Banker Gurl's More Bang For Your Buck!

Normally we have several rummage sales every year, usually 3 or 4 between May and September. But this year due to the flooding in the area we weren't able to have any in May or June, and then by the time July came along my parents were in the middle of renovating their rental property so too busy to get everything ready for a rummage sale then.
Now that everything has settled down we are getting ready to have 2 rummage sales in 3 weeks at the end of August, beginning of September.
My friend who gave us a TON of clothes she did not want back in January was displaced due to the flooding and so had gone through all of their things again and had a bunch more to "donate" to the rummage sale. I always tell her she can put whatever she wants in the rummage sale, but she would just rather not mess with it at all, so she drops it off, we seperate everything, clean it up, mark it and store it and then we get to keep anything we make off of it. Back in January she brought almost all mens clothes and after everything was marked we would make about $70 if we sold all of it. This last week she brought a bunch more stuff....books, toys, more clothes, shoes, VHS movies, Christmas decorations etc. I marked everything and if we sell all of it that would be another $75...so almost $150 in free merchandise for the rummage sale!
We are also thinking about selling snowcones at this rummage sale in addition to the pop, juice, cupcakes and brownies that we normally sell. I have a snowcone machine and our freezer has an ice maker, so the only cost would be for the syrup.

Somehow my balance got a little off on my totals.

Here is what the numbers actually are now...I got off $30.00 somewhere.

ING $9655.00
Home Improvements(cash) $160.00
Cash $300.00
HSBC $3965.00
Total = $14,080.00


Ok, and then here is the new update:
My Mom finally paid me for working at my parents rental, $139.50. So I transferred $35 to Anniversary Cruise to meet that goal, and $105 to my ING Home Improvements Account.


Current Balance $14,080.00
+$140.00 from working at rental
New Balance $14,220.00

ING $9760.00
Home Improvements(cash) $160.00
Cash $300.00
HSBC $4000.00
Total = $14,220.00

August 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $129,200.00
+$403.75 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$600.18 Principle Payment ($30.00 in change)
New Balance $128,000.00

$128K = 128 months = 10.67 years!

I shouldn't have.....but I couldn't resist throwing even more at the mortgage to get down to the next even $1000 dollar mark. Money is going to be very tight this month because of that and running the summer months on reduced income. But I am so happy with our progress! Also loving the hott hott weather! When you live in the midwest you take all the heat you can get!

Current Balance $14,450.00
-$300.00 New Lawn Mower
-$100.00 New Vacuum
New Balance $14,050.00

ING $9710.00
Home Improvements(cash) $375.00
HSBC $3965.00
Total = $14,050.00

We finally got a VERY MUCH needed new vacuum and lawn mower. We got an electric lawn mower, hopefully that will also help save money since we don't have to buy gas now. We got the lawn mower at Menards, it was normally $399, on sale for $299. When I swiped my Menards card it gave me the option of 3% cash back or 12 months no interest, we took the 3% back since we already had the money in savings. So about $106 saved on the lawn mower. Dumb $14K is a thorn in my side

Well I decided to bite the bullet and finally sign up for automatic mortgage payments. The only reason I was hesitant to do that before is because we pay extra to principle every month, and the amount varies every month because I use a spreadsheet to pay down to the next even amount, plus add our change to that. And sometimes we have some rebate or other bonus money to throw at it too. When you sign up for automatic payments it has to be the same amount every month. But the mortgage company is continueing to take forever to credit our payments....(PHH Mortgage - horrible customer service!).....last month I mailed our payment on 6/22/11.....they did not credit our account till 7/8/11! It makes me very nervous and I am scared of going through the whole horrible fiasco from March again. So we will make the auto payment for the regular payment and then still have to mail in our principle payment each time. I am also nervous about that....because I am sure that they will mess that up to since they can't seem to handle anything.

We got a bunch of free snacks from my Dad. He got a ton free from his work and was nice enough to share with us. They are "best if used by" the end of July, so they got them for free.
7 bags of Sweet and Salty Chex Mix
2 bags of Peanut Butter Chex Mix
2 bags of chips
2 Mounds Bars
1 Fruit Pie
1 bag Corn Nuts
1 bag Corn Chips
1 Pack of Orbit Gun
1 Pack of Trident Layers

So I was sitting here trying to figure out how much we can pay extra to the mortgage for August.....and I realized that we made it almost all the way through the summer with DH making $600 less per month, and it hasn't effected us. We still have been paying a lot ($500+) extra to the mortgage each month, still making regular savings deposits and still paying all of our normal bills....plus have not taken any money out of savings even with a $500 unexpected car repair bill. We may end of having to take some out of savings for the car repair, a new vacuum and a new lawn mower....I am still juggling a little to try to keep from doing that. But that is what the savings is there for, so if we have to it's no big deal. But even if we did, those were special expenses, it's not like having to take money out of savings because of spending too much or not making enough in the summer. So after this revalation it makes me wonder if we aren't being agressive enough with our savings or mortgage paydown. If we can get by rather easily with $600 less per month....then we should definitely be able to increase one or both goals. DH will start getting his school pay again in September so I will have to see what he thinks too and see if we can actually find this "elusive" extra $600 and direct it to somewhere productive.

I love fast food....it's so convenient and yummy. And we eat it waaaaaay to much! (Says my waistline and my wallet!) So I decided not to eat fast food for a month. I started on 7/18/11.....so my last day without will be the day we go on a little mini vaca to Canada to a waterpark with my family. Our credit card statement breaks everything into catagories (fuel, dept stores, restaurants etc) and the food part is always out of control and embarrassing with a charge nearly everyday. Even though I just started a few days ago I know we already saved a lot because several times I caught myself thinking "I'm hungry, I think I will get Taco Bell for lunch" or something to that effect before I remember I can't have Taco Bell. Hoping it will have a good effect on our spending as well as the scale!

Current Balance $14,450.00
+$85.00 to retirement hold account
New Balance $14,450.00

ING $9710.00
Home Improvements(cash) $775.00
HSBC $3965.00
Total = $14,450.00

Normally I don't like to shop at Kmart because it always takes 10 years to check out there. But I had some good coupons that were Kmart specific. And it took 10 years to check out again.....oh well, got some good deals.


$1 off Skintimate Shave foam
- Normally $3.13, on sale for $1.99. I noticed that the 10oz can was the same price as the 7oz can. So I got the larger can for
$1.99
- $1.00 coupon
= .99

$1 off Kmart brand tampons
- I have never seen coupons for generic brand tampons. I only ever see coupons for the brand names like Tampax or Kotex, and even with coupons they usually cost more then the generics. So the generic box was:
$4.99 (comparable brand name was $7.49)
- $1.00 coupon
= $3.99 for 40ct box

Buy One Get One Free 12 oz bottle Herbal Essences
PLUS $3.00 off 2 bottles Herbal Essences
-I had 2 seperate coupons, 1 Kmart coupon and 1 mfr coupon
$7.98 ($3.99 each)Regular Price
-$3.99 BOGO coupon
-$3.00 coupon
= .99 for 2 bottles (.48 each!)

Total spent was $6.51 and total saved was $7.19! Pretty happy to have saved more then I spend when I only spent $6.51 total!

We got our semi-annual mortgage statement from our mortgage company.

Summary of payments for 2011:
Principal $6500.00
Interest $2516.12
Property Taxes $2248.60
Late Charges $0

Makes me very happy to see the principal is so much more then the interest!

We have been so busy enjoying the nice weather! Loving the sunshine!

Current Balance $14,175.00
+$100.00 to Anniversary Cruise
+$25.00 to EF
+$25.00 Home Improvements
+$20.00 Menards Rebate
+$20.00 Menards Rebate
New Balance $14,365.00

ING $9625.00
Home Improvements(cash) $775.00
HSBC $3965.00
Total = $14,365.00

DH was having a lot of neck problems so had to go to the chiro several times back in May. I finally got a bill so sadly our HSA balance will go down now. Glad we have been contributing diligently to the HSA. We were so close to $5K!

Balance $4565
-$385 5 chiro visits
New Balance $4180

Been enjoying a lot of "free" summer activities.
DH and I were invited to go to the lake this weekend with a friend who has a boat and all the toys to go with it. So we got to enjoy the boat, fishing, swimming, tubing, wakeboarding, skiing and kneeboarding. We were going to drive up seperate, but our friend asked us to ride with him since it was just him. So we didn't have to pay for gas either, we did try to give him some money for gas, but he wouldn't take it. So it was lots of free fun!
Also been enjoying going on lots of walks/jogs with DH, and also practicing softball with our teams. I play on a women's team and DH plays on a men's team. I usually practice with the boys every week.
Normally we would be doing more river activies, DH loves to shore fish and I have a metal detector that I like to take while he fishes and mess around. But since our river here is still severely flooded we haven't been able to do any of that this summer.

Current Balance $14,200.00
+$85.00 to Retirement Hold Account
-$112.00 to ROTH IRA
+$2.00 Even Out Amount
New Balance $14,175.00

ING $9575.00
Home Improvements(cash) $735.00
HSBC $3865.00
Total = $14,175.00

Current Balance $14,165.00
+$8.85 ING Interest
+$26.15 Even Out Amount
New Balance $14,200.00

ING $9600.00
Home Improvements(cash) $735.00
HSBC $3865.00
Total = $14,200.00

Trying my best to hold off on taking out of savings for the $500 car repair we had earlier this month. We also need to go buy a new lawn mower within the next week or so.
$14K seems to be a lot like $10K for us......just got very hung up on it for some reason....hoping to get over $15K by October.

July 2011 Savings update
As of July 1, 2011:

Regular Savings:
Emergency Fund $3030
Anniversary Cruise $3865
Home Maintanence $220
Mortgage Payoff Account $15
Cushion $1550
HSA $4565
New Car $2020 - Complete
New Lawn Mower (cash) $735 - Complete
Laptop $510 - Complete
Vacation - $2555 - Complete
Total Regular Savings = $19,065.00

Retirement Savings:
Retirement Hold Account $1215
Roth IRA $3745
Rollover IRA $1380
401K $15,500
403B $10,000 (est)
Total Retirement Savings = $31,840.00

Total Savings = $50,905.00

Up $2190.00 from last month! We hit $50K in total savings!!!! Y E E H A W!!!!!!

Happy Independence Day!!!!

Been busy with FIL in town. He took us out to eat everyday. Took DH and got him brand new running shoes, and took us to the casino and gave us each $50 to play. We can home $20 ahead. He also brought us paper towels, toilet paper, bacon and chicken breasts. Too bad he had to go home this morning cause it is fun being spoiled.
Today DH and I went and got a new vacuum, ours was about 6 years old and just wasn't cutting it anymore. We got a good sale on one for $78. It isn't the top of the line, but I am not interested in paying hundreds of dollars for a vacuum with special features when all I need it to do is suck.
We also got me a new running watch for my BD present. I am going to start running again tomorrow. Since I was in that wedding last month I have been majorly slacking. I set up a route I want to run and got my headphones ready and my new watch. Can't wait to start tomorrow! We are going on a trip to a water park in Canada in mid August and I would like to lose about 10lbs by then. Also need to make sure I stay on the wagon for our Vegas trip next year.

We made it all the way through June without turning on the AC. It has been high 80's - 90's here for over a week so I am sooooo excited to turn on the AC tomorrow! Saves a lot on our utilities bill to stretch out the time between AC and heat.

July 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $130,300.00
+$407.19 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$503.62 Principle Payment ($34.45 from recycling and $80.00 in change)
New Balance $129,200.00

YEAH WE ARE INTO THE $120's!!!!!!!!

$129K = 129 months = 10.75 years!

Before we bought our house in 2007 I had been trying to get a CD Ladder started for our EF, but then most of our funds were used for a downpayment on the house.
If you are not familiar with a CD Ladder it works like this:
Say for example you have $12,000 you want to put in CDs. Each month of the year you would purchase a 1 year CD for $1,000. At the the end of the year you will have 12, $1,000, 1 year CDs, but you won't have to wait a year for them to mature, you will have a 1 year CD maturing every month. Then each month, if you had an emergency or needed the money for something you could cash out that CD, or you could renew it for another year, and you would only have to wait a month till the next CD matured. Also using this you can get longer term CDs, which tend to have better interest rates. Because you already have CDs maturing every month for the next 12 months, the next one you could renew for 16 or 18 months, and keep spacing them out further, depending on your cash flow and when you think you will need the funds.
Another way to set up a CD Ladder would be to open all of the CDs at the same time, but for different terms, for example, a ladder could consist of 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60-month CDs. Or for a less aggressive CD ladder you could choose shorter terms – such as a 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30-month ladder, which will keep your money more readily available.
I was looking into working on this again (on a smaller scale since I don't have $12K to invest in CDs) since our EF is up to $3,000. But CD rates are still in the dumps.....here is what ING is offering now:

6 Month 0.75%
9 Month 0.75%
12 Month 0.75%
18 Month 0.75%
24 Month 1.00%
30 Month 1.25%
36 Month 1.25%
48 Month 1.25%
60 Month 1.50%

Ewwwww! Especially since my regular savings account is making 1.00%.....so anything less then a 24 month CD I would actually be losing money off of our savings account. Of course there are many banks and online institutions where you can get CDs other then ING. But I have used then before, I like the user friendly website, plus you can invest any amount in a CD, it does not have any minimum amount to open a CD.
But if you want to look at rates, bankrate.com is a great site to use if you are looking to open CDs or a CD Ladder and they will help you find the best term/rate for you. I checked it out for 1 year CDs and even the best rates are only 1.26% right now. So I will just be leaving my EF in my ING savings account for now.

DH and I have had Geico for a little over 4 years now for our car insurance. We have it automatically charged to our Discover Card each month and pay our bill in full each month. I always knew there was a service fee for paying monthly rather then paying every 6 months. So for a long time now I had been planning on "someday" doing a seperate savings account for the car insurance and being able to save money on the installment fee. I am finally ready to get that started. So I am adding it as an additional goal for 2011 since we are doing so good on our other current goals.
Our current monthly installment for full coverage on 2 cars is $66.60 + $5.00 installment fee for paying monthly = $71.60 per month. So if we pay all at once then we will save $60 a year, which is almost a whole month of premiums!
So we need to save $400 to start this, so my goal is to have that saved by December 9th, when the next 6 month payment would be due.

Here is the final on my to do list. Vacation is over, but I did good and also got a lot of relaxing in!

I played in a softball tournament this weekend and even hit a homerun! YEAH!

(X)1)Dentist Apt
(X)2)Donate Blood
(X)3)Take in recycling
(X)4)Take back library books
(X)5)Clean out car
(X)6)Organize garage
(X)7)Call chiro to check on DH's bill
( )8)Clean out study
(X)9)Wax eyebrows
(X)10)Laundry
(X)11)Clean bedroom
(X)12)Organize Tupperware cupboard
( )13)Clean out kitchen closet
(X)14)Clean out hottub
(X)15)Boys Softball
(X)16)Girls Softball
(X)17)Go to BD lunch with Mom
(X)18)Go through purses for rummage sale
( )19)Work at trailer
(X)20)File
(X)21)Create resume for Dad
(X)22)Clean out new freezer

I took in our aluminum cans today. We had 53lbs at .65 a lb = $34.45. I will hold on to that check to add to the mortgage payment for July. Doing pretty good on my list, sad that my time off is almost over! This afternoon I am going to clean out the hot tub, I already drained it. Also planning to file and maybe work on the garage.
My Birthday was on Tuesday, my Mom and Dad got me a new softball glove which I really needed and also a new chest freezer since ours died. In the process of moving the new freezer in I found out that we have 4 sets of outlets in our house that do not work. Hoping my brother or a friend we have that is good with electrical can fix them for us.

(X)1)Dentist Apt
(X)2)Donate Blood
(X)3)Take in recycling
(X)4)Take back library books
(X)5)Clean out car
( )6)Organize garage
(X)7)Call chiro to check on DH's bill
( )8)Clean out study
(X)9)Wax eyebrows
(X)10)Laundry
(X)11)Clean bedroom
(X)12)Organize Tupperware cupboard
( )13)Clean out kitchen closet
( )14)Clean out hottub
(X)15)Boys Softball
(X)16)Girls Softball
(X)17)Go to BD lunch with Mom
(X)18)Go through purses for rummage sale
( )19)Work at trailer
( )20)File
(X)21)Create resume for Dad
( )22)Clean out new freezer

Current Balance $14,050.00
+$20.00 Braves Game Bet Win to HSBC
+$85.00 to retirement hold account
+$10.00 to ING
New Balance $14,165.00

ING $9565.00
Home Improvements(cash) $735.00
HSBC $3865.00
Total = $14,165.00

Finally got the check in the mail from my bet that I placed in Wendover on the Braves game. The check was for $17.35, so I put $20.00 into the HSBC Savings. THat is my next goal to complete, it is at $3865.00 and my goal for the year is $4000, should be met in July!

I got a few things off my list all ready this morning. Went to the dentist (no cavities again, YEAH!), donated blood, called the chiro office, organized the tupperware cupboard, and went through my bin of purses. I only found 2 to get rid of, thought I would find more. But got those in with the rummage sale box. Also found 3 chapsticks, a nail file and .90 cents.
Should get a few more things done today, including fun items of reading, taking a nap and watching The People's Court (my guilty pleasure!).

(X)1)Dentist Apt
(X)2)Donate Blood
( )3)Take in recycling
(X)4)Take back library books
( )5)Clean out car
( )6)Organize garage
(X)7)Call chiro to check on DH's bill
( )8)Clean out study
(X)9)Wax eyebrows
( )10)Laundry
( )11)Clean bedroom
(X)12)Organize Tupperware cupboard
( )13)Clean out kitchen closet
( )14)Clean out hottub
( )15)Boys Softball
( )16)Girls Softball
( )17)Go to BD lunch with Mom
(X)18)Go through purses for rummage sale
( )19)Work at trailer
( )20)File

I have this whole week off from work! YEAH! Normally when I have time off it is always for a trip/vacation, so I am very excited to have some time off to just chill out and get some work done around the house.
Here is my to do list for my week off:
( )1)Dentist Apt
( )2)Donate Blood
( )3)Take in recycling
(X)4)Take back library books
( )5)Clean out car
( )6)Organize garage
( )7)Call chiro to check on DH's bill
( )8)Clean out study
(X)9)Wax eyebrows
( )10)Laundry
( )11)Clean bedroom
( )12)Organize Tupperware cupboard
( )13)Clean out kitchen closet
( )14)Clean out hottub
( )15)Boys Softball
( )16)Girls Softball
( )17)Go to BD lunch with Mom
( )18)Go through purses for rummage sale
( )19)Work at trailer

DH got $70 for his last detention pay for the school year. So he kept half for fun money and half went into the Home Improvements account.

Current Balance $14,005.00
+$35.00 to Home Improvements
+$10.00 HSBC Interest
New Balance $14,050.00

ING $9470.00
Home Improvements(cash) $735.00
HSBC $3845.00
Total = $14,050.00

Today is our 4 year Anniversary! YEAH! I have softball tonight, so nothing special happening. But we did go out to dinner at Red Lobster on Monday to celebrate and it was DELICIOUS! Love my baby so much!

Current Balance $13,855.00
+$100.00 to Anniversary Cruise Account
+$25.00 to EF
+$25.00 to Home Improvements
New Balance $14,005.00

ING $9470.00
Home Improvements(cash) $700.00
HSBC $3835.00
Total = $14,005.00