HouseHappy's Personal Finance Blog

My Mother-in-Law's birthday was a week and a half ago. We went out to dinner ($30)and gave her a gift card to ACMoore for $50. It was a splurge, but she is going through a rough financial time and she makes crafts that she sells to help her through it. The GC will help make that happen!

My Mother's birthday is Saturday, but we went out to dinner with my parents, sister and nephew. My Dad snuck the tab, but we paid the tip (sharing with sis). Better not to argue with my dad! LOL

So $15 on dinner and we gave her a photo book I made of my nephew ($8.49), a mini photo book of my niece )($0.60) and a bag with her initial stitched in it ($8). She loved them!

In November, we have my 2 sisters-in-laws birthdays, my niece's and my husbands, plus 2 good friends. December is my nephew's birthday plus my step-nephews. And then of course there is Christmas.

Thank goodness for my all year planning!

In the last 2 years, my husband & I moved in together. I got a new job. We got married. We replaced all the water pipes in the house (5k+), did air conditioning repairs, other plumbing repairs, cash-flowed a wedding, paid cash for a honeymoon, paid for wedding bands, and paid for a super expensive water remediation in the basement ($6.5k). Money has flowed out to the tune of $21k+.

We both came into the marriage with some debt. However, in the past 18 months, we have paid down that debt AND paid off the 21k through cash-flowing and my over time.

In 2014 alone, as of last paycheck, I have worked 196.5 hours of OT. With this week's OT, I will surpass 200! That is 5 - 40 hour work weeks!

My husband is not as detail oriented as I am and we are adjusting to sharing finances. However, we both have a plan to have our debt paid off by Aug/Sept of 2015. This still leaves us with wiggle room to not drastically change our lifestyle for the moment.

We are frugal in many ways, but enjoy going out and doing things with friends. We buckle down a little more each month (I can reign in better than he), but each month, we are improving!

I just checked my Ebates account and have $25.37 coming my way for this quarter. I only purchase things through Ebates that I am already planning to purchase. This quarter, I had some home improvement projects to help with this rebate... but in 2014 alone, I have already received $61.92. I won't hit $100 for the year (income-wise), but I am excited to get each and every check.

Do any of you guys use Ebates? If so, what do you love about it?

I am going to work on referrals next... so leave a comment if you would like a link!

So far, so good with meal plans! We already switched up tonight's plan. It was supposed to be crockpot apple & pear pork...but we ended up with meatball subs instead. THis was good, because we were able to use up some leftover pasta sauce from the fridge.

Anyway, here's a pic of Sunday's dinner: Creamy Sausage & tomato pasta. It was a hit!

Used up a big part of our grocery budget this week to do some freezer meals & meal planning.

Saturday, I did some shopping and then made meatloaf muffins, meatballs, hamburger patties, breakfast potatoes and froze them. I then put together an Apple, Pear & Pork freezer meal for the freezer too; Since there's 2 of us, I split the recipe into 2 freezer meals. I also bagged the meatloaf & meatballs into single servings.

Then I made a pasta salad for lunch & took a freezer inventory to help with meal planning.

Today, I made some stuff for work breakfasts (hard boiled eggs), snacks (cucumber & tomato salad) & lunches. My husband grilled some chicken & I prepped salads for chicken Caesar salads for the week (lunches).

Friday (Husband home only): Leftover Sloppy joe & peas

Saturday: Breakfast - hashbrown potatoes
Saturday: Lunch - pasta salad
Saturday: Dinner - Out

Sunday: Brunch - Out
Sunday: Dinner - Creamy Spicy Sausage & Tomato Pasta

Monday: Breakfast - yogurt, hard boiled egg
Monday: Lunch - Creamy Caesar Salad
Monday: Snack - Cucumber & tomato salad
Monday: Dinner - Apple, Pear & Pork crockpot meal

Tuesday: same breakfast, lunch & snack
Tuesday: Dinner - leftover pasta from Sunday

Wednesday: Breakfast/lunch: TBD
Wednesday: Dinner - Meatball subs

Thursday: Dinner - Leftovers

Friday: Dinner - out

After this week, we will still have a freezer full of:

-4 servings of Meatloaf muffins
-1 Crockpot Apple, Pear, Pork meal
-5 uncooked hamburger patties
-4 servings of cooked beef with onion
-1 Crockpot BBQ chicken
-1 cooked sesame chicken
-1 sloppy joe meal
-12 servings meatballs
-potatoes O'Brien
-blueberry muffins (5 packs of 2)
-grilled chicken
-3 spicy turkey sausages

Last weekend, my father & I went to Longwood Gardens, in PA. Its a beautiful garden/conservatory that was once part of a DuPont Estate. The place is something that is close to my family's hearts for many reasons.

However, my Dad & I are the photography hobbyists and last year we went for the day on a Groupon. Groupon had the same deal again this year - Tickets at $9 each, so he & I headed up there on Sunday.

We went very early in the morning & skipped the sites we have seen the most and headed straight to their new section, the Meadow Garden. Absolutely gorgeous! We spent about 4 hours walking around, talking and taking pictures.

Sunday afternoon, I edited and uploaded many to share. My Dad said he loved the day and we promised to make it a tradition and plan to go next year too.

Anywhoo, in addition to the Groupon discounted tickets, I found a great way to commemorate the day after receiving a free Shutterfly Coffee mug code from Kelloggs. Thanks to their random email, I put one of the pictures from the day at Longwood on a mug.

Mugs are normally $14.99, but I only have to pay the $6.99 shipping for a gift for my coffee addicted father. Woohoo!

My 2014 Christmas/Birthdays goal has been to fund the year through a small budgeted amount and 'free money'. Any additional funds I have made, I have put into that fund.

To Date for the year, I have put $1060.66 in the Gift/Christmas Fund! Of that amount, $821.61 has been from the 'free money' sources.

I have made the following to date:

-$23 in Amazon Rewards from Bing (started late this year)
-$395.89 in Credit Card Rewards
-$175 in Checking account bonuses
-$6 in Price Matches
-$32.47 from Inbox Dollars
-$53.11 Ebates Rewards
-$65 in Superbowl winnings
-$61.44 old escrow reimbursement
-$10 Free Starbucks gift card

To date for the year, I have spent $311.50. Not too shabby as a bulk of my shopping is done!

Today, I was all over the place with work stuff, but managed to get a few personal items accomplished as well.

-Worked the first of 4 - 10 hour days this week
-Went to my doctor on my lunch break to change my name & request refills on maintenance meds
-Did Bing Searches
-Entered MyCOkeRewards
-Make dermatologist appointment
-Put name in for a Professional conference. NOt sure that anyone my level will go - but it never hurts!
-Do budget for Friday's payday
-Got some freebies at work - can of soda, bottle of water, and a snack bag of chips. Yay for freebies!

A friend was given a free room at Harrah's Casino in AC and free tickets to a Lady Antebellum concert on the beach/boardwalk. She invited 3 of us girls and we had a Sunday night into Monday Girls trip!

I drove, we avoided tolls, so my main coasts for travel was gas. It was only an hour-ish drive, so it really won't affect my gas budget.

I took $140 cash. We packed food, water, soda & some booze for the room. So maybe $15 out of pocket? I took most from the pantry

We had buy one get one free coupons for the buffet and it cost roughly $20 each....but was the only meal we had that day, really.

My personal costs were $20 for the cab ride to the concert. We took a free shuttle back. After the concert, we hit a different hotel/casino nearer to the boardwalk to avoid the crowds leaving.

We played slots a bit and I lost at the penny ones LOL We ordered free drinks while sitting around and playing. Then I started winning a bit. Again, all cash brought with me and all within budget.

All in all, $140 cash was brought and with my 'winnings' after losing a good portion of that, I came back home with $110 of the $140. Can't beat that! LOL

Today, we hung out at the pool at the hotel and had lunch at a restaurant. Then I headed home by dinner time.

STopped by the grocery store (in budget) and made pasta salad to bring for lunches this week.

I am flexing at work (summer schedule) and am working 4 10 hour days to be able to take today off. It was really a fun and to me - frugal trip. We really did well!

The basement company came in slightly under the estimate of $6383 (at $6350). They dug out the basement window & reinstalled rocks for drainage. They did the promised work in the basement and in addition, since they had to cut back a bush to get to that basement window, they volunteered to take the whole thing out.

That was a big job that I have been meaning to tackle - so I got that service for free!

The drainage/mold removal is complete and the basement already smells 1000% better. We have to keep the cats out of it while the cement dries, so we moved the litter box into the spare bedroom.

In preparation of the work, we moved around stuff being stored in the basement and it is definitely giving the urge to purge and organize.

So tonight, I brought up 3 old deck chairs that are rusted & need to be trashed. My husband will bring the other 3 in the morning to go out with the trash. So that's a step!

$6350 - the cost - went on a 0% credit card and will get some rewards points. I am working crazy OT and it will be paid off soon!

I have been focused on alternate sources of income to make up my Christmas budget in 2014. I utilize:

-Ebates
-Inbox Dollars
-MyPoints
-MyCokerewards
-Recyclebank
-Cashcrate
-ShopatHome
-Swagbucks
-Bing Rewards
-I also utilize credit cards for rewards/bonuses

Please add yours to the list!

I had some quotes, but due to basement water issues (dry basement, but mold is building). Turns out water is in the concrete walls. FUN.

So I have contracted a company for a 1-2 day job of mitigating the water issue ... to the tune of $6,383. UGH.

My husband is salaried, but I have overtime options. So as to not derail our debt repayment, I am going to bust my butt to do that OT to cover the expense.

I also am looking at new breaks, I want to rebuild an EFUND and finish paying off the debt. So YAY overtime!

While I do more OT, the hubs picks up a larger portion of the house duties, which helps!

Heard from somewhere that Amex has a bonus offer if you enroll for it. $20.00 statement credit for a $20 purchase on Amazon.com.

So I spent $20.94 on a carton of toilet paper. We will be set for a LONG time and we got a TON of TP for $0.94 out of pocket. THe credit already posted on the card!

Woot

The long weekend was busy in a lot of ways. I am in a purging/organizing kind of mood. So after work Thursday, I got started on making our bedroom as much of an oasis as possible.

First, I attacked the closet

-I Went through the walk-in, pulled every single thing out of it (not my husbands stuff though) and got rid of the following 36 items:
-3 pairs of sandals
-3 pairs of work heels
-a work suit
-2 work blazers
-3 hoodies
-2 pairs of shorts
-5 long sleeve shirts
-4 tee shirts
-jogging pants
- night shirt
-long sleeved sweater
-3 tank tops
-1 purse
-6 polo shirts

-I photographed and listed each of these items, plus the towels and sheets that we went through and purged after the wedding to go to Goodwill. Towels are going to be donated to the SPCA. (32 items purged)
-full sheet set
-2 pillowcases
-top & fitted sheet set
-duvet cover & 2 pillow covers
-6 bath towels
-3 medium towels
-8 hand towels
-1 wash cloth
-2 bath mats
-1 comforter

-I spent 2 hours scanning & Uploading PILES of documents using free phone app & online storage and prepping them for shredding (TOO MANY documents to count)
-cleared personal email
-did Bing Searches
-entered MyCokeRewards
-made dinner at home
-started purging in spare room. Cleaned up some trash and made a list of my 'gift closet'

I woke up on Friday (the 4th) & pulled 5 more items out for goodwill. Then kept going for a total of another 12 items
-3 sweaters
-1 long sleeve shirt
-1 tank top
-2 pairs slippers
-1 belt
-2 pairs of heals
-1 purse
-1 scarf

The 4th was spent with the hubby. We had lunch at Red Robin with a friend and then dinner with another couple at an inn on the Chesapeake. Seafood, a band and a few drinks, plus a free Fireworks show!

Woke up again on Saturday and pulled more items (this time from the dresser, closet and items on the wardrobe in the bedroom) for Goodwill (35 items):
-12 pairs of socks
-2 dresses
-2 decorative teacups
-jump rope
-4 rings, 2 bracelets, 7 pairs of earrings
-2 necklaces
-2 pairs of sunglasses
-scarf

-Organized all Jewelry
-Organized sock drawer
-Organized underwear drawer
-Organized meds drawer
-Cleared off dresser top (re-homed jewelry into wardrobe)
-Listed 3 items on online sales site

I trashed old/broken flip flops and sandals

Sunday, I took the items to Goodwill (all listed, itemized on a spreadsheet & photographed - which are also saved in the Cloud.

I visited with my family for a bit and then took my parents out to lunch. My Dad has been sick and was craving breakfast out - so we went to a diner. $24 out of pocket for the 3 of us.

Monday, I worked 11.25 hours, hit the grocery store and then just vegged at night. I needed the mental down time after a rough day at work.

Today, Tuesday, I worked 4.15 hours. I am flexing the 2nd half of the day and am getting an estimate on water issues we are having the basement.

During the morning/while I was waiting, I got a few more things done:

-Set up online access for checking to get $200 bonus
-activated cards under married name
-cleared out personal email
-went through mail
-cleared out DVR
-made bed (something we never do)
-checked to make sure bedroom is picked up
-did research on basement issues
-did research on fixing a small leak in the bathroom faucet

Tonight, I am making sloppy joe from scratch for dinner. The Hubs is working until 7, so I get some down/alone time for the rest of my flex day.

Got a lot of information about the basement, including an estimate. I am going to be talking to my husband when he gets home. It's going to be costly

When my husband moved in 2 years ago, he brought a flat screen tv for the living room. We moved the flat panel tv I already owned into the spare bedroom.

However, it doesn't really work for his video games, so we battle over 'rights' to the nice downstairs tv. After the wedding & all, we decided we would like to get a new flat panel for the living room and move the current one to the spare room.

Eventually, I would also like to replace the tv in the bedroom with a much smaller one.

So what I suggested to my husband was this: Why don't we take the time to clean out the basement and sell some the items in the basement that are just clutter. We can use that money towards the new TV without detracting from debt repayment and a new house fund.

I look at it like a game. Should be fun!

I just opened a checking account to accompany the joint household account that I have at a bank with my husband. My first direct deposit went in yesterday & I guess that they were running a special, because they gave me a 'Direct Deposit Bonus' of $75! That money goes to the Christmas Fund!

Anyway, DH went to the grocery store & I went to the Farmer's market after work. We are pretty much set for the week! I forgot to get an ingredient for sloppy joe, but will pick that up tomorrow.

Last night, we had random stuff from the kitchen. This morning, I made scrambled eggs and hash browns.

We did have lunch out with a friend, but lunch was on him as we'd done him a favor. Yummy!

When we came home, I took pork chops out of the fridge, threw chicken in the crockpot and made shredded barbeque chicken, made a side of pasta salad and made meatloaf muffins.

DH grilled the pork chops for dinner & I made baked potatoes. He also grilled chicken to be used for salads for work lunches.

I packaged the muffins into 3rds. 1 pack went in the fridge & 2 into the freezer. I split the BBQ chicken in half - half to fridge & half to freezer.

The Pasta salad is going to a friend's for lunch at their house. We are going to meet their new daughter!

We now have easy to make/put together meals for the week!

I have been doing lots of little things to save money. Here's a list of what I accomplished today.

-Worked my full work day
-Earned 100 in a work rewards program. That is halfway to enough points to purchase a Christmas present!
-Downloaded a $2.99 Soduku app for free
-Downloaded a $4 To Do List app for free
-Used Walgreens Balance Rewards card when picking up a prescription, earning 500 points
-Bought lunch (splurge) at Burger King & filled out survey on receipt for a free sandwich with drink purchase
-Called Walgreens about a photo order that was not right. This is the 2nd one that they have send me, so I requested a refund. Will use another online service. $4.98 refunded to my account and without any asking, they offered 25 free 4x6 prints for inconvenience.
-requested free sample of sunscreen
-In desperate needs of pajama pants, I utilized a sale (15% off plus my Old Navy bonus rewards plus free shipping) to get the following for $6.90 out
of pocket
-2 pairs of pajama pants, 2 pairs of flip flops (leather), 2 work appropriate tops, a pair of workout pants and a tank top
-Signed up for a free photo book from MyPublisher
-Requested $32.64 in a credit card rewards check (to go to Christmas fund)
-Did Bing searches and requested $5 Amazon gift card
-Work gave out a free bag of Fritos (snack size) and a full size candy bar

I was paid today & tomorrow will pay bills. I have budgeted $956.70 towards credit card debt this pay period!

Lots of To-Dos

Today, I worked from home and was able to get some things done.

-Called cc about returned payment (due to changed checking accounts and reversed digits). They refunded the $25 returned check fee and $1.19 of intereste (balance is at 0%)

-Changed over my ING direct debits to the new checking account

-revised joint/personal budgets

-upped 401k contribution by 2%

-Set paycheck budget for tomorrow's payday

-did 2 loads of laundry & hung dry 1 of them

-folded laundry & brought in laundry racks from deck

-made breakfast at home and lunch at home

-hit the grocery store at lunch for food for dinner tonight

-cleaned the kitchen

I am working until 6:30 and then have a few more To-Dos

-clear personal email
-go through mail
-go through recipes and create meal plan
-make dinner
-spend time with my husband

Lost my post for the 3rd time...ugh! LOL

Well, 3 weeks ago, I married the love of my life! We are so happy I have been offline for a few months while taking my professional exam and wedding planning.

After the wedding, we spent 8 days in Mexico for the honeymoon. Paid for in cash! My parents generously paid for the bulk of our wedding and we cashed flowed any incidentals!

Our friends and family were incredibly generous and we received many household items as gifts. Both my Husband (HUSBAND!) and I came into the marriage with old/mis-matched/threadbare items that we accumulated in college and from GoodWill.

We were given dishes, new pots/pans, lamps, bed linens and many thoughtful gifts - rugs with our monograms, hand made items, etc. These thoughtful gifts are incredibly sentimental to us already

Out of the items that we replaced, we are selling some older items, donating some and keeping things like some old towels as rags.

Thank you notes were mailed a week after we came back from the Honeymoon. I am BIG on thank you cards!

We came out of this with no additional debt. we have the same financial goals although I am definitely the nerd in the relationship when it comes to details. We definitely balance each other out though. It just means, I will probably take over finances once my name change is complete and we finish combining finances.

I have many things I am working on financially and will be saving those for my next post.

I am SO happy to be back!

I am waiting for my state tax refund, the exact amount up in the air due to them recalculating something (happens to most of us in this state at one point or another).

AND... I was given a bonus at work! It'll come in my 3/21 paycheck. $5000. Not sure exactly what that will translate to after taxes...but I am going to put it all to debt!

$264.74

$10.96 Ebates
$65.00 Superbowl bet winnings
$10.00 Monthly Automatic Deposit
$0.07 Interest Deposit
$39.48 Amazon Rewards
$25.00 Citi TY Rewards
$32.47 Inbox Dollars
$10.00 Monthly Automatic Deposit
$0.05 Interest
$4.00 Christmas present price adjustment
$2.00 Christmas present price adjustment
$10.00 Monthly Automatic Deposit
$55.71 Amazon Rewards

Tax Refund - This is a much higher refund than expected due to a few unforeseeable things. Action has been taken for 2014 taxes to not have such a big refund


OF $2570 Federal Tax refund,

$1000 goes back into my EFUND
$40 to Gas Sinking Fund (for summer trips)
$50 to Nephew Savings
$200 to Medical Sinking Fund
$120 to Vet Sinking Fund
$1075 go Wedding Fund
$85 to Fun money (.03% of the refund)

December Debt repayment $4235.45
January Debt Repayment $2631.58
February to Date Debt repayment $2320.08

TOTAL DEBT REPAID SINCE DECEMBER: $9187.14


Money into Wedding Fund since December: $2057
LIFE TO DATE WEDDING FUND $3419

I have been insanely busy and its starting to wear on me a bit. I have been working 15 hours per week, plus studying for my CAMS exam, plus wedding planning, plus family stuff, plus trying to keep the house up, plus dealing with medical stuff, plus... plus...

Sunday, we went to a Superbowl party were I played a sort of Bingo game. We all put $5 into the pot & I ended up winning! $65 and it all is going to my Christmas fund

In the last two days, I have gotten a lot accomplished, but there just seems to always be more! Since yesterday, I have:

-Shoveled and salted the driveway
-Completed my taxes
-Printed/copied tax documents
-Called Wedding cake bakery to set up appointment for tasting
-Called car insurance about auto pays just suddenly stopping
-Paid auto insurance
-Deposited Superbowl cash
-Transferred Superbowl amount to Christmas ING account
-Made doctors appointment
-Deposited checks into joint checking account
-Paid wedding expenses (rings) from joint account
-Paid medical bills
-Fax tax documents to the State
-Made appointment with Officiate for the wedding
-Declined birthday invite for Friday
-Called friend K who has been down lately
-Reached out to friend N about hanging out
-Emailed friend L to set up a dinner date
-did 4 loads of laundry
-hung 2 of the 4 loads to dry
-folded & put away laundry
-Cleaned kitchen
-picked up living room
-sorted financial paperwork
-finalized addresses for the wedding invitations
-helped provide names for shower
-finalized wedding registry
-researched neat & frugal ideas for the wedding guest list
-studied for CAMs
-updated Debt Snowball document
-did paycheck budget for 2/7
-cleared personal email
-worked 1.5 hours overtime yesterday & 3 hours today

I am exhausted, especially mentally. I am making a drink & watching Pretty Little Liars and Supernatural. Nerd girl night!

I had 30 hours of OT in this paycheck, but had to cashflow some expenses, so very little is actually going to pay down debt. Next month, all of the Overtime will be going to it though!

Cashflow: TOTAL $514.87
4 day Concert Ticket: $268.95
Car Repair $245.92

Debt: TOTAL $1282
CC D Min: $238
CC E Min: $58
CC CD Min: $83
Debt Snowball $158
Wedding: $745, which will go to CC A for wedding bands

Savings:TOTAL $20
Holiday Sinking Fund $10
Sewer $10

This work week, I worked 8 hours at double time and a half, and 7 hours above my 40 at regular time. This Overtime will go into my next check as well as next week's overtime.

Next week's OT will be 15 hours of time and a half.

I am crazy busy with wedding stuff, studying for my CAMS, helping friends and family through some difficult personal time, house cleaning and being social. I am in desperate needs of some down time!

As we get closer to the wedding, we are paying out for expenses. It is all cashflowed, but still... its money going out.

I also splurged on buying tickets to a 4 day Music Festival near me. Tickets were $260. However, I have a free place to stay and some good friends going with me. I denied myself going the last few years, but know this may be my last chance if we are looking to have a baby in the next year or so after the wedding. The tickets are also cashflowed, no problem.

I am working crazy overtime, so I am taking it from that. Speaking of overtime, I worked yesterday, a bank holiday, for double time and a half. Can't beat that! I was able to work from my couch too!

Today, the snow started. I came home to work from home around 11 and did some more OT. My fiancée came home early too and we spent some time tonight watching tv and being lazy. We both are fighting colds.

Tomorrow, I have an appointment with an endocrinologist, but I am not sure if the appointment will happen if the semi-State of emergency is in effect with the snow.

Tonight, I updated my Debt Snowball calculator to reflect changes from the concert tickets and with the unplanned double time and a half OT from yesterday, it more than covers it & speeds up my debt snowball!

In other news, I just requested a $39.48 cash back check from a credit card. This will go towards my Christmas fund, which is currently at $139.23! Definitely on my way to meeting my Christmas goal!

Hoping everyone dealing with snow is safe...that Ima is doing better and that everyone has a good night!

Yesterday, I attended a Bridal Show with my family and some of my Future Husband's family. It was a really good time. It was free and we got lots of freebies! I came home with:

-Free food
-4 Pens
-Travel hand sanitizer
-Travel Mints
-Lip balm
-Travel tissues
-Coupon for a free brow wax
-2 large things of post-it tags
-a compact
-coupons
-2 folders
-a reusable bag (large!)
-3 bottles of water
-Free fashion show
-Time with my Mom, sister, Future Mother in law, Best friend and two Future Sisters in Law!

I know its the cold weather & packing up Christmas, but I am completely itching to organize, clean & purge the house from top to bottom.

During my lunch break at work, I was looking at organizing blogs to get ideas. I am such a mess LOL

So, I worked 7am to 4pm today, ran to the liquor store and came home.

Then, I got to work on the To-Do List/house stuff for a bit

-Called about balance on Medical bill - doctors office was incorrect as I suspected!
-Made appointment for wedding registry
-Ordered Bridal Show Tickets (free!)
-Paid bills
-Organize pantry
-I put a 12 pack of beers that FH received as a gift for Christmas into the fridge. Then I cut the top off the box and put my reusable bags and folding drink carriers in it. Then put it in the pantry. I LOVED the extra organization!

Here's a before & after (in the pantry)





-Worked 2 hours Overtime from home
-Ran dishwasher
-Cleaned kitchen
-Vacuum kitchen floor
-Washed out recycling bin
-Cleaned out kitchen junk drawer

I am working from home tomorrow and on my breaks/lunch, I hope to be able get some more cleaning/organizing done.


**edited to add: Sorry about the sideways pictures, the upload changed the orientation twice!**

Getting a great start on my 2014 Christmas Fund!

I currently have:
$55.71 from credit card rewards.
$6.00 in price change refunds from previously purchased gifts
$0.05 in interest from ING
$20 (2 $10 auto deductions from checking to ING account once a month)
TOTAL $81.76

I just requested
$32.47 from Inbox Dollars
$25.00 in credit card rewards
TOTAL $57.47 (New Total will be $139.23)

I am expecting
- to request $33 from a cc when the points post 1/20
-9 Ebates when they mail 2/15
TOTAL $42 (Next New Total will be $181.23)

Each month, $10 goes inot the account and obviously there is a bit of interest. I definitely call this a great start!
That's a pretty darn good start, don't you say!

Just wanted to keep a coupon/Gift card inventory for myself.

-$5 Seasons Pizza Gift Card (Exp Dec 2014)
-$15 Wawa Gift Card (no Exp)
-$10 AC Moore Gift Card (no Exp)
-$5 McDonalds (no Exp)
-$10 Starbucks (no Exp)
-4 tickets to a local Museum (no expiration)
-$10 Living Social for food at a local restaurant (gift)
-$30 to a Winery (gift)
-$30 to a Nail Salon (xmas gift!)
-2 free 12 packs of Coke
25% off VistaPrint