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A few weeks back, someone on the forums mentioned looking at new credit cards. I suggested the one we have and they ended up signing up for it with my referral link so we got 20,000 bonus points. It's a Marriott card so that's at least 1 free night and maybe more depending on the hotel.

We scored a ton of Marriott points last month between travel, spending, a promotion they were having, and that bonus. All together in one month we earned just over 64,000 points. A typical hotel...
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December is here, I can’t believe it.

Yesterday was a relaxing day, with a little activity. I switched out my fall decor for the Christmas decor, I’ll be finishing up decorating my Christmas tree 🎄 today.
I also did a little holiday cleaning, have to finish this up today.
The red decor will stay up until Valentine’s Day.

This morning I finished up my monthly consulting report for my side hustle, and created the invoice. This month I’m billing for $1300, $400...
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I came home yesterday rather than waiting till Sunday. The roads were still pretty clogged, but I bet it will be worse today. I was extremely tired when I got home and just rolled into bed.

I had a good Thanksgiving holiday, but having to take Augmentin really worked a number on my stomach. I'm still taking it, because it's a ten-day prescription. Even though I take it with food, it still messes with me. Family members encouraged me to just stop taking it, but I think a...
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I'm back at home in Nashville after a whirlwind of a week. Left for Louisville on Monday, for a meeting and then to get on the road right after we got the boys off to school on Tuesday. Drove to Ohio - spent the evening showing BF my old grad school stomping grounds and then had drinks/dinner/drinks. Really, too much to drink it turns out. We both felt pretty rough on Wednesday. But nonetheless, had a wonderful time.

We did some bouncing around on Wednesday. Breakfast with...
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I had expected to pay $800 this payday towards the Mom loan, but I ended up paying $1000. I had forgotten that since this was a 3 payday month that the last paycheck of the month would be bigger as they don't take any medical out of it. So that extra $200 went towards this loan instead. That means a total of $1500 was paid on the loan this month. By the end of December the loan will be down to 4 digits.

$11,500.00 Balance Forward
-_1,000.00 Payment Made
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$10,500.00...
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2019 TALLY:

$550 Gift Cards (Citi, Moi)
$150 Bank Bonus
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$700 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Other Rewards:
$ 29 Citi Price rewinds (RIP)

Ongoing rewards (through 11/30):

+$320 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)

+$70 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)

+$144 Visa Rewards (3% cash back fuel/restaurants)

+$804 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere - health insurance/medical is the big expenses that we charge,...
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had our thanksgiving today it turned out really well...had quite a few people..mostly family and a few of our daughters friends...it was nice to catch up with everyone.

Its payday next week, most bills are paid and christmas is all paid for and done so we are hoping to put a big chunk on the dreaded CC...Other than not much else happening here...first day of summer tomorrow and it is cold and wet here...pretty typical
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Not to much going on.

I'm loving my new job. and getting used to being a bus commuter. I've had my warmer clothing be useful several times.

DH and I ate at IHOP for Thanksgiving .... we were going to go to Golden Corral, but we left too late. DH wasn't a happy camper. But he did get his turkey. I didn't really care one way or another.

I spent part of Thursday updating the budget. At our budget DH had $200 to play around with once all our baseline categories were funded....
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I’ve been wanting a laptop for personal use, then that want turned into a need when I got the consulting gig.

I went into Walmart today to get $5, Christmas PJs for my great nephews, a tradition, and a tv 📺 for my mom, she was to pay me back, I didn’t get the tv, Walmart was out. Well low and behold Walmart had a HP laptop 💻 for $149. I checked the specs and the reviews while in the store and they were pretty good, so I purchased it. I didn’t need anything fancy,...
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Christmas shopping is done and finished WOOHOO, next week is pay week so can pay bills and then put the rest on the CC so can get some paid off before end of year.

My hubby has to have some tests in the next few weeks, they are thinking cancer but will have to wait and see..so not stressing till we get results...fingers crossed its not but if so will have to change our budget etc...its always something popping up in life...wish murphy would bug someone else for a change...especially...
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Sorry I fell off the blogging wagon again. I miss you guys!

A lot of changes happened. DH left gov. job for private industry and a lot more money. We bought a dream house in Arlington, 15 min from the White House, so we are near a lot of things. I love this house! Beautiful, big, stylish, full of extras and details (it was build by a successful furniture upholsterer for his family, so this was quality build). I never dreamed I would be here. We sold our NYC coop, btw....
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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I'm looking forward to my favorite meal of the year.

In money news, I was accepted for a new bonus credit card, the Citi Rewards + card, which will earn me a $200 bonus after I spend $1,500 in the 1st 3 months.

I remembered that I had to temporarily lift the freezes I have at the 3 credit bureaus or I'd be automatically rejected by the card issuer.

It's been a while since I've been accepted for a new credit card. Even though my credit...
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Happy Thanksgiving to my favorite frugal family, Saving Advice Bloggers.
🦃 🍁
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I took the day off yesterday & was fairly productive. I got a late start to my day as it was storming & I decided to wait out the rain. I hit the gym & did 5.36 miles on the treadmill. Then after showering I went shopping for Thanksgiving. It took 3 stores before I found fresh green beans & 2 stores before I found fresh cranberries, but I got both. Also picked up some other needed menu items & sushi for lunch. We have several wine options & of course the egg nog is essential. I...
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Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your loved ones. 🦃🍁🍂
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Hi, everyone.

I have had some significant improvement on the financial improvement front this month. I thought I would not be getting paid until Friday, but I got paid yesterday. I still had $59.11 leftover in checking before getting paid, so I divided it up between house savings and cc1. After adding in my pay, I went to look for my bills to pay. So far, I have paid the electric bill, which is not even due until December 19th! I have also allocated for the mortgage and I will...
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I'm getting on the road soon. After a terrible day of high winds, it is nice and quiet this morning. I think it should be smooth sailing. It does look like I might be going into a little snow, so I'm wearing boots.

My son checked in from Amarillo, Texas, last night. Now he will have to go north and go through those snowy areas. I will be eager to hear that he is safe tonight.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to great food, great fellowship, fun games -- and my younger son's...
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So... another tough year of fatigue and exhaustion and failed stress management, with no motivation and no energy to blog. But still here! The good news is that I've been off work for 2 weeks leading up to final retirement from civil service (woo hoo!!). Close to 35 years of full-time work, practically non-stop (in a few different career types) and boy, am I tired!!!

Starting to decompress and release some of the stress- related tension and anxiety, but still want to take...
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I am off of work for this week and just spent 2 hrs working on medical bills. UGH. Looks like another $1000 or so due. Our Discover Card cuts today so I will wait until after the holiday to pay them so at least we have an extra 3 weeks of lag time, plus we get the cash back bonus on them.

Current Balance $13,725.00
+$160.00 FB Sales
+$60.00 Football Pics Winner
+$50.00 My Payday to Our Savings (11/29)
+$75.00 My Payday to Mom Loan Savings (11/29)
Balance $14,070.00

Local...
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Today is payday and that means it is time for another principal payment. They never seem to be as large as I would like for them to be.

Today I calculated that I had $208.82 available to send off to principal. I logged on, scheduled the payment for today, and voila, I am somewhat less in debt.

The final payment moved up a month to 3/3/31.

I have now eliminated more than half of the originally scheduled interest. Mostly by refinancing, but still.

It snowed yesterday...
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