Christmas Swapping

One of the ways I'm saving money on presents this year is by trading items on Swaptree.com. It's an awesome website where you can trade music CDs, DVDs, books and video and computer games. Once you have an account, you can enter the UPC or ISBN numbers of the items you are willing to trade. You can import lists of items that you want from your own file, web pages or by creating a "wish list" at Amazon.com.

The only costs involved are postage fees for the item that you are trading, and you can print postage-paid labels from swaptree's site, if it's not convenient to go to the post office. For this service, swaptree will bill your credit card for the postage incurred(about 50 cents more per item than the post office) plus a $1 fee at the end of the month. The postage service is worth the small extra fees to me because I live more than five miles from a post office.

I have traded about 20 items, and I've been happy with everything I've received. I've gotten 3 Nintendo DS games for my children for Christmas for a total of $10.25. They will make great stocking stuffers!

Happy swapping!

2008 Personal Goal Recap

What have I been doing since 9/17/2008? Nothing that should have kept me from posting for this long!

Was I successful with my 2008 personal goals? Let's see what happened. . .

1. Date night w/hubby once per week. Not even close. We did have several "dates," and we do have more time to ourselves now that the kids are older and with friends more often. We'll keep the goal on the list for 2009.

2. Lose 20 pounds. I'm halfway there with 10 pounds lost, and I still have 27 days to lose a couple more. I started the year by losing 8 pounds, but by June, I regained those plus 7 more. I rejoined Weight Watchers in October, and I've had steady losses since then. So, I'm hoping to say good-bye to the other 10 pounds by the end of February 2009.

3. Organize family photos. Again, not even close. I do have some of the photos sorted by year in boxes, but that is as far as I've gotten. On the list again!

4. Family vacation to Seattle. Finally . . . Success!! We completed this goal in October. We had a wonderful week on the Olympic Peninsula and in Seattle, with accommodations provided by hubby's aunt and uncle. We hope to return in a few years for more exploring in Olympic National Park.

5. Develop materials for a finance class. Begun, not completed. This goal will also be transferred to 2009, and I have a friend to nag me to finish it.

Although I didn't complete most of my goals, I'm happy that I made at least some progress on all of them. I'll spend the next few weeks figuring out my 2009 goals to post in January.

Balance Transfer Update

In my last post, I was approved for a Capital One Mastercard with no-fee balance transfers. I received my balance transfer check within a week, and I was able to open a $15,000 1-year CD with a yield of 4.25%. I expect to earn about $640 in interest on the CD, and I'll also earn about $300 on the additional $4,000 in my money market account, given the current yield of 3.31%.

I'll be able to keep all of the transfered money earning interest by making a monthly balance transfer for the amount of the minimum payment to one of the credit cards I use regularly. Because I can make multiple transfers and the 0% balance transfer rate is good for 15 months, I'll earn more than $900 for the life of the transfer.

I'll definitely keep my eye out for other arbitrage opportunities.

Making Money with 0% Balance Transfers

When interest rates on MMAs were higher, I used 0% balance transfers to earn extra money. Since the rates have been lower, I hadn't been able to find good offers where the interest I would earn would be enough to cover the transfer fees. About a week ago, I received an offer from Capital One Mastercard for 0% for 15 months with NO Transfer Fee. Needless to say, I applied right away and transferred money to two of the cards I regularly use. Now I'm waiting for a check from Capital One for the rest of the money, and I'll put it into a CD.

Once I open the CD, I'll post a follow-up with what I expect my profit to be.

July 2008 Net Worth Update

Our net worth has declined again, mainly because of the lower values of our stock accounts. Fortunately, July is a three-paycheck month, so that will help a little. Our liabilities will still be higher than normal through August until we pay a large credit card charge (for hubby's work) that posted at the end of June but won't be due until mid-August. We have already been reimbursed, and we'll get to earn interest on the money for almost 45 days.

Assets $467,671

Liabilities $202,345

Net Worth $265,326

Credit Card Fraud--Protection from Ourselves

Yesterday, I received a call from the Security Department of the Visa credit card that we use for most purchases. They wanted me to verify a charge from a company in the UK. It was for a large amount, and since my husband hadn't mentioned any large purchases for work, I told the rep that I would check with my husband, but that I thought the charge was NOT valid. Then I called my husband to see if he had ordered anything, and he said, "Yes, I already received the product. It's a valid charge."

I'm grateful that we have good fraud protection--I just wish hubby had told me of his plans! Thirty minutes of back and forth with the credit card company and my husband, and I think everything is worked out.

Moral of the story: Call your credit card issuer if you plan to use your card buy anything from outside of the US.

A Summer Cold Got Me!

My children were sick a couple of weeks ago, and the germs got to me last weekend. I have been trying to get over a cold for more than a week now, and I'm ready to feel better! I'm going to spend some time on the couch again today in hopes that tomorrow I'll be back to normal.