Bloom Where You Are Planted

My little nest egg broke 200k! Whoo-hoo!

Redeemed another $19.12 in credit card rewards this morning from Capital One Quicksilver, and sent that off to my mortgage.

I did apply for that Wells Fargo Amex, but my application status is "pending". If I am approved, that will be a sweet mortgage chip.

Since my PITI payment changes as of June 1, I changed my automatic payment. I increased it from $1130 to $1135, so with the TI decrease, there will be an additional $54.36 going to principal each month.

I received $160 from my part-time job yesterday, and have sent that off to E Fund. E Fund is pushing 7k now, and will go over when my automatic deposit of $100 hits later this month.

Last weekend, a pool repair guy fixed the heat pump on BF's hot tub. On Saturday night, I got to enjoy a nice soak. It was the first time I had ever been in that hot tub, after nearly 5 years of dating! It was so lovely. I did not want to get out!

Three weeks ago, the plumber got the bathtub in the master bath all connected. That bathtub is a big L, built for two. So, I have enjoyed a few nice long soaks in the bathtub as well. There is a floor to ceiling window next to the bathtub, and outside is a nice walled garden. It is a bathtub fit for a Calgon commercial! I have been salivating over that bathtub since I first saw it, lol.

The kitchen was completely gutted the week before last, so the new stuff should have been going in this week. I guess I will see in a few days.

I am about to lend BF a little more money. His HOA dues are very delinquent, to the point foreclosure is a possibility. Hopefully, it will only be a few months until the house sale closes. He will be out from under that expensive house which he cannot afford, and I will get all of my money back.

Here is a pic I took last weekend of the pool room. The sliding glass doors on the right separate the pool room from the master bedroom. The sliding glass doors on the end lead to the back yard. The living room and kitchen also have large sliding glass doors to the pool room, so that the pool room can be viewed throughout the house. In the left foreground, you can see the top of the wall separating the pool from the hot tub. Further left out of view, are more sliding glass doors leading out to the patio. In the right foreground, you can see the bar. It is a horseshoe shape, with one side extending into the pool, complete with underwater barstools. The other side extends into a small pit, you walk down stairs into the pit and sit at the counter. The bartender then has access to both sides, so s/he can serve swimmers and non-swimmers alike. You cannot see the guest suite, complete with balcony, which is upstairs so overhead where I stood when I snapped this picture. What a house! So soothing and relaxing, and great for throwing parties.

Edit: And those rocks in the rear left there are a waterfall. The water was not on when I snapped this pic.

I made some good progress in April, between credit card rewards and my impount account refund.

My mortgage payment has posted, bringing the balance down to $173,533.09.

Chips this month:
CC rewards $190.23
impound refund $146.72
budgeted extra $18.62
wallet sweep $4.00

Total chips this month: $359.57

Chips to date: $1,065.56

Interest savings this month: $3.64

Interest savings to date: $17.54

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $2,371.66, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

Oh, a milestone reached! If I cashed in my traditional IRAs allowing 20% to be withheld, cashed in my Roth, and used my available cash....I could pay off my mortgage and have $5,242.02 left! Of course, I'd have to save as much as I could to pay the big tax bill that was looming on the horizon, but I'd be debt free, baby!

I have no intention of doing this, it's just a cool milestone.

Cash is up.
Debt is down.
Investments are up.
Home value is up.

My Discover statement closed today, and I had used the card enough to redeem my $150 bonus. So, I applied an extra $150 to my mortgage principal, and should receive a direct deposit from Discover within 72 hours. They will only redeem in increments of $50, but I had $158.04 in rewards. They will just have to sit there waiting for a good 5% bonus category. Otherwise, I won't be using Discover.

Now I am on the lookout for my next bonus offer.

So far in 2014, I have redeemed $328.11 in credit card rewards and applied every last cent to mortgage principal. I wonder if I can make it to 1k this year? I would need some more sweet bonus offers to make that happen, so we will just have to see.

My lender has conducted their annual analysis, and the news is good. I have in my hand a check for $146.72, which I will apply to my mortgage balance tomorrow. And beginning June 1, my PITI payment is decreasing from $1111.38 to $1080.64. I will continue to pay $1130 and enjoy a bit more going towards principal.

This is due primarily to my new homeowner's insurance policy being cheaper than my last one. Shopping your insurance provider pays.

I haven't been blogging much these past several months, but now that April 15th is behind us, my life is getting back to normal.

My income taxes are all paid. I sent off $1,200 to my Roth yesterday, and $1,533 to my Simple (employer matching). So, I am looking forward to those contributions hitting my accounts. I am getting close to hitting 200k in retirement savings, which is pretty exciting.

I have decided I want to sell my house and leave this area. I am heading to a climate with high elevation and dry air, which is what my allergy doctor says I need. J will graduate from high school in May 2015, and if the housing market is good, I will list my house at that time. Therefore, I intend to spend the next year sprucing up my house as much as possible.

BF has spent the past two months emptying out his house. It is nearly completely empty now, with just a few pieces of furniture, paintings, etc. for staging purposes. With his realtor's help, he has made a list of things which should be updated/replaced, and has signed an agreement with a contractor. The work has already begun. The house will be listed as soon as the contractor is finished. The appraiser has already been out, and his report estimates the value of the home at 816k. The market is very hot in the area, and BF is hoping there will be enough interest that buyers will try to outbid each other.

Do you recall that I lent BF 6k a few years ago? He had a small mortgage and was on the verge of foreclosure. He sold a car, some jewelry, emptied out his last investment account, and was still a bit short to pay the mortgage in full. I lent him the last 6k. When his house sells, I will be getting my money back.

We have talked off and on about living together. At one point, I was all for it. But now, I am uncertain if it is really what I want to do. He says when the house sells, he intends to quit his job and move down here with me. I have warned him that the job market in my city is very different than the job market in the greater Sacramento area. He laughed and said oh yes, he realizes that.

Mr and Mrs M180 plan to move back to Colorado late this summer. So, it will be back to just J and I in my little house, and possibly BF.

My mortgage payment has posted, bringing my balance down to $174,169.50.

Chips this month:
WF Visa $25.00
budgeted extra $18.62
CC rewards $16.05
HauserNet $5.25

Total chips this month: $64.92

Chips to date: $705.99

Interest savings this month: $2.40

Interest savings to date: $13.90

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $1,649.42, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

Cash is up.
Debt is down.
Investments are up.
Home value is down.

My mortgage payment posted yesterday, bringing the balance down to $174,509.08.

Chips this month:
budgeted extra $18.62
CC rewards $13.19
wallet sweeps $6.00
HauserNet $3.25

Total chips this month: $41.06

Chips to date: $641.07

Interest savings this month: $2.17

Interest savings to date: $11.50

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $1,449.49, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

Cash is up.
Debt is down.
Investments are up.
Home estimate is up.

Everything Else for January includes $266.05 in medical expenses and $35 for my driver's license renewal.

I have decided to sell my Reits, Tips, and Small Value and stick with the three fund portfolio.

I made my very first mortgage chip on this mortgage in February of 2013. That first month, I saved $.09 of interest. This month, I saved $2.02. While it is still not much, it is picking up speed. This coming month, even with no new chips, I will save interest on $600.01 + $9.33, which will amount to $2.09.

Update: And there will definitely be new chips, as I just now chipped another $13.19 from credit card rewards redeemed today.

My mortgage payment posted today, bringing the balance down to $174,823.64.

Chips this month:
CC rewards $108.64
budgeted extra $18.62
wallet sweeps $13.00
HauserNet $8.00

Chips this month: $148.26

Chips to date: $600.01

Interest savings this month: $2.02

Interest savings to date: $9.33

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $1,359.50, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

I was just approved for the Discover It spend $750 in the first 3 months and get a $150 bonus. That will make a sweet little mortgage chip, whoo hoo!

BF had a realtor and a house flipper guy to his house today. The flipper is a licensed electrician, but knows how to do other work around the house too. They are working on a plan to have the house listed in a month. Think happy thoughts, cross your fingers and toes, make your pet cross its toes too! Oh please, list that house already!

Here is my update. Things are plugging along nicely.

Cash is up.
Debt is down.
Investments are down.
Home value is up.

Last week I received $4.50 from Hausernet, it went off to the mortgage.

Today is payday, and I have $6 in my wallet to throw at the mortgage.

I tallied up my spending in January, and I was mostly successful. I will post once January is truly over.

Today is the day that love comes to town (song lyric reference). BF should be here tonight.

I keep waiting for MsM180 to update her blog. She reached an exciting milestone about a month ago, and has some other news being discussed and arranged.

What a happy event opening the mailbox was today. Included in my mail were:

1. $100 credit card rewards check

2. $160 part-time job check

3. $912 homeowner's insurance refund check

Whoo-hoo!

I don't think I have talked about it much, but I suffer from a recurring cough. This has been going on for about three years now. I start getting a little coughy for a week or so, then it develops into a full-blown deep, hacky, unproductive cough. I cough day and night. It lasts 2 - 3 months. It starts in late summer and continues until mid-October. It starts again in January and lasts through late March. (Yep, I am coughing now). I have seen my GP, a pulomonologist, an ENT, and am currently seeing an immunologist.

While I am coughing, I often cough until I feel light-headed and disoriented. Sometimes I cough myself into a pounding headache. Sometimes I cough so hard I trigger my gag reflex and vomit. It is exhausting to cough so much. I don't get enough rest because I wake up coughing through the night.

Yesterday I picked up yet another new Rx, and my share of cost was $180! It does seem to be offering some limited relief, so I'm not going to complain about the price.

This week I received $3.50 from Hausernet for decoy mail, and netted $7 from a wallet sweep. Both sums have already been sent off to the mortgage.

I qualified for my latest $100 credit card reward bonus and have ordered the check. It has not arrived yet.

Yesterday I received a check for $160.00 from my part-time job and have sent it off to E Fund.

For my new homeowner's policy and new auto policy, I charged a total of $1,068.90. Yesterday, I received a credit to my CC in the amount of $184.82 from the old auto policy. I have transferred 1068.90 - 184.82 = 884.08 from CurveBall to pay the credit card. I am still waiting for the old homeowner's policy to refund $912 to my escrow account. When that happens, I will request a refund of the overage, and that money will go back to CurveBall. I expect it will be at least a month before all the dust settles.

So many hoops, but worth it for the $300+ savings.

This is the downside to having an escrow account. However, I do find it convenient for the most part. Also, I enjoy the 2% interest it earns.

The reason I make an effort to earn credit card rewards is so that I can throw them at my mortgage. Last year, I didn't do a good job of catching them all. Some of them "melted". This year, I want to do much better; I want to catch them ALL.

This morning I logged on to my Capital One Quicksilver account and saw that I had $8.64 in rewards. I applied them to my balance. Next, I logged on to Wells Fargo's site and transferred $8.64 from checking to my mortgage.

I plan to make a habit of doing this once per month.

I am also planning to track my credit card rewards total in 2014. How much can I manage to earn? We will see.

YTD Credit Card Rewards: $8.64

My mortgage payment posted today, bringing the balance down to $175,244.32.

Chips this month:
SwagBucks $25.00
budgeted extra $18.62
wallet sweeps $11.00
Tango $4.19
Pine Cone $3.00

Total chips this month: $61.81

Chips to date: $451.75

Interest savings this month: $1.48

Interest savings to date: $7.31

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $1,030.52, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

As I have shared before, my goals for my nest egg are 600k in tax-deferred and 150k in my Roth.

At the end of the year, I like to take my balance and project what I may have at retirement, assuming different rates of return. On the left side are estimates showing how my portfolio may grow with no new money. On the right side are estimates showing how my portfolio may grow if I continue contributing at my current rate.





There are no guarantees of course, but the projections are encouraging. That 9% sure is pretty, but I am more concerned with the 5%.

Cash is up.
Debt is down.
Investments are up.
Home value is up.



Ceejay is a genius!

Here we are in a brand new year. Happy 2014! I hope everyone here at SA has a very happy and prosperous year.

I cannot make my usual spreadsheets as I am having difficulty with my starter Excel product. It simply will not open. I have browsed online a bit and cannot find any free programs which don't have a million buggy programs attached. Does anyone have any tips?

I have reached a very happy milestone. My current home value, when I average Zillow, Redfin, and Trulia, is 176k. I owe 175k and change, which means I am officially not underwater! It feels sooooo good! I have been happy dancing around the room.

In mortgage chip news, I did a wallet sweep yesterday and had $9 to throw at the mortgage. Take that, mortgage.

Today I received a sweet $25 from Swagbucks in my PayPal account. It made a lovely little mortgage chip.

A few days ago, I received a check in the mail from Tango in the amount of $4.19. This was also courtesy of Swagbucks somehow, I believe a bonus paid for a particular offer a month or two ago. It also made a lovely little mortgage chip.

This last week was lots of fun, though busy.

On Wednesday, I attended the company Xmas party of my part-time job. There weren't many people there I knew, but I had a nice evening anyway.

On Thursday, I met a girlfriend for coffee after work. I hadn't seen her in awhile, and we had a good visit.

On Friday, the "kids" and I went to my mother's. My nephew's step-son was playing basketball in my mother's town, the nephew, his wife, and two of their children came as well. We had a nice time visiting at my mom's house.

Tonight I am going to yet another party, this one in the home of some friends of mine. There will be a white elephant gift exchange, which is always fun with this group.

I redeemed 2500 swagbucks this morning! A sweet $25 mortgage chip is on its way to my Paypal account.

I will work Monday, then have 2 days off! Yay.

Look at this place. It is priced at 6k less than I paid for my current house.

My company Xmas party was this past Saturday evening. Our little group was served dinner in the wine cellar of a local restaurant. It was very private, which made the atmosphere very comfortable. I think everyone present had a little too much to drink. We stayed late and laughed often. What a fun evening!

My Xmas bonus this year was $2,100. I have already sent $600 off to my traditional IRA, and the remainder off to Visa. Kind of a bummer that I didn't get to keep some, but paying that Visa down to zero every month is a higher priority.

On payday, I did a wallet sweep and sent $2 off to the mortgage. Today I received $3 from PineCone, and have sent that off as well.

Yesterday I set up the 2013 income tax software on my desktop at work. To do a test run, I plugged in most of my tax numbers. Bad news (but not unexpected). I owe $1578 federal. I will get a state refund of about $1000 to help (don't have California software set up yet, so estimating).

I asked my boss to withhold an additional $300 next payday, because that will get my balance due low enough that I won't owe a penalty as well.

I also changed my withholding, so will see a little less take home pay. I will have to jiggle my budget around a little bit.

In other news, I got my eyebrows threaded last night, and they look fabulous. I was overdue, and I have my company Xmas party this Saturday. I can't have caterpillars crawling on my forehead.