About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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September 7, 2015
Monday: Catching up on FSA redemptions.
Tuesday: Didn’t pay for daycare and cooked up a pantry dinner of sausage & pasta!
Wednesday: Getting the August Net Worth figured!
Thursday: Worked on figuring out how much mortgage prepayments I would have to make in order to approximate the same savings as refinancing. Got very confused by the mortgage calculator. Riddle me this, how does this make sense? Using this mortgage calculator, I kicked around some numbers.
Total interest paid over the life of the loan (no pre-payment): $322,459.53
Annual prepayments of $10,000.00 for 5 years
Total interest paid over the life of the loan (with pre-payment): $245,588.91
Your Savings: 5 years and 7 months shorter loan
Total interest saved: $76,870.62
Annual prepayments of $12,000.00 for 5 years
Total interest paid over the life of the loan (with pre-payment): $233,895.42
Your Savings: 6 years and 6 months shorter loan
Total interest saved: $88,564.11
Annual prepayments of $15,000.00 for 5 years
Total interest paid over the life of the loan (with pre-payment): $218,142.25
Your Savings: 7 years and 11 months shorter loan
Total interest saved: $104,317.28
Annual prepayments of $10,000.00 for 10 years
Total interest paid over the life of the loan (with pre-payment): $215,785.50
Your Savings: 9 years and 1 months shorter loan
Total interest saved: $106,674.04
Enough about me, let’s admire your progress!
@clareyfrey: Now that we earn more than we did when he opened it, @FreyDrew converted his traditional IRA to a Roth. #1goodmoneything
@PhoenixStorm24: #1goodmoneything I’m trying to predict how much it would cost us a month to get a newer car with insurance, when we’re ready for it.
@imawindycitygal: I spent the weekend doing free fun things like kayaking on the river and cooking/eating dinner in. #1goodmoneything
@femmefrugality: Balanced the budget. The numbers are looking good even with Q3 this month! #1goodmoneything
@femmefrugality: Got the bills paid for this half of the month. #1goodmoneything
@FunnyAboutMoney: #1GoodMoneyThing Canceled NY Times; got NY Review of Bks & Economist for less than half Times’s cost.
@imawindycitygal: Stopped at Whole Foods tonight to buy one thing, and came out spending less than $100. :-/ #1goodmoneything?
@NotSoSerene: Did the math, and with my new job starting in October, if I really dig deep I could pay my loans off in 1 year, 10 months #1goodmoneything
@TheAsianPear: Ate my packed lunch & went for walk instead of buying take-out (although I still want a lobster roll) #1goodmoneything
September 4, 2015
I’ve been using Swagbucks for a few years now but Rookie Me relied entirely on Search and Earn in the early years. Naturally, earning was hit or miss and the whole enterprise was unsatisfying.
This summer, I finally got my act together! When I’m paying attention, I can earn an average of 30-60 SBs per day with minimum effort. At the higher end, about 1800 SBs in 30 days is 80% of the way to the monthly discounted 2250 SBs/$25 gift card redemption. With a little more effort, say qualifying for a few surveys a month, we’re regularly getting one GC redemption a month. It’s mostly been Amazon cards since we use it regularly for diapers and wipes but if I ever get enough saved up, I can switch over to PayPal and that’d be all savings. This isn’t a steady income by any means but it saves a tidy sum over time.
I’m probably not the only one who floundered getting into Swagbucks so I’m sharing what I do or have done. There are lots of ways to earn, though, these aren’t the only ones.
Because some SBs can only be earned on one or the other, I’ll break it down by Desktop and Mobile.
Desktop
I spend a lot of time in front of the computer for one reason or another, so I either run this stuff in the background or on my (really old, first generation) iPad. It just depends on what makes life easier for me.
- First, the Daily Sidebar for regular points: hit the Daily Poll [1 SB], the Daily Offers [2 SB], and sometimes the Daily Crave works too. It doesn’t run smoothly on my computer but it’s worth doing if it does for you. Daily Crave cannot be run on mobile. [average: 3-8 SB].
- “Most Popular Ways to Earn” section: there are usually a few Watch & Earn activities (Watch & Earn, nGage, Take a Discovery Break) that are worth 2 or 3 SBs per activity. Some of them only require one or two clicks. Since I’m busy, those are the ones I go for. If I’m just puttering around online waiting for something more important to happen, then I do all of them. There have been times these made up a full day’s haul up to 80 SB from one activity alone! Take a Discovery Break works on the iPad but the others aren’t mobile-compatible. [average: 2-12 SB]
- Surveys: Qualifying for surveys can also be hit or miss but it’s worth giving it five good tries because even if you don’t qualify at all for any surveys, you’re still getting 1 SB per DQed survey up to 5. If you do qualify, you can earn anywhere between 50-200 SB per completed survey. It’s possible to do surveys on the iPad or even your phone but I’m not a fan of doing it on the phone. Too hard to see. [average: 5 SB-???]
- Play: If you pick your game right, every 2 games nets 2 SB. I like Swag Jump and Swagasaurus Run. I’m weird. Make it quick and don’t get sucked in! 🙂
Mobile
I finally downloaded the Swagbucks and Swagbucks TV apps on my phone – it’s well past time for this smartphone to earn its keep!
- SB Mobile TV: This has been my bread and butter. It doesn’t always tell me what the earning limit is but it can be anywhere between 36 SB to 100 SB. I just set it and mostly forget it: 5 videos earns 2 SB. At some point, it’ll say you’ve earned everything you can, but once in a while, it says you qualify for a Bonus, so let it run even longer and rack up those ‘bucks! [average: 36 SB]
- Hints: I keep the screen brightness down to save battery life and keep the phone plugged in when possible so that it can just keep going and going and going.
- SB app: You’ll get notifications of where to find Swag Codes. When they’re doing a promotion, this can be up to 30+ SB for just entering a code on your mobile app. On days when I’m running around like mad and don’t have time to look at Swagbucks, this can save me from a zero earnings day.
Other things
- Shop and Earn: I think you get better cashback, most of the time, from Mr. Rebates and Ebates, but from now until November, your first purchase each month through Swagbucks Shop and Earn will net you an extra 500 SBs, in addition to the per dollar SB payout. There is fine print which Abby summarized so clearly I’m quoting her:
- Your order needs to actually generate Swagbucks
- The bonuses won’t appear until December 1st and will expire on December 31st
- You can’t redeem them for GCs less than $5: remember that your first $25 GC of the month is now discounted to 2,250 SB. Meaning that if you have all five months’ bonuses (2,500 SB) and you redeem them for a $25 GC first thing, you’ll end up with 250 SB that you can’t use.
- SwagButton: This is an extension you download and install onto your browser. I have problems with my computer so I avoid adding any extensions to it but some Swag Codes are only redeemable through the SwagButton.
- Setting your browser: They’ve done a few big pushes to get people to default their search engines to Swagbucks. I’d wait til they have another promotion for this, personally.
- Swaganigans: They run activities on the blog where you can compete for prizes. Usually it involves some kind of clever or witty thing, like this. I’m too
lazy busy for this.
Bonus ways to earn
- Team Challenges: These come along every few weeks or so. Keep an eye on the upper left hand corner of the home page – they will promote the link to the sign up for Team Challenges there. Sign up for a team first thing and then go on your merry ‘bucks earning way. SBs you earn during the Team Challenges counts toward the team total and you get the teams that earn the most together gets bonuses.
- Daily Goal Bonus: When you hit the daily goal of earning per day, it kicks in another set of SBs depending on what the daily goal was. It looks like the minimum goal is 30 SB which earns 3 SB, 40 SB earns 4 SB and so on.
- Referrals: You earn 10% of whatever your referred person earns, not counting bonus SBs. This is pretty awesome, even if I only have a couple active referrals. Since my own earnings have been robust of late, the person who referred me ages ago is getting a nice 10% bonus. I can’t remember if I signed up through Donna or Abby, but I’m hoping it’s one of them. At least I know they’ll put the earnings to good use!
Go forth, friends, and rack up the Swagbucks! And if you haven’t got an account and would like to, I’d surely appreciate it if you were to use my referral code to sign up.
September 2, 2015
Total change from Jan 2015: 15% increase (2% decrease from last month)
On Money
I use Swagbucks to earn money for the household. My referral link if you like!
My brokerage is giving a $100 referral bonus right now, it’s usually $50. Let me know if you’d like a referral!
***
As predicted, our summer fun was costly and our credit card bill came home to roost. I’m a little annoyed that we’ll have to pull out of savings but it’s a residual kind of annoyance, the kind that comes with knowing you were going to have to do a distasteful thing, then actually doing it.
***
Credit cards: I need about 40k more airline miles and I’ll be able to book domestic flights for the three of us for a nominal fee next spring. I was only going to book two adult tickets and have LB fly as a lap infant but it’s looking a lot like ze won’t be able to sit still for a 5-hour flight.
It’s a balance of taking the time to earn the miles and potentially not booking the ticket in time to get the award seats. Actually, thinking on it, we are both United cardholders so we should be able to book at least Standard awards as long as there are seats on the flights but I want the Super Saver award flights.
We’ve been kicking around several possible destinations for next year, we just have to narrow it down to the most likely.
*** (more…)
August 31, 2015
We are Groot! aka: y’all are wonderful.
Monday: Worked on our mortgage refi application which didn’t work out but I shall prevail!
Tuesday: Me: How about we retire in 7 yrs? PiC: Don’t get my hopes up. #SetGoals #1GoodMoneyThing gets you there.
Wednesday: Transferring money into brokerage acct. [BTW: TradeKing is giving a $100 signup referral bonus right now! Let me know if you want one.]
Thursday: Added $6000 to savings from a matured CD.
Friday: I think my #1GoodMoneyThing today’s going to be cooking up a new batch of veggies for LB. No buying jarred food!
Accidentally took Saturday and Sunday off, but we stayed at a friend’s house instead of a hotel for an overnight trip so I’m calling that our weekend #1GoodMoneyThing!
So many people have chimed in with #1GoodMoneyThing tweets. I tried to catch them all – it was harder if it wasn’t hashtagged because I’d have to see it real time and they fly by quickly – but you’re just knocking it out of the park! You’re not just doing it, you’re sharing it with new folks.
Now, look at y’all go!
@PhoenixStorm24 #1GoodMoneyThing for today would be buying smaller bunches of fresh fruits/veggies to stretch $10.
@civilwarbore Goat Lady’s Financial Tip: save $$ and keep your peace of mind by getting a dumb fridge instead of a smart fridge.
@accordingathena Let’s see, today I only paid for parking & worked my side hustle! #win
@accordingathena: Spent a ton at the mechanics with a quote for $3,000 worth more of work but used a $35 coupon for today’s repairs at least.
@femmefrugality: Cancelled the spa membership I signed up for yesterday in post-massage euphoria.
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@evil_bat_witch: @femmefrugality @RevancheGS #1GoodMoneyThing doing the same for cable bought for hockey reasons. Can’t record, won’t pay $20/mo for a DVR.
Mom Kristen @PhoenixStorm24: #1GoodMoneyThing for today: selling the second car seat!
Athena @accordingathena: Didn’t spend any money today. #1goodmoneything
Evil B Witch @evil_bat_witch: @RevancheGS #1goodmoneything got all 4 of my scrips in 1 trip, instead of the 2 or even 3 i usually do:D
@windycitygal: I’m going to say my #1GoodMoneyThing today was only buying lunch instead of lunch + breakfast + snack. Was working in SF today.
@clareyfrey: Re-signed our lease at our apartment complex but moving down to a unit that is $200 less per month in October.
@imawindycitygal: Walked and took public transit to the office today. No driving, so no gas used. And I got more exercise! 🙂 #1goodmoneything
@NotSoSerene: About to go pay off my car loan 8 months early #1goodmoneything
@NotSoSerene: Because We need to see something encouraging out here, have one more #1goodmoneything #hardworkmakesithappen
@thenonconsumer: Stopped at Trader Joe’s on my way home & bought nothing more than toilet paper. Again, where’s my offing medal?!
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@NotSoSerene @thenonconsumer – it’s your #1goodmoneything and that’s something!!
@femmefrugality: Did street parking instead of the pricier lot. #parallelpark what’s up! #1GoodMoneyThing
@clareyfrey: @RevancheGS Now that we earn more than we did when he opened it, @FreyDrew converted his traditional IRA to a Roth. #1goodmoneything
Have you got more? Tell me more!
August 28, 2015
Our interest rate on the mortgage sucks at 4.8%. Because our HOA is engaged in some legal shenanigans and no lender will refinance a property with the exact scenario we’ve got, we weren’t able to refinance when rates bottomed out. My penny-pinching heart bleeds. Yet another reason to thank the HOA. I gave it another go when I found SoFi, a new lender that started out in student loans and recently branched out into mortgages.
I’d forgotten what our break-even number was, so I went searching for a new calculation at the same time. I’ve banked with Citibank for ages so had a look at their rates while I cleared out a checking account. They offered an overly simplistic way of calculating break-even: The typical formula for calculating your break-even point is to divide your refinance closing costs by the amount you’ll save each month with your lower mortgage payment.
For example, if your refinance costs total $5,000 and refinancing will save you $200 a month, it will take you 25 months to break even. If you don’t plan on staying in your house for that long, refinancing might not make most sense in the long run.
That’s shortsighted. Looking at the monthly “savings” misses the point which isn’t just to save a bit per month, it’s to save vast amounts over the life of the loan. And it ignores the fact that in some cases, you can choose to change the life span of the new loan to a shorter one (and probably should) which may cost as much or even more than you’re paying monthly.
That’s the case for us: I’m not going to refinance a 30-year mortgage for a new 30-year mortgage – that’s just going to add to the total interest we’d pay over the life of the loan. I’m looking for a 15 or 20 year fixed rate.
My application was quickly pre-approved but we only got as far as a rate estimate and then stalled. It was looking really good: 2.8% fixed for 15 years.
The break-even calculator cautioned me:
Change in monthly mortgage payment: Additional $29 per month
Um, really? We would happily pay an extra $29 per month to save THIS MUCH over the life of the loan. HAPPILY. 
The estimated closing costs, right before I provided documentation, stopped me short though: $10,000. Excuse me?? I shot off an email to them. After several go-arounds, that was revised downward drastically to “only” $3500 give or take, but underwriting said they wouldn’t (sigh) touch our loan for the same reason all the traditional banks wouldn’t.
Drat and blast.
I hadn’t quite started up mentally investing that extra $10,000 a year for the next 15 years that wouldn’t ultimately end up in the bank’s coffers by way of interest but I’d already gotten attached. Can you blame me?
August 25, 2015
Status: Flattened, with feet up. It’s the only way I can write, with the few still-functional fingers, when my hands, arms, shoulders, and back are racetracks for searing, electro-shock variety pain. After etching grooves deep in my bones, the pain creates a fatigue swamp, literally knocking me out for a few hours. By Day 5, staying conscious is an accomplishment. I spent Days 1 and 2 waking up from that haze wondering what the heck time it is and when I passed out.
Looks like I overdid it. Or maybe it was all due to fall apart right about now. I’m not sure. Navigating that balance between doing what you “can” but not taking on too much is like blindfolding yourself, spinning in circles, then trying to unlock the master lock of a door with ten identical knobs. With a toothpick. It’s a crapshoot. There are no reliable signals to follow.
Add to that, moderation was always a special sort of hell for me.
I want to do more. I know I shouldn’t actually do it but I always want to do more and usually telling me “you can’t” is like pitching a lit match into a hay bale and saying don’t burn. Before my pain became chronic, pushing myself was a treat.
When I walk a quarter of a mile, I want that next quarter. If I run a half, I want another half. That was how I worked up to my first mile under 8 minutes, was how I competed in my chosen sports, was how I fought my way up, professionally. I still remember learning about building stamina from my first great P.E. teacher. Youth was on my side back then too, but the regimen was sound. Performing exercise to failure (also known as: until you can no longer maintain perfect form) was the first of many steps to building strength and endurance.
“No pain, no gain” was my actual motto. Fool.
My body doesn’t respond to that tearing down of muscles the same way anymore. It doesn’t work normally anymore. It stopped being normal half a lifetime ago.
I was never a quick study, though heaven help me, I’m some kind of stubborn. At first, the trade-off for pushing through, even if only by 15 or 20 minutes, was “only” days of crippling pain. Later on, crushing fatigue joined the party. An afternoon running errands cost two days of bed rest. A couple hours of exercise cost a week of mobility. Three weeks, once, when I was particularly boneheaded. If -no, when- I challenge myself, push myself just another eighth of a mile, just another five minutes, “just another” crashes down around my ears. It becomes a choice to sacrifice all other life activities like feeding myself or bathing. It should have been obvious, but it still took more than a decade before I accepted it.
Having accepted that fact, now, it’s a whole other struggle.
It’s battling my own instincts to get up and get out because to do otherwise is lazy except that to do so is to hamstring myself because I’m down to my last Energon Cube. It’s trying to parse the muddled and confusing signals correctly so that I don’t cross the line, but “stay active!” How do you tell when enough is enough if sometimes you’re feeling as close to fine as I get, don’t feel like you’re overexerting, but only crash the moment you stop moving? What do I go on, if I can’t trust how I feel?
To make things even more confusing, once every several months or so, for a couple hours it’s like the sun is shining on me. I have energy and only medium pain, the fatigue has backed off and I’m like unto a Tiny God of Getting Shit Done. For those brief magical hours, anything seems possible. That’s not today’s problem though.
As usual, I’m not the only one who’s had a rough few days. Abby has, as have a few other friends. I call a do-over on a crappy wasted weekend!
August 24, 2015
I’ve been a little complacent about money lately. I don’t track our expenses down the penny like I used to. I pay our bills twice a month, some of them are automated, and that’s good. This saves precious time.
But! There’s room for improvement. (There always is.) And there’s always too much to do. So rather than waiting until I have a lot of time, I’m going to do a little money thing everyday. I’ll tweet it under the hashtag #1GoodMoneyThing and I’ll also share it here.
What’s a good money thing?
Almost anything that involves your money, in a good way! Simple as that. Doesn’t have to be a great grand event, doesn’t have to take hours. Heck, I’ll even include anything that’s good for your health since money means squat if you’ve got one foot in the grave!
Saturday: I started up researching refinance options again. Our mortgage is currently financed at 4.8% and that’s pretty high, but we’ve had problems getting any bank to touch the loan because of some HOA shenanigans. Time spent: 1 hour.
Sunday: Via customer service chat, I added PiC as an authorized user on our phone plan so that if I am suddenly incapacitated or I croak, he can manage the account. Time spent: 3 minutes.
Care to join me?
It’ll be fun! I’m going to try this for a month, and then maybe weekly. We can give each other ideas. Comment here or use the hashtag so I can add your updates to future posts!