Hi, everyone. Several days ago I got a $25.00 Toluna suurvey check in the mail. I deposited it and as soon as it cleared, I sent it to cc #1. Woo-Hoo! This feels great.

I should be able to cash in at mrrebates before the month is over. That will be about $10.00.

Prior 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3670.11

cc #1 payment $25.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3695.11

Hey, everyone. I just got the latest mortgage statement. I am almost under $66,000. Woo-hoo!

Hi, everyone. I get paid again tomorrow, so more money will be going to debt, savings, and retirement.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3570.11

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
Car Savings Deposit $20.00
House Savings Deposit $20.00
Car Tax/AAA Savings $20.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3670.11

I plan to also pay $100.00 to cc #1 tomorrow.

Hi, everybody. Well, it seems I have only about $243.00 left of the reimbursement and my husband and I have chosen to use it for both of us to go see a new doctor in town.

Tomorrow, I get paid and so here is my update of the 52 Week Challenge. As always, more money is going to debt, savings, and retirement.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3392.66

Car Savings $20.00
House Savings $20.00
Regular Savings $40.00
Slush Deposit $20.00
cc #1 payment $77.45

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3570.11

Hi, everyone. In the mail today, I got something I had actually forgotten all about, a rebate check for Dickinson's astringent for $4.99. I have already deposited it and authorized payment to cc #1. This brings my 52 Week Challenge Balance to $3302.66. Woo-Hoo!

And now for something to give you a giggle, especially if you are a Star Trek fan. This shot came from an original Star Trek series episode called "The Trouble with Tribbles" that aired in 1967.

Hi, everyone. I got a survey deposit from Pinecone. I will pay it directly to cc #1.

Prior 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3382.67

Pinecone Survey Deposit $5.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3387.67

Okay. I have been disbursing more of my reimbursement money, so at the bottom is an update of everything I have done so far.

Specifically what's changed is:

$50.00 cc #1 payment

$50.00 another $50 on trip out of town next week

$100.00 slush money redirected towards door bell installation

$82.63 from the other things I have not thought of category (money I spent purchasing a doorbell, transformer, and doorbell button at Home Depot)

Total done yesterday and today is $282.63 .



1118 REGULAR REIMBURSEMENT FUNDS
-50 part of trip out of town (DONE!!!)
-60 house savings (1/2 DONE!!)
-60 car savings (1/2 DONE!!)
-100 regular savings
-200 yard light/doorbell installation allocation (DONE!!!)
-100 cc #1 (DONE!!!)
-75 escrow (-20 TOWARDS THIS SO FAR!!)
-40 fun money
-100 extra slush (redirected towards yard light/doorbell) (DONE!!!)
-283 other that I have not thought of ($82.63 of this spent on buying new door bell at Home Depot)
0


This brings my 52 Week Challenge Balance up a little bit to $3382.67.

So, if you recall in my last financial post, I still had $58.00 of my $500.00 reimbursement left. Well, today I sent that to cc #1.

Also, I finally got the second part of my reimbursement in that amount of $1118.62. I have already sent $80.00 total to house, car, and escrow savings. I have also allocated $200.00 for the yard light and doorbell replacement.

$1118.62
-50 1/2 of trip to fayetteville
-60 house savings (1/2 DONE!!)
-60 car savings (1/2 DONE!!)
-100 regular savings
-200 yard light/doorbell (DONE!!!)
-100 cc #1
-75 escrow ($20 TOWARDS THIS SO FAR!!)
-40 fun money
-100 extra slush
-283 other that I have not thought of
0

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2885.25

$80.00 Savings Deposits
$58.00 cc #1 payment
$200.00 set aside for home repairs/maintenance

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3223.25

Hi, everyone. So far, I have only received $500.00 of my total conference reimbursement (it comes from 2 different places). I had a lower balance on cc #2 that what I thought, so I have adjusted my original plan as follows.

$500.00 Total Reimbursement Part 1

$192.00 cc #2 payment (the balance is now $0!)
$ 50.00 cc #1 payment
$100.00 yard light allocation
$100.00 trip out of town at end of month allocation

So, with all of that, here is the update to my 52 Week Challenge Balance:

Prior Balance: $2443.25

Payments and Set Asides: $442.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2885.25


I still have $58.00 left out of the $500.00 after all that. I think I may put it on cc #1 because it really needs to be paid down.

This is me right now. I'm so excited!! And this is only the beginning. I have about $1100.00 coming probably tomorrow to spend on debt, savings, etc.

Click on this video of the Pointer Sisters to see just how excited I am to pay off debt and allocate funds for things that I really need.

https://youtu.be/YwKRM_835uk

Hi, everyone. The first part of my conference reimbursement just came by mail today. Here is my plan for how to spend it. I have already paid all but about $300.00 of the costs from the conference trip charged to cc #2 with funds I already had saved over the last year from regular deposits, survey payments, etc., so after paying off the $300.00, the rest is gravy. One of the things I want to do is set aside some funds to replace our yard light which is currently using a mercury light and lots of kilowatts, making our electric bills higher unnecessarily.

$500 Total Reimbursement

-$100 1/2 of funds for out of trip at the end of the month

-$300 cc #2 payment

-$100 yard light allocation

0

Hi, everyone. I got paid again today, so more money went to credit card debt, savings, and retirement.

Prior 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2343.25

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
cc #1 payment $40.00
slush $20.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2443.25

I will put more money into slush and credit card tomorrow.

Hey, everyone. My mortgage is down to $66,187.11. Woo-hoo! We have been paying the amount that we would have to pay if it were a late payment for about 4 years now and it has made a real difference in the balance. Some day, I would like to increase it, but this is management and affordable now.

I should be getting my conference reimbursement (a total of over $1600!) in the next few days and will disburse it when I get it. I have paid all but about $200 of the total trip cost on cc #2 out of money that I set aside through survey checks, rebates, and regular savings deposits. That money is a separate account than regular savings so that I don't affect other savings needs.

Well, this month is a three paycheck month for me, so Yay! I have a little extra money and the only thing I have to buy for the next is groceries. So, I sent an extra $60.00 to cc#1. I also put $80.00 into slush.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2203.25

cc #1 $60.00
Slush deposit $80.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2343.25

Hi, everyone. Well, today was payday (I am usually paid on Fridays, but tomorrow is a holiday), so more money went to savings, debt, and retirement. Also, last Wednesday, I left on my conference trip and returned on Tuesday night. After returning, I also claimed my travel rewards on cc #2 which I used for the trip. After claiming the travel reward, I emptied out my professional account, as shown on the left to pay most of the rest of the bill. That amount covers almost everything, including what I spent on fun stuff, food, hotel, airfare, subway fare, and my share of the rental car. I will also get a reimbursement check from my employer. I am not sure of the amount yet, but in general, I plan to pay off a large amount on cc #1, put money into regular savings and house savings, and also have a outside yard light replaced with something more energy efficient. That is as specific as I can get until I know the exact amount. It may seem counter-intuitive to save my own money to pay off the purchase when I know I will get reimbursed for some of it, but the truth is the amount I get back is only guaranteed up to $500 per year for out of state travel, so I have to save some of my own money also.

Prior 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2095.25

Regular Savings Deposit: $40.00
House Savings Deposit: $20.00
Car Savings Deposit: $20.00
Travel rewards from going on conference trip $28.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2203.25

I am not counting the amount I paid out of the professional savings to cc #2 in the challenge because I already counted it. However, I will count the reimbursement once I receive it.

One more cool thing that happened recently was on the day I was returning from my conference, my husband who stayed home was supervising the installation of 3 new windows in our home.

Hello, everyone. I needed to buy some T.N. Dickinson's astringent pads for my face today. There was peelie attached that I thought maybe was a coupon, but it's actually a rebate for the full price of the item. Woo-hoo!

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/t.n.-dickinson%27s-hazelets...

So, if you use this product, look for the peelie to get your rebate! This will be $4.99 back for me. According to a comment I saw online, it should take around 4 1/2 weeks to get it. I will apply it to the credit card when I get it. I like this free stuff that keeps coming my way.

I also bought a used bathing suit at the humane society store today for $2.00. Yesterday, at another thrift store, I bought 2 pairs of khahi type slacks and 2 shirts for a little over $2.00 because it was on winter clearance! I badly needed some stuff like this, so this was a boon to me. I don't know why it was on winter clearance, because you can wear khakis pretty much year round, but I am not going to refuse it. That's for sure.

Hi, everyone. I just cashed in 75,000 Toluna survey points for a $25 check. It could take up to 8 weeks to get it. Ugh, but it's something. It will go directly to the credit card bill unless I have some other bill needing to be paid when I get it.

Over the holiday weekend, I took 2 Pinecone surveys. Today, I got the email that said points had been awarded in my Pinecone account. I previously had a 100 point balance and after the email, had a 1100 point balance. I quickly cashed in 1000 points for $10.00 paypal. I will get it in a few days and apply it directly to the credit card. My husband will get his check on Monday and $37.48 of it will also go to the credit card. And I will also get my mrrebates deposit of about $10.00. I am just swimming in it. How do I keep bringing it in?

Hi, everyone. I got paid today, so more money went to debt, savings, and retirement.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1867.67

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
House Savings Deposit: $40.00
cc #1 payment $50.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1997.67

Hi, everyone. I just cashed out my mrrebates account for $10.10. I will get it until June 1st and I will directly apply to credit card debt.

Also, I have realized that I have enough funds for my conference trip saved up, so I am not going to set aside any more funds. I will devote the "extra" funds to the following: 1) $40 to the house account for the windows which will likely be installed soon and 2) $100 to credit card debt.

I have also been using my rewards credit card for my one major grocery purchase each week in order to earn rewards. At the end of June, I will have enough rewards to get a rebate. I will use that to make an extra payment to the other credit card.

Hey, everybody. My mortgage is down to $66,499.09. Last month, between my regular principal payment and extra principal payment a total of $186.12 went to principal. Woo-Hoo!

I just found out that two different funding sources I applied for to attend a professional conference have come through. I had estimated I would need approximately $1600 to attend this conference. Here is what I have so far.

$1252.00 money saved up since last fall through surveys, rebates, payday deposits, etc.

$250.00 grant
$500.00 professional development fund

So, I have a total of $2002.00! So, I can use some of the money I worked hard to save up for fun money and not have to incur credit card debt. Yay! That was my goal.

Hi, everyone. In a true effort to buckle down and not allow spending and debt to get out of control, I decided to make as many meals as I can out of what food I already had in my cupboards, fridge, and freezer. I made an inventory of the food at the same time I made my shopping list.

1/2 pound raw cauliflower
4 ounces raw pumpkin seeds
8 ounces raw flaxseeds
1 pound raw carrots
1/2 raw cabbage
12 ounces frozen french green beans
12 ounces frozen okra
2 onions, 1 red and 1 white
12 ounces almond milk
plenty of dried herbs and spices for making recipes
1 raw beet
2 red potatoes
3 servings of soup I made for my husband
1/2 bulb of garlic

I also have plenty of kale, 2 kinds of lettuce, and arugula to make salads for me. The lettuce is especially loving the moist, cool weather we have been having and so is huge.

1) Potato Salad with avocado with potatoes, avocado, lemon juice, mustard, paprika, sea salt, stevia, pepper, and green onion. I will add ham to this recipe

http://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/potato-salad-with-avo...
2-3 lunches for me

2) Eggs, Meat, Vegetables, and Smoothies. Add seeds and veggies to smoothies
7 breakfasts for my husband and me

3) Burgers with potatoes and kale (potatoes, sea salt, pepper, garlic, kale)
http://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/garlic-hash-browns-ka...
1 supper for my husband and me

4) Salad with lettuce, kale, chives, arugula, garbanzo beans, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, green onion, sliced almonds, sea salt, pepper. 1 salad will have a cut up beet.
4 lunches for me

5) Rotisserie Chicken and steamed vegetables
1 supper for my husband and me

6) Chicken Soup with onion, carrots, green beans, ginger, garlic, and homemade broth
4 lunches for my husband

7) Leftover Soup
3 lunches for my husband

8) Spaghetti Sauce with onion, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, oregano, sage, basil, chives
- Add broccoli instead of pasta
1 supper for me and my husband

9) Stir Fry With Beef, Onion, ginger, garlic, bell pepper
1 supper for me and my husband

10) Leftover Turkey Curry with onion, carrot, parsnip (substituting turnip), sweet potato, mushrooms, bell pepper, diced tomato, coconut milk (substitute almond milk), curry, turkey, coconut oil
http://stupideasypaleo.com/2012/12/26/leftover-turkey-yellow...

11) Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls with beef, olive oil, onion, cabbage, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, sea salt.

Hello, everyone. I guess I have been living the high life, because I have had a few too many expenses and need to buckle down for awhile until I get it all balanced out. I think I will start with a food challenge by seeing how many meals I can make out of what is in my cupboards and fridge. And I must not forget that I now have lettuce, kale, and arugula that I can harvest and it's delicious. I have onions every now and then.

Anyway, I got paid today, so more money is going into savings, debt, and retirement.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1627.67

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
Car Savings Deposit $20.00
House Savings Deposit $20.00
Professional Savings Deposit $40.00
Payment on cc #1 $100.00
Slush Fund $20.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1867.67

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1602.67

Cashed in Swagbucks $25.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1627.67


This also brings my Conference Challenge Balance to $1212.00! Woo-Hoo!

Hi, everyone. I get paid tomorrow, so more money is going to savings, debt, and retirement. I don't really report my retirement here except on the sidebar. Here are my numbers.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1482.67

Regular Savings Contribution $40.00
Professional Savings Contribution $40.00
Car Savings Contribution $20.00
House Savings Contribution $20.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1602.67

I will make payments to the credit card tomorrow. See ya'!

Great news today. I got my $5.00 deposit from Pinecone (thanks, creditcardfree for the update about that). So, my 52 Week Challenge Balance is up to $1482.67 and my Professional Savings is at $1147.00. I need to get it to about $1600.00 before the end of June. That's going to be hard but so worth it so I can just immediately pay off cc#2 after attending my conference.

Woo-Hoo!

Hi, everybody. I get paid again tomorrow, so more will be going in and out of checking, savings, and towards debt.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1238.19

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
Car Savings Deposit $20.00
House Savings Deposit $20.00
Professional Savings Deposit $100.00
DH's payment to cc #1 $37.48
Slush Fund Deposit $22.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1477.67

Hi, everyone. I used change in the amount of $0.71 to pay for part of my groceries and lessen the amount coming out of checking. That's good, because checking is a little low. I am going to put it toward cc#1.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1237.48

$0.71 change used for groceries

New Balance: $1238.19

Old Challenge Balance: $1200.48

DH's payment to cc #1 $37.48

New Challenge Balance $1237.48

Hi, everyone. I get paid again tomorrow, so more money will be going to savings, debt, and retirement.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $963.48

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
Professional Savings Deposit $100.00
Car Savings Deposit $20.00
House Savings Deposit $20.00
cc#1 payment $75.00
Slush fund deposit $22.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1200.48

Woo-Hoo!