Banker Gurl's More Bang For Your Buck!

Today in the mail we got:
-Coupon for Free box of Blueberry Muffin Poptarts and a coupon for .55 off poptarts.
-Free toilet paper holder from Charmin (weird I know)
-$10 off coupon for Red Lobster, spend $10 and get $10 off (pretty easy to spend that in 5 seconds at Red Lobster)

Also we went to the mall and used my Free $5 points certificate for Famous Footwear. Did not find any $5 shoes that we would wear, so we were going to get socks, but then I found some fun colorful shoelaces. I got 2 pairs (paid .51 out of pocket) to add to my little bros xmas present. He is a skateboarder and wears crazy shoes/shoelaces so I think he will like them.

Here is what I am thinking of for 2010 Goals.......I will post the "for sure" 2010 goals a little closer to the end of the year.
I am going to try to keep it a little simpler this year. Last year we had many items to save for and we still have a lot of things to save up for....but we really need to focus on beefing up the EF. So here is what I am thinking so far:

Debt
-Remain debt free other then mortgage
-Continue to make additional payments each month on the mortgage
-Get Mortgage balance from $138K to $128K

Savings
-Emergency Fund : Go from $2500 to $5000 (currently it is at $2550, but may go down slightly before the end of the year)
-HSA Medical Fund : Go from $0 to $3000 (auto deposit already set up to meet this goal)
-Vacation 2010 : Go from $600 to $2600 (auto deposit already set up to meet this goal)
-Anniversary Cruise : Go from $2000 to $3000 (auto deposit is set up from last year, and will be adjusted come Jan 1, to make sure we meet goal)
-Checking Cushion : Go from $750 to $1300

Coupon time at Target again - I didn't need any of this right now, but it is all stuff I will use, so wanted to use my coupons up before they expire.

$1 off Aussie leave in conditioner
$1 off Skintamit shave gel
$1 off Febreeze
$2 off Venus Razor with 2 razor cartridges

The Aussie was also on sale and for some reason one of my coupons took off $1.65 instead of a $1. So a little extra savings there.

DH won $6 playing blackjack yesterday....into the Mortgage Bucket!

Today was payday for both me and hubby. Yeah! Transferred money to savings:
$100 to EF
$100 to Vacation 2010 fund
$66 to 401K
$135 to 403B
$70 to Roth IRA

Garlic Bread
Cheap idea for garlic bread, and also good way to use up hamburger or hotdog buns. Our household is only 2 people, so if we have hotdogs or hamburgers we usually have buns leftover from the 8 pack of buns. Of course you can freeze them, but they never seem to taste as good if you do that. So when we have leftover buns we have a spaghetti night and use the buns for garlic bread. Just cut the buns open, spread with butter sprinkle with garlic salt and stick in the oven for 10 minutes or so. Tastes great (for a lot less then buying garlic bread) and then you can use up those buns before they get stale/moldy.

Darn they put a cap on the OT now. 10 hours a week max.....oh well I will still take it for sure. Already have 7 hours in for this week, so now I can finish my 10 hours tomorrow and not have to work any extra time on Friday!

Why don't more people take advantage of OT if it is offered? My job does not often offer OT, in fact they are major time sticklers and do not want you to even work 5 min OT without approval. But last week a project was announced, voluntary OT, no limit on the hours you put in as long as the office is open (6am-6pm M-F and 7-12 some Sat). Obviously I jumped at this. Friday was the first day available, I worked till the office closed, Sat I worked for an hour but had computer issues so was unable to continue, Monday came in an hour early and left almost 2 hours after my shift, and same thing today.......because I know that this project is only temporary (probably 3 weeks or so) I plan on putting as many hours as I can for OT pay (time and a half). What I don't get is why others would not take advantage of this? I have several coworkers who volunteered to do the OT, yet have put in very few or no extra hours at all. I think that is just stupid. Especially with todays uncertain economy. People need to wake up and take what they can get when opportunities are offered. Keep in mind, several of these coworkers often complain of money troubles, yet instead of taking the OT hours they are ordering Chinese for lunch.....hmmmm.....anyone else see a problem with the logic there?
Well that's enough of my rant......as for me I WILL be taking all I can get. Have gotten 7 hours so far and hope to get another 12 hours this week.

Regular Savings:
Emergency Fund $2255
Anniversary Cruise $1800
Cushion $660
Vacation 2010 $460
HRA $380
MN Trip $300
King Mattress $750 - Complete
Big Screen TV $425 - Complete
Total Regular Savings = $7030

Retirement Savings:
Roth IRA $1340
Rollover IRA $1700
401K $7500
403B $5500
Total Retirement Savings = $16040

Total Savings = $23070

Right now we are working on our MN savings (going next month) and also the EF. We have saved and spent a LOT this year with paying for a new living room set and also for the closing costs for refinancing on our house. Now with medical it will be hard to get savings up, but keep trucking away!

We are getting some OT at work and I am very happy to hear it!
I did 1 1/2 hours today and am going in tomorrow to do 5 hours, and am hoping to be able to get 10/15 hours for the next 2/3 weeks. That would really help with the upcoming medical bills!

Also we went to Coldstone Creamery today! YUMMMMY! I had my free coupon from the radio contest and also a $1 off coupon from the paper. So DH and I each got a medium size ice cream, total $2.82! $1.40 a piece is a good deal for Coldstone!

Here is how I am doing -

Husband - Red Sox stuff

Mom - Flipflops

Dad - Still no ideas, but I told him to get me some suggestions

Brother #1 - Grill set or house stuff

Brother #2 - Got him a DVD for $5, probably will throw in a GC too....

Sister-in-Law - DONE! Margarita Shaker and Hand Juicer - $17.89 total!

Uncle - DONE! NFL Shop Steelers Hat that I got for FREE for sending in bottle caps from Mountain Dew bottles

Cousin - DONE! Book from Barnes and Noble.com, I bought a used version that said status "new" and used a GC that I had won at work, total cost $6.74, plus a Dr. Scholls "Love my Sole" pack $8.67.

Friend #1 - DONE! Book from B&N again, and used another GC, total cost $11.07

Friend #2 - DONE! Book from Target on sale $9.84

Friend #3 - DONE! DVD $5

MIL -

FIL -

SIL #2 - DVD $5, will see what else DH wants to get for her....

DH's Grandma - DONE! Womans Vest $32


Total Christmas Budget = $400.00
Totals as of 10/19/09
$101.21 spent on 5 people!
7 people done out of 15(2 others half done)
So far I am about $100 under budget which is awesome! Keep getting a couple more here and there. DH is supposed to do his Mom and Dad this weekend too!

I am only 25, so have not had a lot of experience with medical bills. I have been on my own insurance since I was 21, but luckily have been relatively healthy until now. Now we are starting to have medical expenses. And I am going to make sure I stay on top of the medical bills. I actually work in health insurance, so I understand everything regarding my plan etc. I am very adamant about making sure that everything was received by my insurance, processed correctly and my portion was paid in a timely manner.

I had a dental cleaning/checkup at the beginning of Oct and the claim was still not received by my insurance by the last week of October. So I called the dental office and made sure they were submitting the claim (the rep told me she didn't know why it wasn't submitted). It was now received and I was happy to see it was paid in full, and I did not even have a copay.

We also have 4 seperate medical bills that I am waiting to come in. We have a Health Reimbursement Fund (HRA) that had $380 in it (this is money put in by my employer) so that will help cover some of the bills. I estimate once everything is in and the HRA has been used up then we will owe about $400 (our plan applies everything towards our $2500 deductible, once that is met then the plan kicks in....next year it goes to $3200 ) We have the money in savings to cover this, but I am hoping to get some OT at work in the next couple of weeks to cover the bills. Have to wait and see if work is offering OT or not....

It's been a good week for "prizes" for me.

At work I got a little reward, a thank you note with a waterbottle and a $5 giftcard to TGIF.

I won a radio trivia contest and got a free "Love It Creation" from Coldstone.

We got our quarterly points statement from Famous Footwear, and we had enough points for a $5 coupon. The coupon can be used for any purchase....there is no minimum purchase. Last time we got one of these we found a pair of really nice DC brand flipflops on clearance for $5 and so got them absolutley free! I will try to find cheap shoes again, but if we can't I can always find some socks for $5.

We won $20 plus a pocket full of change last night at the casino. That all went into our "Mortgage Payoff Bucket" for next months principle payment.

Also Free Samples in the mail this week:
-Mini Box of Honey Nut Cheerios (plus $2 off coupons Cheerios)
-2 Free Always Infinity Panty liners (plus $1 off Always)

Mortgage for November

Balance $139,670.00
+$567.41 Interest
+$381.65 Escrow
-$1322.08 Regular Payment
-$326.98 Principle Payment
New Balance $138,970.00

Additional Principle Payments 2009 = $3211.96
Current Position on Mortgage Amortization Schedule....April 2013...3 years + 5 months ahead of schedule!

Free today!

-Nature Made Triple Flex 2 Liquid Softgels
(I will give these to my parents)
-Betty Crocker Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatos (a whole box!) plus .50 coupon

(X)Put spare tire away
(X)Put extra tire in shed
( )Rake yard
(X)Make hotel reservations
(X)Watch HSBC double transfer (they corrected it)
(X)Waiting for dental EOB
-(X)DOS 10-10-09
( )Waiting for medical EOB
-(X)DOS 10-18-09
-( )DOS 10-21-09
-( )DOS 10-22-09
-( )DOS 11-03-09
I will update with (X) when each is completed.

ETA - Did good this week on the ole to do list.....also rocked today on getting stuff done.

Got some good use of coupons today
1)Always Infinity Panty Liners - 16 count
-Coupon for Free Box (savings $3.99)
2)Puffs Tissues - 3 box pack
-3 Super size boxes for same price as 3 Regular size boxes
- $1 off coupon (savings $1.00 plus extra tissues from super size boxes)
3)Gain Fabric Softner 120 sheets
- Checked price againest store brand and cost was the same
- $1 off coupon (savings $1.00)

Plus we got a $1 off coupon for Skintimate shave gel when we checked out. I will definitely use that as well (I hate the generic shave foam....that stuff kills my skin!)

Think we did ok!

Todays Free Stuff in the mail:
-Fiber One oats and chocolate bar
-Fiber One honey clusters cereal 1 cup box (plus $5.00 in coupons for Fiber One)
-Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Shampoo and Conditioner Samples
-Carefree Panty Liner

Remeber to check out the brands websites for free samples!

(X)Mail utility bill - due 11-5-09
(X)Mail BOFA bill - due 11-17-09
( )Put spare tire away
( )Put extra tire in shed
( )Rake yard
(X)Buy Halloween Candy
(X)Call Dr
( )Waiting for dental EOB
-( )DOS 10-10-09
( )Waiting for medical EOB
-( )DOS 10-18-09
-( )DOS 10-21-09
-( )DOS 10-22-09
(X)My Payday 10-30-09
-(X)$50 to EF
-(X)$50 to vacation fund
-(X)$70 to Roth
-(X)6% to 401K
(X)DH Payday 10-30-09
-(X)$50 to EF
-(X)$50 to vacation fund
-(X)10% to 403B
( )No eating out - FAILED
I will update with (X) when each is completed.
Hmmmm.....Wednesday already and have only checked off 2......well I do have flu like symptoms....so I will blame those!

My husband had Friday off from work. He went shopping for himself for some much needed jeans. Here is how he did:
-2 pairs of jeans
Reg $30.00 - on sale for $14.99 a piece!
-2 polo shirts
Reg $30.00 - on clearance for $1.97 a piece!
-Christmas Gift for his grandmother
Womens Vest - Reg $54.00 - on sale for $32.40
Very proud of hubby for getting some great deals and also for knocking one off of the Christmas shopping list!
Oh by the way these deals were at JCP so if you are looking for clothes/gifts right now they have a lot of good sales and clearance.

I know some people keep hundreds or even thousands in their checking account at all times as a buffer. Well I am not one of those people. I transfer everything I can into savings (maybe even to a fault) and only leave the necessary amount in checking. See if there is any money in my checking account it seems to disappear somehow. A few years ago I had a line of credit (LOC) at my local bank. I used my LOC all the time. I was horrible with it, paying $2 fee everytime it advanced money into my checking account plus something like 18% interest. Everytime I got paid I would pay it back right away. But within a few days it would be advanced again....and the cycle would continue. In 2008 we switched banks. The new bank had a different LOC system. Their LOC did not have any fees when it advanced, it just had a once a year fee of $20 - you had to pay the $20 fee up front, and whether or not you used the LOC throughout the year you still pay the $20 fee plus interest if it is advanced. This was not something I was willing to pay for as a "what if" (I realize I was probably paying way more then $20 a year when you add up all the $2 fees from the old LOC but it just didn't register). So I decided not to sign up for the LOC. Instead I started my own LOC/Cushion. Each week I would write $10 "out" of my checkbook. I would write a line item in the check registry that says "Cushion $10" and subtract the $10 from my balance. Then the next week I would write "Cushion $20" and subtract the new $10 from the balance. I kept doing this each week and now my cushion is up to $600 and still growing. So if I dip under our actual balance a little that $600 is in there just in case. I am thinking once I get to $1000 I will take $500 of it and send it to the mortgage. Then move back up again etc. The trick to keeping this simple (at least for me) is that each week when I add the new entry I keep the balance added up on the new line "Cushion $600" so that I always know how much it is and don't have to add up every $10 entry, and when I write the new entry in, I check the "cleared box" for last weeks entry so there is always only one line that is showing as an outstanding amount. Then when I balance my checkbook I can just subtract the total as an outstanding check. I am pretty proud of my self made cushion and it has worked great for us so far. It is a FREE LOC!

Last week I brought a little index card box to work. I put the few coupons I had that I would not use in it. And I wrote COUPONS on the top. Then I sent out an email to my dept that anyone could bring or take coupons as they pleased. I was a little worried that some would look down on this, or think it was silly. I was very surprised to immedicatley get a positive reaction! I got a few "Thank you" and "That's a great idea" emails! And the next day several coworkers brought coupons in. Now the box is very full, over 100 coupons! I have used over $8 in coupons for household/beauty products that I would normally buy anyways. I have seen 4 others take coupons too, I hope others are checking it too, as there are TONS of coupons for all kinds of products and I am sure that there is someone that could benefit from them. Anyways it is working great so far and an added bonus is that I can first dibs since it is on my desk heehee!

Ok - only 2 days left in the week, but still feeling the need to make a list because I am feeling a little overwhelmed.
(Also on a side note, my planner is my BFF and if you don't use one you should give it a try, it has changed my life!)
1) Print out open enrollment forms for 2010 Health Insurance and enroll - DONE
2) Call Health Insurance and see if they have a deductible carryover option (we switched from DH's insurance to mine in Sept 09) DONE - No deductible credit
3) Call Health Insurance and find out what is happening with $74 reimbursement I sent in 3 weeks ago. DONE - Not getting it
4) Make photo copies of $10 rebate for UV Vodka (gift for my 21 y/o cousins BD, only $5 after rebate!) and send in rebate. DONE
5) Buy storage file for end of 2009. Every year I use a small portable file to file throughout the year and then I get a larger storage file that I can fit 3-4 years of files in and put away at end of year.
Hmm..that should do it for now....I better get crackalackin tomorrow.

Hi! My husband and I are trying our darndest to pay off our mortgage as fast as we can without dramatically altering our quality of life. Right now I am 25 and DH is 27, we would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be mortgage free by the time DH is 40.
Current Time Line
September 2007 - Took out $160K mortgage, 30 years at 5.75%
November 2007 - First Payment due
April 2009 - Refinanced $144K balance to 20 year, 4.80%
Here are the extra principle payments we have made so far:
November 2007 - $217.99
December 2007 - $217.99
January 2008 - $217.99
February 2008 - $217.99
March 2008 - $251.60
April 2008 - $391.10
May 2008 - $258.44
June 2008 - $396.40
July 2008 - $273.69
August 2008 - $371.55
September 2008 -$318.94
October 2008 - $416.57
November 2008 - $313.72
December 2008 - $411.34
January 2009 - $408.49
February 2009 - $5.64
March 2009 - $313.69
April 2009 No payment due to refinance
May 2009 - $344.57
June 2009 - $341.73
July 2009 - $38.88
August 2009 - $387.26
September 2009 -$544.21
October 2009 - $500.51

Originally I was figuring the extra payments to make our total payment an even number.....but I quickly changed that to making exta payments that bring our balance to an even amount (I am an even number FANATIC).
I use a spreadsheet I found online at vertex42.com it is amazing and lets me easily see how much we need to pay to get to the next milestone, plus has a seperate column for my principle payments so it is always up to date.
2010 is looking like it may bring hefty medical bills (UGH!)so I am planning on a flat principle payment of $350, then the couple extra dollars down to the next even amount, and then our change bucket each month, usually $10-$20 bucks a month.
If we don't have to pay as much as expected for medical maybe we can throw some more at it near the end of 2010.

OK, everyone loves FREE stuff right!? DH and I have been searching for free products online the last couple of weeks and so far it is going really well. Here is what we have gotten Free so far.
-Kashi blueberry cereal 4oz box
-6 pack Nescafe Sample coffees
-Nature Valley Granola Bar (plus .50 coupon)
-Nature Valley Nut Cluster (plus .75 coupon)
-2 tubes Aquafresh Extreme Clean Toothpaste .8oz
-6 Tampax tampons ($11 in P&G coupons)
-Head'n'Shoulders Shampoo and Conditioner Samples
-Total Cereal 1 cup
-Lacoste Fragrance Sample
-Juicy Juice Water bottle
-3 Always Panty Liners
-BOGO coupon for DQ 16oz Blizzard
-BOGO coupon Auntie Anne's Softpretzels
-Bath'n'Body Travel Size Lotion
and today 10-20-09
-Aveeno Shampoo and Conditioner Samples
-Burts Bees Acne Solution
-Coupon Booklet for Nabisco Products

Some of my favorite sites to get free stuff that we have found are :
Shopathome.com
pgeverydaysolutions.com

I stated Christmas Shopping a few months ago and was hoping to be done by the end of October. Well with only 2 weeks left it is not looking like I will be done by then....but hopefully by the middle of November.
Here is how I am doing -
Husband - Hmmm..nothing definite yet, but anything Red Sox will work
Mom - She wants flips flops..yes it is Dec in ND and that is what she wants...
Dad - Ugh....No ideas!
Brother #1 - thinking grill set and maybe some house stuff as he and SIL just bought a house
Brother #2 - 18 y/o and refuses to give me any gift ideas
Sister-in-Law - DONE! Margarita Shaker and Hand Juicer - $17.89 total!
Uncle - DONE! NFL Shop Steelers Hat that I got for FREE for sending in bottle caps from Mountain Dew bottles (hey I am addicted, what can I say!)
Cousin - DONE! Book from Barnes and Noble.com, I bought a used version that said status "new" and used a GC that I had won at work, total cost $6.74, plus a Dr. Scholls "Love my Sole" pack $8.67.
Friend #1 - DONE! Book from B&N again, and used another GC, total cost $11.07
Friend #2 - DONE! Book from Target on sale $9.84
Friend #3 - Maybe a DVD set?
MIL, FIL, SIL #2 and DH's Grandma - DH is in charge of, but probably $20-$30 a piece.
I think that is everyone (Yes I have more then 3 friends! Just only 3 that I buy for.)
Total Christmas Budget = $400.00
Totals as of 10/19/09
$54.21 spent on 5 people!
5 people done out of 15

I love goals! I find them incredibly motivational as well as helpful for organizing my life. So I think goals is a good place to start my blog. Sadly it is not currently the beginning of the year......aka the BEST time to make goals.....also 2009 has sucked pretty hard on the personal level for me and I would really like it to be over soon! But even though there are only a couple of months left I still have goals I am working on.....plus starting to plan for 2010 goals. I will put those in another post. Here are my current long term financial goals.
Long Term Goals:
1) Payoff Mortgage by my 36th BD (11 years left)
2) Continue to live debt free other then mortgage
3) Save up for long and short term goals