Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

It's kind of funny for me, because I do often feel like I live on another planet or speak another language from those around me. Anyway, I grew up in a debt free, creative, and open minded household. Thus, I was not raised with the preconceived notions that most people seem to pick up somewhere along the line.

Examples?

**It is impossible to pay cash for a car.**

**It is impossible to afford a decent house around here.**

**It is impossible to raise a family on one income.**

You know, stuff like that. Oh, I could go on all day!!

Anyway, these comments always throw me for a loop! & at age 35, I often feel like I am still learning where other people are coming from. I still get these lightbulb moments in my head when I finally understand some preconceived notion that I never learned, but that everyone else is assuming.

The latest???

I am understanding that there is some preconceived notion that debt free must be somewhat equated with *broke* and *cash poor.*

Ding ding ding!

*Debt free* means I am the crazy one who pays off debt at expense of all other financial goals. I never have money for anything else, because I have to pay cash for anything.

Hmmmmm. Interesting perspective. But not anything in line with my personal reality.

I am sure a lot of this comes from the Dave Ramsey mindset and the popularity of his plan. I have been watching some non-SA debt bloggers whose financial priorities seem terribly screwed up. Okay, I totally understand putting retirement on hold and draining cash for that 20%+ credit card debt. IT's quite a mess, and you do need a shovel to dig out. BUT, what I don't understand is paying down low interest car and student loans while ignoring retirement and not saving any money in cash. ??? Would I Recommend that? Um, no???

& so I get my lightbulb moment.

I believe in being debt free. BUT, I also do not believe in being cash poor and I do not believe in putting the rest of my finances on hold.

I have never been cash poor. I do not believe being debt free and having only $1,000 in the bank. Being debt free does not go in line with having no cash. The opposite is the truth. You need to be able to save and have savings to avoid debt.

I have never scrimped on my retirement savings. Retirement has always been a priority for us.

I think I have noticed it a lot with the car thing, lately. You say you pay cash for your cars, you might as well say you have a third eye. The thing is, if we keep our car 10 years, and we save $100/month, we have $12k cash every decade to replace our cars. IT's really no biggie. It's not a huge financial commitment that drains our savings and that we can never get past. Heck, the reality is dh's car is 11 years old and I will probably save up $5k this year and $5k next year, to replace it. We've got enough cash if that doesn't quite work out, but I honestly have not been saving up for his car for 10 years, anyway. From my perspective, I paid cash 10 years ago, and that's it. Notice how I didn't say we bought a car for $20k. That is infinitely more to the point in being debt free.

When you pay cash for everything, you simply don't spend as much. That is the bottom line and that is the part that works for us. IT's not that I am diverting hundreds or thousands of dollars every year to pay cash for cars or to pay down debt. My experience is the opposite. I have no payments to worry about, and so we have far more money to invest, save, and do what we WANT to do with it. OF course, a cash mentality means you can't just buy everything on a whim. So I think it gives you the added of bonus to give you time to really think about what is important. I don't know how many times I mentioned in this blog that I really want to buy x, y or z, but then the moment eventually passes. By the time the money is saved? By then I have a clearer idea what I truly want, and am not wasting money on a bunch of whims.

Anyway, obviously not everyone equates *debt free* with *cash poor* but I am just starting to understand the mindset when people look horrified when I say that we pay cash for our cars. I think the lightbulb moment came from a comment in the forums. "I would never pay cash for a car because I would never spend all my savings like that." Something like that. As if when you finance a car, you never have to pay that money out??? To me it's kind of semantics. You save up the money first, or you pay it out later. Either way, a big purchase is a big money drain, but there isn't anything extraordinarily negative, to me, about just saving up the money first.

I am almost done redeeming rewards and closing credit cards! (No new offers of late...)

That said, most every credit card I have has a 30-ish days to pay the balance. Since I knew the AmEx closed yesterday, I figured I'd just pay it January 1. BUT... the payment is due 12/29. Seriously??? I'll quote that as a reason for closing the card. "Um, everyone else gives me 30 days?" At least 20?" & keep in mind, they haven't even sent me the bill yet. Will probably *get it* one week before the due date - is a paper statement.

So much for my cash balance goal. I know it's semantics and it doesn't make a large difference financially, either way. But, um, I can't claim I made my cash goal if I have to shell out $1k this month I wasn't expecting. Boo!

Since I got that check from my mom, I Will just pay off the card right now. I juggled some things around, and I really wanted to pay the mortgage tomorrow when I get paid. BUT, that will leave me in the red $15 when I pay off the other credit cards for the month. (Any other time I'd just pay the mortgage after the first, but I want to see that below $200k balance, NOW!!!!) I think when I go to the bank I will just deposit all my cash - will probably get some more cash somewhere down the road. Maybe dh has $5 he can spare so I am not completely cash-less. (I never use cash, but I think it's prudent to have a few dollars on hand, "just in case." I have $20 in my wallet, which will cover this.

Any other time I might transfer from savings, but I already did 2 savings transfers this month and I am sure I will do a third with Christmas money. Knowing the limits on savings transfers, I usually try to keep it to 1-2 times a month (any money going in or out of savings). Usually one big net transfer every month. I am not going to waste one transfer on $15!!

Anyway, the points I earned on this are currently "pending." Hopefully I can redeem them soon!

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I am not feeling warm and fuzzy on this refinance, because it's been a week since I was approved, and no one has called me.

To be fair "super crazy fast mortgage guy" - I thought he forgot me too, but he sent me some paperwork Tuesday. He also sent a list of stuff they would need, so I gathered all that stuff up for the CU. I didn't want to write back and say "nevermind" until I talked to a live person at my CU. If it is impossible to complete this in 60 days, at this rate, don't waste my time. That was what I Was going to tell them. 7 days have past with absolutely no action, thus not feeling warm and fuzzy. I would love a CU mortgage loan, but I have been through this before with them. Their refinance customer service is majorly lacking compared to more hungry mortgage brokers. If nothing else I will call them tomorrow...

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Oh, and the holiday medical tests never end around here. DH went in for an ultrasound Monday because he was having pain where he shouldn't. It's not related to any other medical issue in the past. We just like getting medical tests during the holidays. The whole thing has put me on edge far more than it should. It's just, we had two holiday seasons in a row of *that is probably nothing* turning into serious surgery and cancer scares. WE are supposed to hear back from the doctor today with some results. I think we are both really on edge with this whole thing. *sigh*

Of course, kids have school off next two weeks, my work schedule is insane, and dh is having trouble making all his commitments (he as supposed to volunteer pretty much full time this week and feels bad that he needs to lay down and rest. Any other time he'd have all the time in the world to lay down and rest - we have a knack for timing). At least we can pawn the kids off with relatives the last two weeks of December, if need be. They all seem to be pretty free of work obligations the next two weeks while I am swamped. I don't see it coming to that, but emergency surgery is not off the table. I never signed the kids up for school daycare like I said I would. At least I know from past experience I can sign them up tomorrow if need be. Now that both kids are in school pretty full-time, this whole thing isn't quite the nightmare it was when dh had surgery and LM was at home. I know we are blessed to have such a flexible and under-utilized school daycare. I have heard of the wait lists and higher cost at other schools. Phew.

So...

I am not crazy after all. I was feeling perplexed because felt like parents were going to send me money. But they didn't. How could I misread that situation do wrong??? (I mentioned they were being cryptic, though it is odd for them to send money at all, even moreso with my dad out of work).

But then they did. Got a surprise check for $1,000 yesterday, in the mail. Woohoo!

The nice thing is my parents received some gift money from grandma's estate. They simply wanted to pass some of it along. Which they ALWAYS do, but it is nice that this was the first time they passed on money from someone still alive. Makes it a much happier event!

& with that, I will have crossed off THREE long-term goals from my list, this very month. What are the odds of that?

The Trifecta?

1 - $30,000 cash in the bank - check
2 - Mortgage balance under $200,000 - check
3 - Maxed ROTHS from income - check
(meaning, did not use cash or gifts to max out)

Basically, I put $600 of the money to the mortgage (don't have to scrounge that from savings or gift money) and the other $400 to savings.

I plan to pay the mortgage with my paycheck next Friday - to make #2 official.

Any surprises can be charged and paid next month - how we do it anyway. So I don't foresee any change to cash balance between now and 12/31. Certainly anything can happen, but would have to be something really crazy to mess up our cash status.

I am still expecting some Christmas money too, which I originally figured I would put to the mortgage and to cash goal. This amount was much more than I Was expecting. So, will save any more cash received this month to cash savings, for costs of our upcoming refinance.

Anyway, we already had plans to celebrate some major anniversaries on 12/20, so we will just add this to the reasons to celebrate. We are going to splurge on a nice dinner, for sure.

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2012

I need to figure out what my salary will be and how this refinance shakes out, before I make any concrete goals for 2012. But, I am thinking our goals will look like this:

1 - Max out ROTHs
2 - $5k to cash savings
3 - $3,900 extra to mortgage

#1 is the obvious.

#2 is just how much cash I have figured we need to save, working backwards. Our cars are getting old, our house is getting older, our kids need lots of orthodontia work, dh may want to go back to school, we don't borrow money for any of this stuff, and my job is nearing the end of its useful life. So, basically $30k is merely a minimum. We will just keep adding to that until we get on more solid ground. Dh's car is 11 years old so if nothing else, looking at a $10k outflow to replace his car in the not so distant future. & would like to save that above $30k, with job situation and economy.

#3 - I wanted to talk a little bit about #3, because I have about a million reasons why I Want to pay down the mortgage. I wouldn't even know where to begin. & I share because personal finance is never one size fits all. You might think, "That is so Dave Ramsey" or "Why on earth would you prepay a 4% mortgage?"

Oh, let me count the ways.

First off, we are only paying off the mortgage with extra money. NOT From my regular income. Will pay it down with payroll tax holiday if it is extended (don't want to get use to that money), overtime, gifts, amazon sales, and maybe even income from another job.

Should I be putting this money to retirement or kids college or somewhere else? These are just some reasons I am leaning towards mortgage. (Notice I said "some" - not "all the reasons" - as they are too many to list).

A - The housing market sucks, and I would like to make sure we stay above water. I think extra principal payments are prudent.

B - Still want to pay off the closing costs we rolled into our last loan. I didn't mind borrowing them, but I want to pay off while we have some extra cash. I did not intend to borrow that money for 30 years.

C - It's tax efficient. The next step for us is taxable investing, and that is kind of a pain. Admittedly, we will start small, but in the long run it will significantly increase the complexity of our taxes.

D - My dh is infinitely more motivated by debt payoff than any other financial goal. He hates debt more than I do. This is no doubt one reason why we made our trifecta this year. It's the first time we have ever paid extra on our mortgage. (Beyond $10 here or $100 there).

E - The psychology of mortgage pre-payment is interesting. I think I am extremely disciplined when it comes to our cash savings. I put money in our cash savings, I simply don't touch it. I don't find that hard. BUT, it is easier to think, "I have the money, so let's buy this or that." I also feel like in the end we saved more by locking some of it away in our mortgage. IT works extraordinarily well for mortgage chips, for me. For little amounts that maybe I would have decided against adding to savings any given month. But, every time I got any sort of refund, rebate, or unexpected cash, I just added it to my mortgage payment in Quicken, and pretended like it wasn't there. I can do that with larger sums in savings, but not smaller sums. So, I have to play what works for me. That is money that honestly would just be frittered way, otherwise. So, I found something that works, that keeps us more efficient without "hurting" at all. It's not money that we miss, otherwise.

So, you get the picture why mortgage payoff is my next goal.

That said, we did make the goal trifecta, and taxable investing is in our very near future. We simply have to start down that road. I don't believe in being debt free and cash/investment poor. I think by next December we will be opening a taxable investment account and starting to supplement our retirement savings, and saving for kids college, stuff like that.

Does it sound too good to be true?

You betcha!

I'll get back to you in about 60 days.

I see no reason why we can't close a refinance in 60 days. But, from prior experience, and considering the insane rate of refinancing right now... All I Can do is not think about it or get too excited until it is official and those closing papers are signed.

But, a commitment has been made, and a huge leap towards 4% has been taken.

4%, 30 year mortgage. I can't even tell you how much this improves our long-term financial position. Will most likely pay it down as a 20-year-loan, by simply paying old payment which also very low to begin with, while still trying to scrounge about $4,000 per year in extra principal payments (outside of my own income). In the first year, we would knock out $10,000 in principal.

Anyway, I absolutely can not think about it until we sign the papers! It is too good to be true! (& yes, I Said the same thing last time - I think that one was almost more shocking, because we knocked our mortgage payment to the realm of the crappy studio apartment rentss I was looking at in the mid 1990s. I will never complain about paying $1100/month for this beautiful home, neighborhood, community. $900 is simply too unreal to imagine).

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What's funny is that last time we refied was the year my identity was stolen, and I was in the middle of some pretty serious 0% credit card arbitrage (more free money from credit cards). The refi was after the identity issues were cleaned up, but while I had several credit card balances (& tons of cash earning a high interest rate).

I've never opened up so many credit cards in my life, and here I am with another amazing refi opportunity.

Is the greater purpose of this blog simply to say, "I can do a lot of credit card deals without hurting my credit score!" ? IT feels like a theme. I know there are people out there thinking I am insane to do all these credit scores because it will ruin my FICO, and stuff like that. You can see why it doesn't worry me.

Talked to broker guy yesterday. He's got some issues, but the transaction could not have been smoother last time. I frankly don't want to bother unless I know it will go smooth and customer service is A+.

Anyway, he was really pushing 0-cost loans with "no skin in the game." Which is completely useless and one-sided. Sure, let's refi to save 0.375%. Then we can just do it again later! (Obviously more in it for him than me. I am sure the average person jumps when they hear *no cost.*). I might be sold if my interest rate wasn't already rock bottom. That is the problem.

To be fair, we also talked 15-year mortgages. So, he is not totally insane. I told him 4% please, or no thanks. He said he could not get that rate with no points, but maybe soon. I am to submit an application so I can lock at a moment's notice.

Rates were same today at my CU. I REALLY should have applied yesterday. I applied this morning, but doesn't look like can lock in the rate today. I am hoping for tomorrow???

Whoever can lock me at 4% first, wins. At worst, I fill out a lot of paperwork and no one wins. (The paperwork hasn't been bad at all). The only thing I worry is if they will be picky about our cash balance, since I do want to pay cash for closing costs. I have just heard the stories, but I think our situation is pretty plain vanilla. Have plenty of equity, a steady salary from a long-term job, and no other investments outside of retirement. No debts - so not much to look at. In 1999 when they were pickier and we were just college grads, they wanted us to have $10k in the bank. I don't know what they will say, this time. If things are so strict, you would think they want more. Will see...

I checked my creditkarma report after I was approved by the CU for their best rate. I was just curious if the last credit card closure was showing up. It Was! I am not sure if it would make any difference, but I eeked out getting all of those cards closed before I applied for this refinance.

One thing I had had forgotten or not thought of... I am not concerned at all with *length of open credit history" (seeing as I have never been turned down for any line of credit or loan). BUT, I got myself in a situation where my oldest open line of credit is our mortgage. By a mile. So it just occurred to me that a refinance may not be good for the credit score. That said, it will certainly be an experiment. Credit Karma tells me that my length of open credit history equals an *F* score. FICO tells me my score is 800. So, I am not sure what difference it could possibly make. F is an F, and if they want to lower my score by 50 points, what difference would that make anyway? Who cares? 750, 800, same difference. (With an F in that category, I don't particularly expect it to make much difference). But maybe I will be able to tell you all for sure!

Thankfully, paying your bills on time seems to account for about 99% of your FICO score. & not over-leveraging. From my experience. That's what should matter the most.

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I ran to Michael's about 11:50 today. There was hardly anywhere to park, and the line behind me was about 10 people when I left. Phew - it helped to beat the crowd a wee bit.

Scored frames at 50% off. IF dh and I never agree where to hang these prints, I have gifts to give for a long time. Either way, is good. I will post a picture of the framed prints later. They are gorgeous!

I've basically got all the information I need to do my tax return. It's SIMPLE.

So I plugged in numbers to see where I was at. Last I projected was that we'd owe about $1000. Unfortunately, not much has changed.

I was just happy to put $8k into ROTHS. The rest seems like gravy. We are maxing out this year ($10k), so I decided to shift some of that to my regular IRA. It looks like we will probably do $7500 ROTH and $2500 Regular IRA. I really didn't foresee putting any more money into regular IRAS, but I feel rather "eh, it's just one year." & only 25% of contributions, at that. If it makes it easier to max out... I whittled our taxes owed down to about $500 with this move.

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I was feeling really great about finally reaching cash goal this year. But, maybe I got excited too soon. I need to take the following from cash:

**$900 to replenish cash in our ROTH efund. I had bought stock and planned to replenish the cash with regular ROTH Contributions this month. Instead, I am diverting that money to my regular IRA. (I often use this money to jump on stock market dips, but usually replenish it ASAP).

**$3,000 if we refinance? (Closing costs)

**$300 short on maxing out IRAs, 2011 - will transfer from savings before April 15.

**$500 or so due for taxes. Admittedly, will just pay those in April.

**$400 to meet mortgage goal by 12/31

& on and on it seems to go...

I think the refinance cash outflow is mostly what is stressing me out, and is compounding the rest which wasn't so bad on its own. IT will be SO worth it though, if we get that through. I realized the interest portion of our mortgage will be HALF of what it was, initially. With a loan balance of exactly $200k and an interest rate of 4%, we are looking at $8k per year interest, and dropping.

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I am going to submit loan application with creidt union today. Cross your fingers for me. I would love love love to have my loan with them. It just simply won't work if rates go up before I lock the rate. (I've tried before, believe me). But it costs nothing to *try.*

I talked to broker, which is my second choice but most likely to go through smooth. He said he could not offer me 4% but it was so likely to happen soon, so I Should fill out an application. No commitment to either until they can lock the rate. CU rates are 0.125% lower. I am not holding my breath, but will try.

I ordered some prints from Walgreens - some more of my dad's prints (one for gift - some to keep - I couldn't decide so picked 3 - got 50% off). OF course, they only print poster-sized prints at another location. IT's about a 5-minute drive from work and kinda sorta can be on the way home, so just went by there at lunch yesterday to pick them up. Ate lunch at home.

Holy Cow.

Firstly, the traffic was insane, since I had to drive past the mall. Though I try to avoid the mall in December, it didn't occur to me that driving past on a weekday noon hour would be such a painful experience.

Secondly, the line inside Walgreens was a mile long. I needed to pick up a couple of things, so just paid with the photos - there was no line at the photo counter. Phew!!

Mental note: No more "quick trips" anywhere in the vicinity of any mall.

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I need to get another frame, and just saw that Michael's has *buy one get one free* this week. I will brave the crowds. That shopping center has the worst parking lot ever - I hate it any time of year. BUT, Michael's is kind of off to the side, so it is not too hard to get in and out without bypassing the rest of the traffic. I will give it a go. Crossing my fingers! This is for myself, so no deadline. But I want to see if I can get more of the same frames I already have - is the only rush.

Lord knows when we will ever hang these pictures - dh can never seem to agree on anything when it comes to home decor. I tried to get him to help me hang them over the weekend - it was a no go. I wanted to replace an "ugly picture." Dh does not agree. Beautiful pictures, but no idea where they will end up. Will see...

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Okay, I can't take it any more. 4% for 30-year mortgages. I know this is not the first time. But I e-mailed our broker. One more thing to piss dh off about - he hates refinancing.

Just call me the perpetual refinancer.

If we keep our old payment, we will shave about 6 years off our current loan - would go from 27 years left to 22 years left. (If not - still pay off by about age 64 - which is about my maximum). I'd rather go through this broker because he was great and low stress and no problems. The fees are the exact same at our credit union. I'd rather get a credit union loan but they seem extraordinarily inflexible on waiting for an interest rate lock. With broker guy, I think it took over a year to get the rate we wanted, last time. Talk about service. Anyway, I informed him we had paid down our mortgage a bit, and I want 4%! Will see what he says. Last time it took two weeks, from rate lock, so who knows. May be refinanced again by 12/31? Dh won't be too surprised. I already said the ugly word a few times in recent weeks: refinance. Would be 0 point refinance, will pay cash for closing costs. New payment - something like $950 down from $1130.

This is not the *last time ever.* I made the mistake of thinking that the last 2 or 3 times. It is possible we can pay down a chunk and get an even lower 15-year rate, at some point. So, I give up on "this is the best it gets" thinking. Who even knows? I would hope this is the last 30-year loan we ever refinance. I feel uncomfortable with a *worst case payoff* any higher than age 65-ish.

We put up our Christmas tree, set out the gifts, and there you have it.

Anyway, I have been noticing more and more that *thinking outside the box* can be such a small difference in thinking. I think sometimes people equate the sentiment of thinking outside the box with being extreme. Frankly, really small differences in thinking can make a huge difference.

Example? I was reading a discussion about Christmas on a non-financial message board. The question was how to scale back Christmas. IT became obvious from the discussion that several people did not think "Santa" could be part of Christmas at all unless you wanted it to be a very materialistic affair.

???

I was raised with a very different Santa concept. Santa generally leaves our kids books that we got for free. "Santa" pretty much just does stocking stuffers, at our house.

OF course, there was also talk of peer pressure. Mind you, these were parents with young kids. 1 - I haven't noticed much Christmas peer pressure with my 6yo. 2 - I never knew growing up that there were people out there getting TONS of gifts from Santa. I simply didn't know we were so weird.

I just think parents put a lot of unnecessary pressures on themselves. & put unnecessary limits on themselves. For example, thinking that Santa is the symbol of uber materialism, and the only other option is to drop Santa altogether. Thankfully there is a ton of middle ground.

BTW, there was a similar discussion in the SA forums, but there was a wide variety of ideas in that discussion.

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Anyway, don't feel sorry for my kids.

A - One of those presents is a 3D Nintendo DS (free with credit card rewards).

B - Though I grew up in a house with extremely modest Christmases, my spouse's family is the polar opposite. The in-laws (Dh's mom and Grandma) go CRAZY at Christmas, and for them it is all about the materialism. As a result, dh agrees with my extreme "modest Christmas" ways, and no one else in the family particularly sees the point to buy my kids gifts. It's important to the in-laws, because it symbolizes being able to splurge and make their kids' and grandkids' material dreams come true, once every year. So basically, the kids will be spoiled rotten. I might be a little more open to actually buying our kids big Christmas gifts otherwise (maybe one each - something BIG), but we generally don't get them anything extraordinary. It's not like anything we buy them would mean anything after the in-law deluge.

C - Funny enough, my extraordinarily creative husband and child wrapped most of these gifts. Since having kids, we will never lack for pencils, crayons or stickers. IT never ends! So I will offer the idea for the kids to decorate the packages, later. The plain paper comes from dh's "I could care less about wrapping" attitude. I actually wrapped his present with underwear models from a Kohls ad - that one is the colorful one.

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I don't think our Christmas is terribly *outside the box.* We have a Christas tree and presents just like anybody. But Christmas is not at all about worrying about what other people think about us, that is for sure. It's about creating a holiday tradition that works for us.

UPDATED TALLY:

$1030 cash Chase Sapphire (moi)
$200 cash Chase Freedom (dh)
$625 gift cards - Chase SW (dh)
$515 gift cards - Chase SW (moi)
$500 gift cards Citi (dh)
+$100 gift cards - Citi for trying to close card
$310 gift cards - Citi (moi)
-$99 annual fee (SW card)
+$99 annual fee refunded when closed card
-$69 Fee (SW card)
+$69 annual fee refunded when closed card
-$41 lost value for exchanging some Citi gift cards for cash and amazon gift cards
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$3239 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

+$ 500 deposit to ROTH (Fidelity Am Ex - 2% cash back)
+$ 80 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)
+$ 35 Visa Rewards (1% cash back - for places that don't take AmEx)
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=$3854

+ $250 American Express reward (gift cards)
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=$4104 Total CC REWARDS 2011
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This is my first *$4000 is official* post.

YAY!!!

I am just waiting to redeem my latest rewards - should be $250 around December 15th.

All of our other one-time credit cards are closed and cut up.

I haven't come across any offers in the interim - it has been very quiet on the credit card reward front.

Sometimes, perspective is everything.

Tax season is gearing up here, and I told dh I was stressed out. HE said, "Why are you stressed out?" The last 2 years we were gearing up for surgery and wondering if we had cancer!"

Boy, he has a point! So today I am focusing on being grateful that I am not going through that. Today. (I can't speak for tomorrow - that we have learned all too well).

A tax season without surgery and a holiday season without doctors visits and biopsies. Ah, it sounds too good to be true!

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I easily wrangled the co-worker I wanted for the work gift exchange. She has admired some of my dad's photos, and so I got her a framed print. (I knew who picked her, and asked to switch).

I will still give her the Amazon gift card I had set aside for this, too. She could use it. & I will look amazingly generous for $15 or so spent.

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I prepaid kids' school lunch balance through 12/31, so I hoped. I checked today and probably have enough balance to get through mid-January. Yay! Since school lunch went up to $2.50, the rule this year has been they can buy lunch twice a week. They seem to be sticking to that okay. Last year was so dirt cheap they bought more often. & frankly, $2.50 isn't bad for the well rounded meals and convenience factor. To me, money well spent.

I will bulk up their accounts next month. For the rest of the year.

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We still didn't take dh's car in to the shop. He said he would take it in tomorrow, see if it is just the battery, and ask about the warranty if that is all it is. (The battery itself is well under warranty - our mechanic put it in). He is due for an oil change anyway. I've got a pile of jiffy lube coupons, but the convenience factor for being at the mechanic anyway, may win.

Where to begin?

**The best and most awesome news is that my employer got some test results back and is officially cancer free (they got it and it hadn't spread at all). Woohoo!

**The update on both men I mentioned fighting for their lives in hospitals - not much change. The one family is probably going to have to decide when/if to pull the plug. The other guy is having a TON of reconstructive surgeries - so I wonder if he will even walk again. What are the odds of two people that you are so close to going through this at the same time? (My friend is going through this - I do not know either of these families personally). The whole thing is just so terrible.

**On a lighter note, Grandma sent us some family recipes. Phew! BUT one recipe was uber complicated and the other had nuts. So we decided to make the nut one for ourselves. (Realizing what a shame it is we seem to have no family recipes? I think this is mostly because my dad's sisters probably all his family recipes - my mom's family is kind of a mess. So mental note - get family recipes from the females. I have a great aunt who is still alive to -almost 100 - but I don't get the impression she spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Doesn't hurt to ask. She may have some family recipes, regardless. She is unusual in a family full of housewives - she is almost 100 and was always single woman working in the big city!).

I found an easy snickerdoodle recipe so will go with that - thanks for the suggestion. I also found German Chocolate Bar cookies - looks easy and delish. So we are ambitiously making all three this weekend. What the heck.

**Christmas shopping season has begun and two of dh's games up on Amazon sold. Amazon has been extraordinarily annoying with this "We will only let high volume sellers sell during the Holidays" thing. They keep back tracking but not telling anyone they are back tracking. Does that mean we can put up new sales listings??? Lord knows, but dh is actively looking for deals to sell. It's usually the easiest time of year to sell. As you see with these sales - both on the same day. So, if something good comes along, we will try.

**Cash balance is hovering about $29,750 for 12/31. How annoying is that? It's good, but I am frustrated that there is no way I Will hit $30k this year. I am just pinning my hopes on a higher than usual Christmas check from my boss - since my 10-year anniversary is this year! (I still need to come up with $400 for the mortgage, too - which I am more optimistic about). That said, this goal looks pretty in the bag for 2012. April 2012, at the least. So I may be a few months off from making this all 12/31, but I have slayed some major financial goals this year. Woohoo!

**I have had an extraordinary year of not spending any money on retail or anything like that. BUT, everyone was badgering me for my wish list and I went to Michael's to look at frames. Suddenly I am spending money left and right. I went from "Ugh - I hate this stupid wishlist thing" to endlessly adding to it. The problem is I usually just put more need-type items on the list throughout the year. BUT, with all these credit card rewards it has been nothing but free instant gratification. & then nothing on my wish list. So what have I learned from all this? The easiest way to not spend money is to simply stay out of the stores. It is amazing to me how weak my resolve is once I am in a store and looking online at all the stuff I Would suddenly like to have. & it's not as simple as I Can not control myself. I can easily leave the store and not buy anything. But the thing is you can't lust for things you never see. Suddenly I see all this stuff that I didn't even know I Wanted. Know what I mean?

I am also far removed from the de-clutter stage. There were years we were de-cluttering the house where the last thing I would ever buy was a knicknack of any sort. So I haven't de-cluttered in a LONG time and I start mindlessly buying stuff like that. So I have had to remind myself about that - how there is a reason I do not buy stuff like that. & if I want to, well, I have to make room for it somewhere (the best would be to toss something else). & if I don't want to toss the very few things I have decided to keep...

Lesson learned? The practical wish list works very well for me. & I am going to make an extra effort to stay out of any stores in 2012. & it is true - I spend far less money when I shop online, personally. There is something I need or want, I get it, and I don't look at anything else. That works amazingly well for me.

I mailed all my deposits to my credit union for years (15 years?) without an issue. The primary reason I switched to a local credit union (2006?) was because things started to disappear in the mail for weeks at a time. Turns out there was a mail theft ring at our post office. But, regardless of any shenanigans, the speed of the post office has certainly slowed down over the years. Between getting a local banking institution and bill pay and all that jazz, I really have no need to mail much of anything.

Of course, it could be the holiday mail onslaught and business holidays and all, but everything I mailed the last few weeks has taken about 2 weeks to get to its destination. Really frustrating.

SO, anyway, I was just paying the property taxes and saw the option to just pay online by e-check. I was very excited by this and thinking, "Death to checks," since this is about the only bill I pay by check.

BUT... Of course there was a service charge. $1.50. My gut reaction was, "nevermind." BUT, as I pulled out a stamp, I wondered if it would even get there in time. So I told dh I was going to waste $1, in the hopes of saving $200 in potential late fees. I was thinking of my recent mail experience. It's not due for 10 days, but 10 days doesn't quite seem enough time to mail things, lately.

So, will see how that works out.

My gut feeling is that the only other checks I write are to the school. I checked and yup, that's it - school and property taxes. Everything else we charge or just pay through online bill pay. Or can pay directly, online. I don't even write checks to individuals any more - online bill pay does the job.

I wonder how many checks I have left and if I will ever use them! (& I know - soon enough we will all be paying our bills with our cell phones, or something like that. "In the OLD days, we paid with paper money...")

Just deposited my paycheck and paid the mortgage.

Mortgage Balance? $200,874!


What I have so far to apply to the balance on 12/31 is:

$311 regular payment (principal portion)
$150 payroll tax holiday
----
$461 Total

Leaves about $415 to come up with. I am just crossing my fingers for Christmas money. If I don't get enough, will transfer from savings.

Ending balance should be $199,998

Wahoo!

I will probably wait until Christmas so that I can use Christmas money to pay it down. Merry Christmas to me!

Anyway, most extra payments made were from credit card rewards this year. Here are the extra principal payments made this year. I haven't had to touch savings for any of these, so crossing my fingers that I can say the same for December:

JAN - 72.79
FEB - 132.79
MAR - 156.00
APR - 177.79
MAY - 65.00
JUN - 552.79
JUL - 50.00
AUG - 300.00
SEP - 450.00
OCT - 150.00
NOV - 150.00
DEC - 876.00
--------------
TOTAL $3133.16
--------------

Boy do those mortgage chips add up fast!

I did mention none of these payments came from regular income? & just a place to park the payroll tax holiday, so I don't get used to it.

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I also wouldn't be surprised if we refinance AGAIN. The refinancing never ends. I am holding off and attacking the mortgage a bit in the hopes of getting 3%-ish for a 15-year loan. The 30-year isn't quite worth it, but getting close. I could never regret our last refinance - it freed up $200/month and locked in a GREAT rate. I wasn't sure if the value of our home would hold, and I am not one to wait for better rates when they are ROCK BOTTOM. But I knew there was a chance that rates would go even lower. So, we just refinance again. Every time I tell my hubby, "This is the last time ever - I swear!" He just hated those loan people, and the whole process. He knows I wouldn't bring it up unless we could save a ton of money! Our home value has held, and I just saw my FICO was 800, credit card dealings and all. So, now I just wait for the right time. (& if I miss the boat - oh well - I can't complain about 4.875%!) One thing that is interesting is that our rate is so low as is, that a small interest rate drop is rather significant. Also, the many times we have refinanced, 15-year rates were generally close to 30-year rates. So I am in awe of these low low low 15-year rates and trying to figure out how to snag one of those without regretting the bigger mortgage payment. All I can do is pay down the principal as much as possible, and hope these rates hold a while longer.

My birthday is today - going to the sushi buffet - I should get a FREE lunch.

I also wanted to get cheesecake from Marie Callender's (lemon creamcheese - YUM - it's tradition).

We will put those both on the AmEx (lunch date with dh - will have to pay for his meal). Both the cars have ample gas, and I foresee no other spending before credit card closes on the 4th. BUT dh wanted to get groceries, so I told him to put those on the visa. I can decide later if I want to pay those this year or not. (Visa closed like a week ago).

That means that this weekend I can crunch year-end numbers. & I am excited about that! (I can charge anything else and just pay it in January - which makes December pretty predictable).

Oh - we didn't fix dh's battery yet. More from being lazy than cheap. We can get that fixed Monday though.

I also charged the home insurance today, and made sure I had enough in checking for the property taxes. I will write that check today or tomorrow. Lots of money OUT.

Oh - my parents have also been cryptic about my birthday gift - which I saw Sunday and is merely in an envelope. Makes me wonder if it is a large check, though I don't see why it would be with my dad's jobless situation. Of course, I probably would have gotten it yesterday BUT there was a big bomb scare not long after my mom dropped off my birthday card at the post office - she said the card was involved, since she doubt it was picked up before the scare, but that no mail was harmed. Will see! It really should have been here yesterday, but now I know why it wasn't. I suppose getting it on my birthday is appropriate!

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I had an interesting conversation with the kids a couple of weeks ago. I'd say both my kids are pretty wise, but LM (age 6) says things that just astound me. So, BM says something like he wishes he was his friend. & I said something like I would never want to be anyone else. & LM was totally on the same page with me. Why would you want to be anyone else??? Astoundingly wise words for a 6-year-old. (I can't say I was that wise when I was 6). So, we were talking about celebrities and stuff, and I mention BM's friend, who has a lot of money. I thought better of it and backed off of the example. His friend's mom is going through some serious medical problems and I realized he probably didn't know and I probably shouldn't say anything. BUT, 8yo BM says to me that, "Yeah, so and so just thought I was his friend because he is rich. I didn't even know he was rich." I thought it was funny that 8yos would make that distinction. Especially since there isn't much difference in BM's lifestyle or his friend's. Not that I can tell. They have a bigger house (& 4 more kids?) and some fancy car, but otherwise aren't that much different. I only thought of them because they are some of the only *financially sound* people I have met in this city - in our peer group. Just from casual conversation, I was impressed, because usually it's kind of scary talking to people about their finances. They seem to actually live within their means - imagine that! So, clearly they are doing pretty well. I wouldn't have lumped them as *financially well off* otherwise - easy for me to assume that they are in debt up to their eyeballs like most everyone else. I just don't get that vibe from them at all - not from things that have been said in passing conversation.

Anyway, I was thinking about, because I have this client going through a very messy divorce, is not happy at all, and has more money than she knows what to do with. It's easy to look at the superficial and be jealous, but wow, money does not buy happiness. In this economy I find her situation extremely ironic. She doesn't want her fortune to go to her husband, works very little and the money keeps rolling in - only someone who doesn't want it could so easily make those millions - it is completely ridiculous!

Anyway, switching gears but along the same vein, I have known my dh for 18 years, and I found out that someone in his family suffered a huge tragedy about 35 years ago. In 18 years this is something that I have not been privvy to - it just came up in conversation. I Was dumbfounded. I started to think that his family has suffered a lot of tragedy in general. What the heck did I marry into? But frankly, if I look at my own family I can see a lot of the same. It's all different, but plenty of hardships. I was thinking about it in terms of the *luck* conversation that always comes up in finances. Are some more lucky, or do they just deal with hardships better? Isn't life about the hardships? Is there really any one out there who has a totally easy life? I find that hard to believe. Anyway, this was a good reminder that you sometimes never know what a person has gone through. It's easy to judge and think someone who has handled their hardships well has always had it easy.

On another note, I commented on the life insurance discussion in the forums that needing life insurance didn't feel that remote of a possibility to me, knowing several people who lost parents very young. Interestingly, this week, a friend's friend's husband was in a terrible traffic accident, and her cousin was purposely hit by a car while he was walking. Cousin is a single father of a very young child, not likely to make it. The other man seems to be pulling through. BUT, all I Can think is do these people have life insurance? disability insurance? health insurance? Probably not. One more reminder that being young and healthy is not a reason to not have any insurance. I would at least hope they have health insurance. But without life and disability insurance, the outlook doesn't look good for their families. & it's not that the money is more important, but a little bit of insurance can sure make these situations a lot easier to deal with. Like, not worrying about how you will support your family while you fight for your life in a hospital. *sigh*

Here are all the butterflies we couldn't see when we went to the beach the other day:



WOW! It just wasn't quite so impressive down on the ground. (My dad sent me this picture and was also surprised how many there were).

Next time we will have to remember our binoculars.

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BM needs to work on a big cookie project for school. He is supposed to pick a recipe from his heritage. I told him he was American and we have been here for several generations - and I have no non-American recipes. I have a great chocolate chip cookie recipe from his Grandma, and is the best I could come up with. I googled it to check that chocolate chip cookies were American. Encyclopedia BM already knew the answer to that.

Anyway, we googled German cookies and found a couple of recipes, and I said we could try a couple this weekend and see what we like best.

BUT, if you have any Irish or German cookie recipes, please share. Of course, preferably the easier the better since he has to make a how to book of some sort. We ruled out some of the recipes with 20 ingredients.

I still think we should just pick something American, but that just isn't as cool!

There will be lots of baking in my house this weekend!

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Tonight we tried this recipe:

Sweet Potato Enchiladas

http://www.netplaces.com/potluck-recipes/healthy-vegetarian-...

Thumbs up!

Dh got a few free recipe books on the kindle - so this was one of those - glad I could find it online to share.

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Today I received that annual refund from Chase. YAY! I will have to update my rewards tallies. Maybe tomorrow.

Plastic Jungle is less impressive this round. Last time they struck me as lightning fast - I sold some gift cards for cash. This time it took them EIGHT DAYS to receive half of my gift cards. The other half has apparently not arrived yet. They clearly closed their offices for the holidays, but from 2 to 8+ days is a little ridiculous. (To be fair, the US Postal service has gone amazingly downhill the last decade, and I use it as little as possible any more - I understand it may not all be their fault - but I think the Holidays slowed them down VERY considerably).

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Tomorrow is back to work for me. The end of lazy and the beginning of CRAZY.

I am so glad we made it to the beach yesterday.

First off, gas was significantly cheaper from last time we filled up. Yay!

We got to my folks house around noon and gave my mom her kindle (Christmas/Birthday present). She seemed to love it though we couldn't get their library system to work with it. Dh will figure it out. Or maybe it is just the library. Oh well!

We ate lunch at Burger King and it only took 45 minutes to get to the beach. Dh is definitely not a beach person, but with the short drive I realized it would be really easy to take the kids again. It was just a "Gee, this is a lot closer than I remembered!!" kind of moment.

We saw the monarch butterflies, and it wasn't all that exciting. There were a lot of them, yes. But they were all way up in the trees, so not much to see.

That said, the beach was AMAZING. I had never been to this particular beach, but it is definitely now my favorite.

The tide pools were amazing. We ended up getting there so late we stayed for the sunset and the low tide.

IT was crowded, which didn't bother me, BUT everyone and their brother was there to take pictures of the sunset. We moved away from the main picture focus to a little beach off to the side, and I heard someone say about my kids, "We should tell those kids to get out of the way." I could only think: Some of us were actually there to enjoy the beach and not just take pictures of it. Thankfully, they decided against asking the frolicking kids to get out of their way.

Of course, I figured we'd do Taco Bell for lunch and the deli for dinner - keep it cheap. BUT, my parents took us out to my favorite mexican restaurant for dinner. We might have gone anyway, but my birthday is this week so was an early birthday dinner.

All that, and we got home by 10pm.

Oh, and the weather was just perfect. I was questioning the weather report I saw because on the drive we mostly saw thick fog, both ways. But it was a very sunny and beautiful day at the beach, which is hard to come by. Thank goodness weather.com did not lie! Since when is the land covered in fog and the beach clear and sunny? Bizarro! It's usually the opposite around here.

I have today off of work. & tomorrow I have a seminar. So, I have been very happy with this vacation. IT was kind of spontaneous, but I mostly prefer to stay close to home and keep it low key. As such, I definitely feel very refreshed! It was a very good call.

IF we have time, we might go to the art museum today. If not, we will maybe go Sunday instead. Today will mostly be a lazy day at home.

------------------------------------------------

Credit card closes on the 4th (Sunday) and so not much fiscal I have to do before then. At that point I should have a good sense of our 12/31/11 status.

When I get paid on Thursday I will pay the mortgage and the property taxes. The assessed value of our home went down about $7000, but the taxes went up with all the voted tax increases the past year.

My mom did slip me $40 for groceries on T-Day, per usual. Yay!

**Dh got another unexpected *$15 off next purchase* coupon at the grocery store. This seems to be common on weekends, though he usually shops during the week. I need to remember to check the website since who knows how many of these we have missed!!!

**We got some mild bug on Thanksgiving. We all felt pretty terrible and useless on Friday so didn't go anywhere. I really perked up last night, so we decided to go to the beach today. I am so relieved we are still able to fit it in!!!

Most of yesterday I didn't feel too bad, but just felt pretty blah and didn't want to do anything. So barely got off the couch all day. I was thinking it was just the *no schedule* - I do better with a schedule. But I perked up so much in the late afternoon that I suppose there is probably an element of that along with an element of just not feeling very well. Ah, family and all their GERMS!

Thankfully I feel energized today.

We are going to see the migrating monarch butterflies today and hopefully just laze around the beach for a while. I hear the tide pools are also amazing there, BUT high tide is noon-ish - so I don't think we will get to experience those. Will stop by on the way to eat lunch with my folks, invite my dad along to take some pictures, and can stop for dinner before we drive home. The beach is a 3-hour drive, but our folks are on the way - about 2 hours out.

You couldn't pay me to shop today.

Black Friday symbolizes to me the time to stay away from the stores. I won't go near a mall probably until January, again. I'll stay away from the big box stores, too.

The kids still have to get Xmas and Bday presents for dh. We've got the internet for that.

ETA: While thinking about it, we bought dh a Christmas gift (with rewards, so was free). I have a very nice gift in mind for his birthday - will wait to see if I can use my next $250 credit card reward for it - the item cost $250 and isn't released until after his birthday, anyway. So, can wait on that one. The kids are learning that you don't have to spend money when you nice gifts for other people.

Thanksgiving was lovely!!

I just love how the entire family works so well as a team (everyone seems to have their *job* but no one person works too hard). Everyone really seems to enjoy spending time in our home too. Since most of our family lives in a high cost area and has such small homes, I suppose that may be a lot of it. (They ooh and aah over our space and big kitchen every Thanksgiving). But, we are also extraordinarily laid back, and people tend to thank us for that too (always have a very nice and relaxing time). & for the women, since they aren't doing all the cooking, they love it. & since they didn't have to ready their homes. But yesterday dh's male cousin commented that we should host every holiday at our house. I don't know what specifically he enjoyed so much. All I know was a good time was had by all, and my heart is very happy. I kind of get that Grandma/matriarch feeling. Though I am 34 and no Grandma.

Of course, everyone seems to think it was such a relaxing day because obviously I slaved away to make it so. All I can say is: I really didn't do much of anything! (Whatever we did do - dh and the kids were of immense help - they probably did the bulk of it anyway. No one ever believes that though).

Kids' cousin - college student - fulfilled a new role for Turkey Day. She took most the leftovers.

I checked the grocery budget and we still have $100 left for the month. I don't mind that we probably won't be eating turkey all week. Phew.

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About the only thing that I could think of to ruin the November budget and our 12/31 cash standing was auto repairs, because those charges would be due immediately if we took the car in. Well, of course dh's car has been hesitating when starting. I consulted with my dad (DIY car expert) and he thinks it is the battery. At least the battery is under warranty, so I feel a little better. If it is just the battery, it won't matter much. I am thinking we should just take it in Monday to have it looked over. If It is a large repair I can put it on the Visa and still put that off to January. (The visa closes the 25th every month, for whatever reason).

Of course, the weekend plans are up in the air then. I really wanted to drive the gas sipper to the beach this weekend to see the butterfly migration. I checked the weather thinking the following weekend may be better, with a car that is in better shape. BUT, of course next weekend calls for rain and this weekend is sunny and perfect. I am leaning towards just taking the van. Will cost almost twice as much in gas. Also, van has been making weird noises, smells, etc. Since it has been behaving totally fine in recent weeks, I think a big test run would be good. But, I'd rather do the test run with another car in perfect working condition for backup.

So, will see. Today I want to do nothing but crash. Clean up a bit after the tornado that left our house yesterday.

I think I would be happiest to go to the beach Saturday. These are my last few days off before crazy busy season at work!

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Oh yes, and I got a bunch of birthday presents from dh's family and was spoiled rotten. Interestingly, my parents said they also had something for me. (They don't necessarily get me anything at times, so was surprising to hear!)

Well, if we can go 8 more days with no major unexpected bills, then 2011 should wrap up pretty AWESOME-ly. (& frankly, even if I end up in the emergency room, what are the odds any bills would be due before December - things are looking promising). {Note: Any unexpected December bills can be charged in December and paid physically in January - which would not affect 12/31/11 cash position or net worth}.

I am looking at knocking out 3 huge (long-term) financial goals this year. I find it fascinating that all goals will probably be met at about the same time. What are the odds? IT has not been particularly a banner year of any sort. Hell, I started out in January by having another surgery. BUT medical bills aside, we have not had one large expenditure this year. I have not touched our savings for ANYTHING, and so it has flourished, though I honestly saved less this year than I have the past several years. (This would still be much more impressive if we could also stem the tide of medical bills).

Of course, credit card rewards will largely be responsible for meeting agressive mortgage goal this year. I suppose over all, much more financial luck this year than the past few years.

Last I mentioned, I Was about $165 or so short on mortgage goal - to come out of savings or birthday money. Well, Chase is sending me a $69 annual fee refund, so that takes care of some of that - I will just put it to the mortgage.

I wondered if my annual Christmas bonus would be bumped up this year - now that I have been here 10 years. ??? Will find out in about a month. It's nothing overly special - usually $250. But I believe it was $50 or $100 for first 5 years, $250 the last 5 years, and will see for this year. I've got mortgage and ROTH goals to fund, though if it is more than usual, I probably will put $100 to top off the mortgage goal, and the rest to charity. Will see!

Come December 1 I will update you all on my amazing goal progress. I won't believe it until November passes! I did pay all the December bills already and updated my progress on the side bar, so you can see all the goals I believe I have achieved for 2011. The trifecta part is that my cash position is much higher than expected!

All of the cards are officially closed, as of today. (Southwest Chase was kind of slow to respond).

Chase did not offer automatic refund of annual fee to dh, like they had to me. So I wrote back and asked them if the fee would be refunded (because in my experience it usually is - I said something like that). I poked around and saw that Chase has a policy on refunds within 30 days or 60 days - depending who you ask. Interestingly, they charged me the fee on the second billing cycle, so I thought maybe I fell in the 30-day time period as a fluke. BUT, I looked, and it was about 45 days from when I was charged the fee and when I closed the card. It was over 60 days that I actually had the card. The only thing I did different when I closed the card was cite the fee as a reason not to keep the card. Not sure if that mattered.

Anyway, dh has also had the card 45 days. So, will be interesting to see what they say. (Er, 45 days from when the fee was charged, anyway?)

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I checked my AmEx Gold, and $1000 in charges is showing up there (they got my insurance charges). SO, I just have to wait for December 15th to redeem that reward - I am hoping I can pay it off January 1. I suppose if I don't pay it until January, I can't kill it until January.

It's the only one-time rewards card we still have open from the pile. I cut up a LOT of credit cards over the weekend.

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As an aside, I am SO not liking the trend of credit card companies to offer rewards based on rotating categories.

For one, it's far more complicated than what I am used to (I am used to 3% back on gas and groceries, all the time, which was GREAT since most of our variable spending is gas and groceries).

Rotating Categories?

Dining
Department Stores
Movie Theaters
Charitable Organizations
Clothing Stores
Electronics Stores
Toy Stores
Travel

Even if they had these categories all year, don't think they would help ME much. But, the fact that it changes every quarter, and you have to register for the categories to save on? I find uber annoying. I hope someone is making money off this. I've closed all my cards that have moved to this rewards structure. Thanks, but no thanks. (I think I am almost more annoyed about how complicated all this is, than anything else).

The weather is cold (not going outside)! and there is absolutely nothing to be done today.

I should be readying the house for T-Day, but I am procrastinating. As long as I get going by noon, probably have plenty of time to clean up the house AND work on some fall cleaning. (We picked up a bit last night - family is a great help - so not much left to do). I suppose that is the plus side. We were going to dinner at our neighbors, but they canceled due to sickness.

Oh yes, and we had wanted to go to the free museum day today but had changed our mind with dinner plans. I suppose I will look into that - there is a really cool exhibit going on - some "mad scientist" from the Bay Area - has all sorts of cool looking robots and things. We were thinking of just going on one of our days off from school/work, but might as well take advantage of the free day with no other plans. I am planning on getting a family museum membership, but our plan was to check out some of the free days and figure out the parking situation. If we never go because the parking sucks... So, it will be a bit of an experiment.

This is the kind of art that the kids can get excited about:

http://www.crockerartmuseum.org/exhibitions-collections/exhi...

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When it comes to the online blogosphere and such, I generally settle down somewhere for a period of time, and then move on when life changes. For example, I found pregnancy support message boards to be incredibly invaluable while pregnant, but didn't find what the community evolved into post-birth to be terribly useful. I am sure there was probably a lot of wisdom and tips to be gleaned in such groups, but the problem is you have to wade through the minefield of sleep-deprived hormonal new moms. NOT a pleasant experience. Throw in the mommy wars, and I found the experience pretty useless. Beyond useless - it was a pretty toxic environment.

When I moved away from that and found savingadvice, I settled here and has definitely been a VERY positive experience. I have often wondered when I Would move on and where I would be taken next. I think it all started with "Small Notebook." I LOVE that blog and really identify with it on many levels. I find myself finding more and more blogs that are along the same lines. I don't think I had ever really thought about it, but a running theme in my own life is simplification. I find most people make things far harder than they have to be. I am ALL about the short cuts! & so I am really digging finding bloggers who focus on simplicity and love thinking about things in new ways and getting new ideas.

That said, I don't think I am going anywhere! No matter where I am in my financial journey, I am an accountant at heart. I have always delighted in organizing my finances, and I always will. I often go to work and can't believe how well I get paid for simply doing what I love doing. So, I don't think I am going anywhere.

But, I share because I have been linking more and more of these blogs to my website links, AND the more I read them and focus elsewhere, the less posty I have been. & I suppose that is my intro as I start to think more about how I do simplify things in my life, if there are any tips I can share, and I why I am excited to share new things I am learning.

Anyway, I read this old blog post this past week and thought it was fascinating:

The myth of doing it all: modern moms and hiring help

http://thehappiestmom.com/?p=3217

Love love love this article. It really made me stop and think about the cultural norms that are behind the attitude we have often gotten for our own personal choices when it comes to hiring help.

What kind of attitude?

A - our parents think it is TERRIBLE that we hire any help at all. We hire a gardener. Interestingly, our parents were always supportive of us hiring out childcare (as women who could not afford it - they realized we were incredibly lucky to be able to - better for both us and our kids).

B - From very frugal friends, we always got a LOT of attitude about hiring out daycare though my spouse stayed home. To me it was always a "What the hell is their problem???" kind of thing. Even though we stretched a bit to make it work, I wouldn't change it for anything. Towards the end I said specifically in this blog, "Why do people with HUGE car payments get so judgmental about such a practical, and so very temporary, expense?"

Ding ding ding - societal norms. Society says be in debt forever in your car, but only snooty/wasteful Stay-at-home people hire help. I was thinking that daycare help was much more pleasing for the soul than a brand new car.

C - A friend of mind who is deep in debt, orders lattes every day, and goes to the salon endlessly, well her or her husband have made several "it must be nice" comments to us over the years, about the fact that we have a gardener.

Again - societal norms. Forget that they are paying WAY more on a monthly basis for simply salon visits. Hired help just has a much bigger stigma.

& what I realized thinking about this was that on every level, getting to think outside the box and look at things differently is so freeing. It really does make life easier to not to be so conformist. I have never had a lot of problem being different. But reading that post made me look at things a little different. I think next time anyone makes a snide comment about any decision to hire help, it will be easier for me to see where *they* are coming from. & maybe I know better how to reply to help open their own eyes. It's like I realized, but I didn't really realize. A bit of an *aha* moment.

So next time my friend makes an "it must be nice" comment (honestly, I think it is her husband, not sure she has ever said the same?), I think I will just smile and say, "yes, it is nice." What can you do?

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In other news, I made a new step in organizing in my house, after reading this post:

Clearing the �Counter Pile� with a Tickler File

http://simplemom.net/clearing-the-counter-pile-with-a-tickle...

I am a big believer in manila envelopes. I organize my life pretty much in manila envelopes, anyway.

BUT, when it comes to bills and stuff, my way is not overly organized. My method is simply this. I don't procrastinate. So, when papers come in, I send them back out. I either shred them, or pay the bills, or send back the school forms, or whatever. If it can wait a bit, I just throw it in a pile. The pile never gets very big, and I know where to find anything I need.

It works.

BUT, the idea on this blog post was to have one manila type folder for each month, and to file things away by month. So, if a bill is not due until January, I could file the bill in January, rather than leave it in a pile. If I have a form I want to take care of next month, I can file it away for next month. So simple, and yet so genius! I went one further and got out some folders for coupon categories and also labeled one for each kid. In the kid folders I put school stuff that I may need to reference, but didn't want to toss yet. Or stuff they may need next month, or later.

In addition, I put an envelope in each month to keep all receipts. Talk about a simple way to get mega organized. I will probably toss most the receipts once the month is over, but I too often have to ask dh what this or that purchase was for, or forget some purchase I made 4 weeks ago. So, this should help simplify.

So yeah, I organized all of the coupons into folders, too, by category. Our old method was a pile of coupons. I can't say it was working overly well.

I already put EVERYTHING on the calendar as a simple way to keep organized, so I find I didn't have to follow this tickler system to a tee. I just have to remember to check the folders every month, is all. I like the tip to put, say, wedding invitations in the month for when the wedding is. That is something that is generally sitting in a pile. We had a birthday we went to that we got the invite MONTHS in advance. So we just left the invite in the "pile" for many months. OF course it was on the calendar, but I just had no where to put the actual invite, aside from the "pile." Oh, that folder system would have been so nice for that.

Anyway, read that link - it may change your life!

The funny thing was I had went to the store for manila folders a day or two before I came across that post. All they had was a set of 50. I probably only needed a few. I thought, "well, here is a lifetimes supply of folders," and just bought them since it was all I Could find. So I have suddenly found much use for all the extra folders.

**Our free Kindle Fire has arrived. It's pretty cool. I think I am realizing that it is pretty easy to say, "What's the point of that?" when you haven't tried a technology. But once you utilize it, well, you realize more how awesome it is.

Kindle Fire = so amazingly cool. Forget the smart phone, I think I rather have a tablet. & I had no idea why the tablet was so great, until yesterday. You just have to experience it.

Sure, the kindle fire does not have any cameras, so it is not ideal. But, for the long run, give me a tablet with a webcam, and that should be all I need. Might replace my cell phone and my netbook. For the LONG run. My first impression is A+. I guess it looks like we are keeping it! (We were going to try it out, and were open to selling it if it wasn't awesome).

I suppose I was really surprised how big the screen seems for such a small device. It was much more impressive than I imagined. & yet small enough to be extremely portable. Not at all what I expected.

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In the end I decided to take some time off work, for T-Day. For a long time I always took the week off, which was kind of essential with hosting T-Day and having babies underfoot. Last few years I let someone else take those days, but no one ever does. So, I decided at the last minute to take Wednesday off, and the Monday after off. Of course, for Monday I was imagining a quiet day. Turns out the kids have off school. Oh well - so much for quiet! (Odd day to have off, huh? We didn't even realize).

For T-Day, it is the usual. Since we moved up to our low cost haven, we have the biggest house to host Thanksgiving. Will this be our 10th year? I suppose that makes it tradition?

Of course, dh is in charge of all the food, AND we do more of a potluck style anyway. Our grocery store has $10 turkeys (grocery store brand) that always taste DIVINE. So dh picked one up yesterday. I am in charge of deviled eggs. Dh makes some spinach thing. My dad makes salsa. Great Grandma makes the stuffing. (We provide the turkey - but that is about it! Dh's mom and grandma always bake it. My dad carves it). Everyone else brings drinks and side dishes. Someone makes mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes, and on and on and on...

We invited a family friend who was recently laid off, and his mother. They've come in the past, but with all our surgeries and everything we hadn't invited them the last couple of years. I thought of them this year and told them just to bring themselves.

The heat is still off, and we usually turn it on the first time for T-Day. By the end of the day the body heat and oven may heat up the house (I remember opening windows some years!) but for the early birds that come to start the turkey, and for little old Great Grandma, they'd probably like some heat. I think we will easily make it until T-Day otherwise, but will turn on the heat for our early guests.

It would be one thing if I had to cook the entire meal, but since I don't have much responsibility for dinner, then I really like just getting to stay home for the holiday and not drive anywhere. I think it works out pretty nice! My parents don't have any family here, besides me, and so it is always dh's huge family, and my folks. But, dh's sisters/cousins have in-laws to contend with so only hit certain years. I thought this year was going to be *small* but it looks like 20. I suppose if everyone showed up it would be more like 26. OF course, the family is still growing every year.

We got a bottle of wine in Napa (was more like grape juice than wine? Was tasty, and very popular for the holidays). Dh's uncle and cousin always bring really cheap but tasty wines. They are like always in a contest to find the best inexpensive wine.

My mom usually slips me a little money for groceries. (I think she appreciates not having to do anything, after making Turkey dinner for 4, MANY years). I can't say we have spent any more than we would have, and we will have TONS of leftovers.

Well, Citi did absolutely nothing to make me warm up to them.

I e-mailed them to close my card today, and it was literally closed within one minute.

The only reason I know is I then went to plastic jungle to sell some gift cards, and they asked me for a credit card #. To verify my identity. I was aggravated, so decided to use the card that would be closed by the end of the day. Except it wouldn't work and just caused problems. I checked my e-mail. CLOSED! ALREADY!

Dh called and closed his Citi card. They begged him to stay, but decided to stop giving him cash rewards for stayinng just one more month. They didn't offer anything useful. I am just glad to get the card closed.

Not sure what it is but they were like kissing dh's feet the whole time, and offered him the moon. Me? They just put up with me and are happy to be rid of me. So, just leaves me annoyed. I believe that is the only Citi card I ever had. Chase - sure - I am no longer banking with them in any capacity (no more chase credit cards), but they did shower me with rewards and give me everything I asked for. It bodes well for the future - if they ever have a credit card that fits my needs, again. Citi? Meh. Who needs them? It probably pays off in the long run to have a little more customer service. Even if it means no difference in the short run.

That said, besides messing up my plastic jungle scheme (to not give them a REAL credit card number), I do appreciate how fast and simple it was to close the card. Easy Peasy!

I'll e-mail Chase tonight to close dh's 2 remanining Chase cards.

Tomorrow I will mail all these gift cards to Plastic Jungle - they will mail me a check for $182 in return.

All that should be left is to redeem my AmEx Gold rewards in about one month time, and close that card too. It's the only one-time reward card that I (and dh) should have open by the end of the day.

Usually the only *annoyance* factor for these schemes, for me, is having to close the cards. (Keeping them open would be infinitely more time consuming and annoying. I prefer to kill the card once reward is redeemed - never have to think about it again. Ever). With these e-mail systems, the *annoyance* factor is virtually eliminated. Which makes this super crazy easy money. Didn't even have to sit on hold with the credit card company. Reminds me, AmEx even let me activiate my card online. NO SALES SPIEL. Love it!

Amazon redeemed themselves a wee bit.

Dh had called to complain about them shipping everything so flipping late. PLUS, after he called, they showed everything as shipped, but then there was no movement on it (on the tracking). We strongly believed they slapped labels on them but they were still sitting in a warehouse.

So I was griping about all the ways Amazon was being really annoying this past week or so.

THEN, they called dh to follow up on his phone call. They asked if his problem had been resolved. Dh said no, that they had been very nice, but not really of any help. SO, the guy says if he can't track down his package, he will overnight another kindle fire.

So, I guess Amazon redeems themselves.

In the end, dh found out the package was actually in San Jose, last night. Not sure if they called back or if his tracking updates. IT's already out for delivery, so will get here today. Plus, should get our parent's kindles and everything.

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I also received all of our gift cards yesterday. I will mail out $200 in gift cards to plastic jungle today (in exchange for cash!!). I am stashing some Amazon gift cards for Christmas.

Today's chore will be to close credit cards. I have one to close - will do by e-mail. I will have dh call Citi and I will e-mail dh's Chase accounts. (No point him being on the phone all day - I have the login info).

I charged $1000 on my American Express. When I pre-paid the health insurance, AGAIN, I realized I could just pay whatever. So I made the amount exactly what I needed to get to $1000. I was relieved to see the statement closes 12/15 or so. I expect the payment won't be due until January, which means this is not really a pre-payment. Well, I suppose it might be due by January 15th whereas I usually pay that the second half of the month. But that is much easier to arrange than paying a month early again. So, phew. Hopefully I can redeem those final rewards by 12/31. To get to $4000 for the year!

Amazon Complaints:

1 - They told us that non-high-volume sellers can't sell during holiday season. Holiday season = November 1 through December 25th or so?? Not exactly sure on end date.

They did not remove dh's listings AND he had a game to sell, so he listed it. We thought maybe we didn't understand the notice and dh was okay.

THEN they sent him a note that he could not sell after November 15th, as per original letter. Original letter says November 1. So was that just a typo, or are they backing down a bit, but not really admitting it?

Last year we made about $200 during the Christmas season. Nothing life changing, but it's generally the easiest time of year to make money. So, BOO!

2 - Yesterday they told dh to give them his tax information or they would close his seller account.

Oh, they are getting worse than Ebay, if that is possible.

I understand they have a lot to manage with new tax laws coming up, etc. BUT, I don't like giving my SS# to people who do not need it. I am not sure of the legalities of them really asking for it in that manner. I am going to look into that a bit. Dh just gave it to them. After having my identity stolen, I am just extra sensitive about that.

Dh will never sell enough to have to be reported to the IRS. & I have a right not to give my SS# to people who don't really need it for tax reporting purposes. So, Bah!

3 - As of yesterday, Amazon had not shipped our Kindle fire or any of our Kindle pre-orders made ages ago. Plus, dh had ordered some Harry Potter Blu Ray that released last week but did not ship. For reference, when you pre-order things, they tend to be at your door they day of release. Particularly movies and books.

They must have TONS of these kindle orders. They have never been so slow on this type stuff. Anyway, dh griped all week, and then he called them to gripe at them. I don't know if it worked, but I decided to check on a whim. EVERYTHING shipped overnight. Dh will be pleased they shipped OnTrac - so everything should get here tomorrow. (OnTrac is lightning fast). Of course, this is free shipping, but we always order everything free shipping. It's usually pretty dang fast - in this case will probably just be one day to ship.

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In other news, I ran into next-door neighbor a month or two ago. She was telling me the charter high school that her daughter got into. HIGH SCHOOL? When did that happen? She's "babysat" our kids before, at her parent's house, but really her mom insists we bring the kids over to play with their 7yo and then refuses to let us pay. So we kind of left it that she will be a great babysitting resource when she is older. I feel awkward otherwise - don't want to take advantage.

I am not sure much has changed. We decided to ask if she could babysit tonight so we can go to parent/teacher conferences without spending a ton at the drop-in place. OF course mom said, "bring the kids over." They are saving us so much gas, time and money that I think we will just offer $10 per hour. Plus, it's not like leaving the kids with a teen - will be adults too - and won't be at our house. We will INSIST on paying. Will see how that goes. Should only be $10 since we have two conferences back to back. This might save us $15, by the time we would have driven over to the commercial drop-in place and paid more like $13 per hour. Not to mention what a TIME saver!

Now we just have to remember in the future. If they take our money, this could be a much cheaper alternative for date night.

2 Snafus today on the credit cards.

#1 - American Express Gold Premier - what a racket! First, they left the credit card at my front door. Literally. Dh said, "My you got quite the package today!" I said, "Um, aren't those our gift cards?" I thought they were our Southwest gift cards. HE looked appalled and said, "I hope not! They just left it at the front door." (They = UPS)

Even better - they left a credit card on my front door!

Plus it came with this big bound book detailing many rewards. It was gold. I told dh I suppose I was supposed to leave that laying around to show how special I was with my premier rewards card.

Then I couldn't find the credit limit, so I finally realized there is no "pre-set" limit. Which is basically a pile of BS. I googled that out of curiosity. Really? No limit. Apparently they just randomly change the limit whenever they want. It's just not *set.* (I saw lots of rants online about how aggravating that whole thing is - since there really is a limit, it's just no one knows what it is until they get denied).

Of course this is just the *you have got to be kidding me* parts of it all.

So I go online to charge my $1000 and be done. But, apparently State Farm doesn't take American Express. Small Details!!! Problem is our flood insurance used to be through State Farm, but I think it is now directly through FEMA. So I did thoroughly check that the flood insurance could be paid with AmEx, and just assumed it would be okay for the rest of our insurance.

(IT's such a bummer since we get 2% back on our primary AmEx - can't use that one either!!)

I'll have to charge the flood insurance and one month health insurance, for reward. I already prepaid one month health insurance, so shouldn't pay again until December. BUT, I want to kill this card, so more pre-payments. It's just one more thing to remember/juggle. Anyway, I have nothing else to charge, so this is what it is.

(I wonder if my health insurer wonders why I use a different credit card every single month, lately. HA! I could online imagine what my CU thinks about my endless credit card bill additions and deletions in "online bill pay," too).

#2 - I decided to pass on the PenFed $200 reward. First, you have to apply to be a PenFed CU member. Not sure if we would qualify. Plus, then we have to close the card AND end the membership when we are done. Secondly, the rewards weren't very good. Nothing we would spend otherwise (gift cards) or could sell for very much cash. For $200 cash? Sure. I'd go through with it. But for $200 in restaurant gift cards? Eh. I'll check with dh to be sure - the offer is in his name. But I am personally not feeling this one. (No huge loss - I am sure there will be more credit card offers on their way!)

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Er, since I can't charge my home insurance for rewards, and it's not due until late December, it is now a bill I can pass off to next year. It will add about $1,000 to my bottom line.

It's cheating, but it works. I have some dream at some point to have an extra one month of expenses in cash. Since I do tend to pay last month's bills this month. More so every year as credit cards are more widely accepted. IT just is what it is. All it means is I will have some extra cash for my net worth, come 12/31/11.

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In other news, dh was able to get 25 hours at the big Scholastic Sale this winter. (Will earn $250 in Scholastic books). I am assuming $100 for us, $50 for each teacher, and $50 for the school. Just because dh usually keeps about one day's work ($80) for Christmas shopping. Of course, last time we gave BM's teacher a $80 voucher, I think he bought a bazillion books. It's like earning $1000 in books, or more.

So, more free stuff there. Free stuff; free charity.

Not much to report here.

I was planning to buy some fresh salmon this weekend, anyway. But dh gave me the $10 catalina so that I could get it for free. (& he didn't want to forget about it!). The salmon cost 13 cents in the end.

I reported the odometer reading on the gas sipper, to our insurer. Ouch! We easily drove 1500-2000 miles on our LA trip.

That said, I peeked at the van's history, and we maybe only drove it 2500 miles the last 6 months. That was a surprise. That said, I can't remember the last time I drove it anywhere but to work. It's been having weird noises/rattles/smells that it won't do for anyone else. My short commute also does not seem to create any unusual effects. But, maybe we should drive it to San Jose next time just to check it out. I think a melted plastic part is the most likely explanation at this point. A little transmission fluid seemed to appease the transmission. Hopefully that's it!

Anyway, I'd say on average we drive both vehicles about 10,000 miles per year. So both results were surprising in the short run.

Otherwise, I am just struggling with the fact that time seems to be FLYING. I was looking forward to this slow time of year and fall cleaning, etc. Somehow it is already 11/15. ??? December just signifies the start of crazy and busy tax season. It will be here in a blink! Where did my super slow and relaxing November go? The weirdest thing is I haven't done anything. I went to a birthday party for a couple of hours on Saturday, and a soccer game. I did a lot of cooking Sunday. & then the weekend was gone! I was idealizing November and forgetting how quickly the days go with the sun down at 5pm.

Geez, where did the day go???

**The heat challenge has been interesting. It has been very cold, but the house has not dropped below 60 degrees. The boys in my house could care less about the cold - I only find the weekends challenging (when home all day). Anyway, with the cold weather, I expected the temp to drop below 60, inside. But it hasn't. It's hard to get across the energy efficiency of our house, and how little we actually rely on the heat system. The house regulates the temperature pretty well. I think it does so more easily in the winter than the summer. Our summer heat is far more extreme than our winters.

Anyway, it's been pretty warm today. A beautiful/sunny day! I checked the weather website and we are back up to average fall temperatures. About 45 at night and 65 during the day. I think one reason the temp does not drop much in our house in fall is largely due to harnessing heat from the sun. It's been sunny - the house won't get any colder than 60-66.

What's interesting is we have had several nights in the 30-degree range. So I think it is interesting that the house hasn't gotten any colder. But maybe we have had just enough sun. Winter brings both colder temps and less sun, in comparison.

At these temps, there is no challenge this weekend. The heat will stay off. I am thinking of sticking it out until the house gets to 59 degrees. I wonder if it ever will... (I do generally get more wimpy in real winter, so will see. If you think 60 degrees is crazy, I'd generally agree in January. But for being a little wimpy last Saturday, the cold has not bothered me at all. I also seem less sensitive to the cold as each year passes).

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Okay, enough about the weather!!

**I made an impulse online Target purchase yesterday. Ooooh, I knew that free shipping RedCard would be evil! But, not too bad. Dh threw away an old blanket that was just falling apart. One of those vellux blankets? I looked online just to see if I could replace it cheaply. I lucked out. $12.99 at Target. Free Shipping. Done and shipped already. Too easy! (Blanket was maybe 12 years old, but I think problem is dh didn't wash it properly. Figured I would try again - I do love those soft blankets!)

**While at it, I told dh the one on our bed was also kid of sad. Certainly not "throw it away" or "replace it today" sad, but I added it to my wish list. King size vellux.

I also added a sleep mat, for camping to the list. The one I got last year sucked. I am trying again. I am a pretty picky sleeper since we have such a marvelous mattress. Must be the down side to having such an awesome bed. I generally sleep VERY well, but can't sleep well anywhere else. I keep trying though. There's got to be a better option for camping. I don't want an air mattress - anything super bulky or loud to inflate.

**Dh got a credit card offer today. PenFed American Express - $200 reward for spending $650?

We are applying for it.

Dh told me, "This is starting to sound way too good to be true. Are you sure?"

*Starting*? "Starting to sound?" I assured him that the credit card companies are hoping we keep the cards open a long time and forget to pay our balances, or find ourselves unable to. I said the odds are against us. We are just too *weird.*

This would put our rewards to $4200 for the calendar year.

This is my original tally:

UPDATED TALLY:

$1030 cash Chase Sapphire (moi)
$200 cash Chase Freedom (dh)
$625 gift cards - Chase SW (dh)
$515 gift cards - Chase SW (moi)
$500 gift cards Citi (dh)
+$100 gift cards - Citi for trying to close card
$310 gift cards - Citi (moi)
-$99 annual fee (SW card)
+$99 annual fee refunded when closed card
-$69 Fee (SW card)
+$69 annual fee refunded when closed card
-$41 lost value for exchanging some Citi gift cards for cash and amazon gift cards
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$3239 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

+$ 500 deposit to ROTH (Fidelity Am Ex - 2% cash back)
+$ 80 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)
+$ 35 Visa Rewards (1% cash back - for places that don't take AmEx)
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=$3854 TOTAL REWARDS 2011
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It's not overly organized, because, well, I didn't expect so many rewards. I just kept adding more and more. So I went back and re-organized a bit to show by reward offer.

What I also wanted to see is what exactly I received in rewards, and what I did with said rewards.

So here is another break down:

CASH: $1230
AMAZON GIFT CARDS: $1225
ROTH DEPOSITS (CASH) $500
WALMART GIFT CARDS: $500
KOHLS GIFT CARDS: $250
B&N GIFT CARDS: $50
CARLS JR GC: $20
OLIVE GARDEN GC: $5

TOTAL = $3780

For simplicity, I left out ongoing Target and Visa rewards (small).

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I was able to sell the WalMart gift cards for cash and more amazon gift cards, so I ended up with:

CASH: $1594
AMAZON GIFT CARDS: $1320
ROTH DEPOSITS (CASH) $500
KOHLS GIFT CARDS: $250
B&N GIFT CARDS: $50
CARLS JR GC: $20
OLIVE GARDEN GC: $5

TOTAL = $3739

With these rewards I was able to:

Add $500 to my ROTH
Add $1132 to payments of mortgage principal (amount is greater than one monthly mortgage payment)
Donate $250 to kids' school
Paid $212 towards Napa vacation
$700-ish towards kindles/etc. for Christmas gifts
$80 Roku (to help with dropping cable)
**Didn't have to spend cash for many household or fun purchases the last few months/made, and some long put-off purchases, with remaining Amazon gift cards

NOTE: I could have easily sold all the gift cards for cash, at a 80%-90% discount, if I would have just preferred cash.

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I've still got significant gift card balances to carry me through next year. $100 Kohls, $50 Barnes & Noble, at least $50 Amazon, etc.

I am working on a $250 reward at the moment. If I can sell the rewards for cash, I will probably put this reward toward the mortgage. I am $162 short of my goal for year, and this will put me to goal without touching savings or any gift (birthday/christmas) money.