to get approval to have not impacted teeth pulled by an oral surgeon, which is what he wanted to do. Turns out he did fine. Now he's a little groggy on Vicodin and Aleve! As military member he will not have to pay out of pocket. Even the Vicodin was free. We did have to pay for the Aleve and some extra gauze pads, which was about $7.

I've been cleaning and doing laundry today. If the humidity drops, I hope to mow (might need gas) and get to the grocery store tomorrow. I hope to buy enough groceries to last through the end of the month. We do have a few vacation days before the end of the month so a few less meals needing to be cooked at home.

This evening we do have to go out to attend a chamber concert my oldest daughter is performing in. Last night we got to hear her play a duet on her flute with a harpist. So pretty!! The concert is free.

Are you doing anything outside of your home that is free entertainment today or tomorrow? What is your best free thing to do outside of your home?

I made the first payment to Capital One today in the amount of $348.44. These are all the charges that have posted to the account at this point. I actually went to make the payment last night, but the electric bill payment that I schedule had not posted. So I waited. It was there this morning though!

I have our Verizon phone bill and Netflix scheduled for later this month. Those charges will complete the minimum spending requirement to receive the $100 cash. I will make the final payment to the card on July 1st.

I do have to remember that it is sometimes easier to ask for a statement credit when redeeming these rewards, rather than waiting for a check in the mail. So my first step before making the final payment really should be to redeem the rewards towards the final balance. Then pay the final balance and stash the money I would have paid on the card in our house down payment account. See? One has to be organized and think ahead on these things!!

Do you pay your utility bills online with a debit or credit card? Or do you snail mail the check? Anyone pay their utility bill in person?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I did get the other two credit cards I applied for in the mail today. I still have to activate them. As I use them, I will show you what expenses we are using them for and how we will earn some extra funds towards our mortgage down payment.

I received another snowflake from Swagbucks in the amount of $25. It was deposited in my PayPal account. I will be putting that money in our Christmas Fund. With this money and the rewards I got the earlier this month I'm just $12 away from this years goal!!

I've been a member of MyPoints for a few years, but I stopped the emails a few months ago. As a result, I forgot about that avenue to earn gift cards. I recently remembered it. It is a much slower earning rate, so my goal is to get another 200+ points and redeem my final gift card. After that I will close the account.

Our weekend will be spent at an art fair in a nearby town, where my daughter is exhibiting and hoping to sell prints of her drawings for the very first time. We will actually have to collect sales tax! We have never done that before, but will include it in the sales price to make sales simple for customers. I also got to use my rusty Excel skills to figure our costs, tax and profit on each piece of art work.

Do you buy art? Do you budget for it or buy it spontaneously?

My American Express Blue Cash Everyday card arrived in the mail today. I forgot that this card has 0% interest through September 2014, just like the Citi Thank You card I applied for.

I will use one of the cards to make the full payment for the Washington DC trip, which I must do by the end of the month. This way I can make payments towards the balance over the course of the year without paying any interest or dipping into other cash savings. If I used the AE card, the rewards are offered as a statement credit, so this would work well for redeeming.

I expect to pay off the balance long before the trip in April, but at least I have a little wiggle room and can control when I pay it off. This way is much better than making payments directly with the travel company as they charge all sorts of processing fees. Yuck. I also have the protection from the credit card company if anything goes awry with the travel agency.

The bonus offer on the AE card is $150 for spending just $500. This transaction will be $1250, so there is no problem meeting the minimum. The rewards are given as a statement credit as I understand it. I will redeem at one time when I would have made a payment and keep the payment money in cash to save towards our mortgage goal.

It does help, I think, to use the card for large transactions, rather than a lot of little ones. It is just easier to manage and track the where I am in meeting the requirements.

Anyone know of any good bonus offers for opening any other type of account, brokerage, checking or savings? I'd be interested in those offers as well as a way to bring in extra cash to meet our goals.

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

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

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

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

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

Have a super frugal Tuesday!

May was a productive month for snowflakes once again. I accumulated $170.02 without much effort. I like that!

Here's the breakdown:



This money has been added to the Snowflakes for Christmas fund. The goal is to accumulate $750, and with this month's additions, my total in the fund is now at $688!! I only need another $62 to meet my goal. That should be no problem to meet in June.

After I meet the Christmas Fund goal, all snowflakes will then go towards the mortgage. I know that small amounts make a difference over time so I know these will make a difference in the amount of interest we pay.

Check out

my last two posts to see my new plan for accumulating more income while spending. If I can't get the interest rates, might as well play the credit card game!

How did your snowflake accumulations work for May? Do you have a goal for June?

As I mentioned in my

previous post, I am applying for credit cards to take advantage of the bonus offers available. This will help earn some income, since these crazy low interest rates don't offer much.

I was approved for Citi Thank You Preferred where I will spend $1000 in 3 months and earn $250 in gift cards. This offer arrived in the mail.

American Express approved me for the Blue Cash Everyday card. I will need to spend $500 in three months and will receive $150 in statement credits.

And finally, I was approved for the Capital One Cash Rewards card. I also need to spend $500 in three months to earn $100 cash.

I attempted to apply for the Citi Dividend Platinum Select card right after I was approved for the City Thank You card, but was denied. I'm sure it is because it is the same company and they just extended me credit. That is fine.

I went looking for another card, and was thinking about applying for the NFL card that offers $200 in statement credits after one purchase...but unfortunately it is not available in my state. Darn. There are other offers out there that I may consider at another time, but for now, this is enough.

If you totaled up the rewards that brings me to $500 in cash rewards for these three credit cards and only need to spend $2000 in the next three months. Once I see we will achieve these, I will have my husband apply for the same cards and start the cycle over again.

Originally, I thought I could get $700 in rewards, instead of the $500. I lost out on $100 because I was denied for the one Citi Card. I also 'lost' another $100 because I opted to apply for the Blue Cash Everyday card, instead of the Blue Cash Preferred card which had a $75 annual fee.

Anyone else applying for credit to obtain rewards? What do you do with the cash rewards you earn?

Since we can't get good interest rates on our savings, I'm going to be taking advantage of the cash bonuses that credit cards offer. It is tax free money. We do have expenses we purchase anyway. Why not? We do not have plans to take on any big loans for cars, student loans or a house....so who cares about the credit score, which will be just fine since we pay off our cards on time and before accruing any interest.

What prompted this? Rates are terrible on savings!
And....I received an offer from Citi Thank You Preferred to spend $1000 and earn $250 in gift cards. I'd rather have cash, but if I redeem for a gift card we will use in regular spending I can just take that money I would have spent and save it.

My goal is to have all rewards go into savings to earn some piddly 0.85% interest. Yeah!! This money will be saved toward that future down payment.

I know that $1000 in 3 months will be no problem. But now, I am debating whether to apply for a couple more at the same time, to avoid that credit ding that does take place initially. Then I can earn several rewards over the next three months. We have both had the Chase Sapphire Preferred which we spent our $3000 and earned the $400 rewards...really $800 in total. I don't think it has been quite a year since I originally applied, but maybe.

I think I can get $700 by opening FOUR cards:
_Capital One Cash Rewards $100 after $500 in 3 months.
_Blue Cash Preferred $250 after $1000 in 3 months.
_Citi Thank You Preferred $250 gift cards after $1000 in 3 months.
_Citi Dividend Platinum Select $100 after $500 in 3 months.

Now that I write that I realize that is two Citi cards. This would still be $3000 in spending in three months, which is no issue around here. But $700 in rewards, rather than going with the one Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

Of course, after these three months, I could have my husband apply for the same three cards...and likely get another $700 before the end of the year. That is good money, that I wish we were earning on our money market account.

So do you think it is okay to apply for four cards at once and two from the same company all on the same day? Think this is a good plan considering I'm a good credit risk and will not incur debt in the process?

I do already have a Chase Freedom card that is active, but DH does not.

I'm getting ready to complete the registration for the Washington DC trip. I think I'll be making a one time payment, but still not sure. What is tripping me up is the Full Refund Program Fee.

The FRP fee is $139 for this trip which will cost us $1299 for the four day three night experience. Thus the fee would increase our total outlay to $1438, or an increase of nearly 11%.

The FRP fee 'protects your payments and provides a full refund minus the FRP fee, if you, the Program Leader, school, or school administration need to cancel at any time prior to departure for any reason.' The fee does not cover an Act of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, or bankruptcy, insolvency or cessation of business by the travel company.

According to my daughter who heard the presentation from the group leader, most parents do not choose this option of insurance. I probably will not pay the fee, since we can withstand the risk that we could lose our money, if something were to prevent her from going. It won't break us financially in other words. My husband's first instinct was to sign up.

What would you do? Can you think of any good reasons to pay the extra fee?

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

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

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

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

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

That's the money mish mash for today!

Thanks for the kind wishes of good health yesterday. I do feel better today. I had a huge urge to sleep several times, so that is just what I did. I think I slept 11 hours last night, and I feel pretty good this morning.

It is raining pretty good here today, which lends itself to a lazy day. We might be able to get a few honey do list items done, which will require no outlay of money.

We need to do some vacation planning as well. We are thinking of a road trip along the Mississippi River byways here in Iowa. If anyone has any must see destinations in that area, let me know. We also want to have a stop for a day or two that is just relaxing in some way. Enjoy the scenery and each other. It seems it could be a semi frugal vacation as it will be meals, hotels, and fuel and activity admissions. I'm hoping for a budget of $1000 or less.

Will you be taking a vacation this year? Do you have a budget? Will you fly, drive or stay in town?

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

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

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

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

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

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

On Monday, I spent $78 at the vet's office. Our oldest cat had something going on with her lip and chin. Could have been a wasp sting. Not sure. Injections of antihistamine and antibiotic have seemed to put her eating well again.

Received $5 Target gift card, after purchase of some feminine products. I will add this to the snowflakes along with the $25 that just arrived in my PayPal account. Funny thing is I'm getting close to redeeming Swagbucks for another one!

The transfer of my husband's Roth IRA from Fidelity to Vanguard is complete as of Monday. I will now have him fill out the paper work to move a Traditional IRA to Vanguard and hope the final transfer goes just as fast.

I did a little shopping yesterday and picked up 6 pairs of socks and three greeting cards at Kohl's using one of their $10 coupons. I spent just over $2 out of pocket. I picked up a frame needed for a gift, for $5 plus tax, after using their 40% off coupon. And at Ulta, I wanted to purchase three of one product that was Buy 2, Get 1 Free. They only had one in stock. I was able to use a 20% off coupon and was give an rain check for Buy 1, Get 1 free, so that I effectively could still get the deal. Nice service there!

Have you received any good deals lately?

Compared to last weekend when I didn't leave the house and only spent $8 online, this weekend was full of spending. We didn't really get crazy, but we did enjoy takeout pizza, and the matinee showing of Iron Man 3.

Gas for two vehicles on empty was just under $130. Clearly we were on low AND gas prices have jumped dramatically.

Pizza was $24. Movie for the four of us was $22. The largest soda and a small regular popcorn set us back $13.75. I honestly can go to a movie without buying the snacks, but my husband doesn't seem to think he can. Luckily the movie theater experience for us is only a couple times of year!

We picked up salt for our water softener. Four bags at about $16. I had some credits with the store, so paid $8 out of pocket. There was also $5 spent on cat treats.

The main grocery run yesterday was just under $110, but there was a small run by me on Friday, and then my husband needed something on Saturday. Each trip about $25. Ugh...don't like it when we do this, but it is what it is. I will work with my husband to get this under control. My guess is the stress at work is getting to him and he wants what he wants when he wants it. Not a great excuse and I would say that some planning and better communication would help very much.

So that seems to add up to about $357.75! Wow!! That is more than my experiment spending earlier in the month. We'll see how we can do for the remainder of the month. My dad has a birthday, but I have his gift already purchased!!

How was your spending this weekend? Crazy. Normal. Or did you end up with a no spend weekend?

My daughter desperately wants to go on the school Washington DC trip next April. The school just yesterday sent home registration information. Total cost of the trip is about $1300 + refund insurance of $139 for three nights and four jam packed days of touring.

This price seemed less expensive than our other school district, but they may have been gone longer. And I don't specifically remember the price.

I'm leaning towards letting her go, as long as she puts some skin in the game. I think she could save her own money for souvenirs, and help with school fundraising efforts. It sounds like the fundraiser is an easy sell of a coupon book to one of the big grocery stores here in town. It cost's $10, and the buyer gets plenty of coupons that guarantees their $10 back and more. Not sure what the return is to the fundraiser.

First hesitation is that we have to register with a $49 down payment by June 6. Talk about fast decision making! Can make payments but there are additional charges and the price can go up if you don't pay in full. Not sure how likely that is to happen or how much that would be.

Second hesitation is that this is one trip my husband and I really want to take our whole family on in the next two years. So it seems slightly redundant.

We'll be discussing that here at home this weekend! Would you send your child on this type of trip? Have you already? Was it worth it?

My low spend experiment did have me looking at all the food we had just to come up with something to eat. There is still plenty of oatmeal, cream of wheat and quinoa in the pantry, but I'm the only one that eats it. It will take me some time to make it through that stash, but I will work on it, so that I don't waste it.

I received a magazine in the mail today with an

article about food waste. American's through away 12% of all food purchased, and 25% of vegetables purchased. Yikes that is a lot of money down the drain.

Even if you aren't looking to keep your expenses low like I did the last two weeks, at least consider what you are buying and throwing away!

Any ideas on how much food, if any, you are throwing away each week? Do you throw away a bruised apple, or just cut that part off? I cut it off and eat the rest.

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





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

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

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

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

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

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

I mentioned yesterday that my husband took $100 with him for his camp training in the woods. I suppose it isn't really the woods, because the army knows how to supports its troops anywhere with heat, air conditioning, food, running water and a store (AAFES).

I inquired by text about the cash. He said it is almost all gone. He has been buying his lunch at the store instead of eating the MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat)offer by the unit at lunch. He despises these. He said the food all tastes exactly the same because of the preservatives put in them to extend the shelf life to 10 years!!!! Ick. I really don't blame him.

The unit also took up a donation to reimburse a soldier for gas. The soldier transported two other soldiers back home, an eight hour round trip, with his own car and gas. The two soldiers had Red Cross messages, which means some type of emergency at home. My husband did put some cash in, which is the right thing to do.

I'm hoping for a no spend day today here. It is going to be gorgeous and as much as I want to get out and shop for flowers or summer clothes, I have plenty to do around the house.

How much do you spend when you go camping in the woods? Have you ever eaten an MRE? What did you think of the taste?

I have a few snowflakes to report. Our ATM rebates and interest on our checking account amounted to $4.78 last month. I redeemed $25 PayPal deposit from Swagbucks today. I'm still waiting for one I ordered earlier in the month to post to my account. I see that our Chase Rewards are worth $70.25. I will likely redeem these as a statement credit, but then add the money to my Christmas Funds.

Today's spending is the $20 for my daughter's flute lesson. I will pay her in cash since I have that money in my wallet.

$273.95 Previous Balance
+$20.00 Flute lesson fee
$293.95 Total Spent

I mentioned yesterday that I thought I would need gas before Wednesday, but at this point, I don't think that will be the case. I only expect basic driving, and with just over half a tank, I think I'll be just fine. So far, I'm very pleased with this experiment. I will pay bills on Friday, and should have some money to save to compensate for our overspending in the weeks prior to the experiment.

I also think I will continue the experiment for as long as I can...since I don't expect my husband to be home from his training for several more days. I'm hoping he also hasn't been spending too much. He took $100 cash with him...to camp in the woods!! Whatever.

Anyone thinking of doing a no spend, low spend experiment soon? Those of you participating now, how are you doing? Are you meeting your goal?