About 2 years ago, my husband and I bought up several lots at different auctions. A total of 7 lots all together, that we plan on building spec homes on. Yesterday, I paid off one of the spec lots. I only have one left that I still owe on. Once I pay that one off, I will be completely debt free, including my home. (which I paid off years ago) No more paying out interest!!

The person who owed me quite a bit of money came by and paid me off completely.
Now, if there was just some good place to put the money.I found an old note pad where I had marked down the rates. All were over 4% and one was over 5%. Boy, those were the good old days. Now we are lucky to get 1%.

I finally saved up over $10,000 in the $20 challenge! However, it has been an expensive month. We had to buy a new riding snapper mower (which my husband hates) and get new brakes on the old vette. Also, his builder's risk insurance is due this week.

My bank is offering a new 1% interest money market account, so I oppened one. That is about the highest rate I can find, but it is only good for 6 months. I sure wish higher rates would come back. I have an old checking account that is sitting dormant, so I think I will close it down and add to the money market.

This week I sent in $6000 to each of our IRA's. I figure it will help out with our taxes! I had to take money out of a mutual fund in December to help finish up the spec house. It is the first time I have ever taken money out, so I know I will have to pay capital gain tax on the money.

On Jan 28th, I started putting away $30 every day. (Into a tin with Elvis' picture on it) I have not yet missed a day. I have saved and deposited over $1000 into savings this week!

It is week 2 for me of the 52 week challenge. I did great this week, cause I basically spent no money except for groceries! We did go out to eat, but our friends paid for dinner. I went to a party last night, so ate free again! I am able to add the top amount $52 to the 52 week challenge!

My husband is a builder and does all the work himself so he is never dressed well at work. His clothing is pretty ripped up, paint splattered, etc.
Monday, we had the closing, as I mentioned in my previous post. I was playing bridge in the afternoon when the check came in, so I called my husband to come home and take the check to the bank to be deposited.
When he came home, he told me that he was the worst dressed man at the bank that day. Yes, I told him, you probably were, BUT, you were the worst dressed man with 1/4 million dollar check in your pocket. That is the way I look at it!

I have started the 52 week yahtzee challenge. I will update this every Monday or Tuesday, since that is the day(s) I pay my husband for work. I play bridge on Mondays so I don't always get to the bank.
On week one of the yahtzee challenge, I have $22 to add to that challenge!

I watched the show on Tuesday and enjoyed it. I was surprised that one of the men on the show is posting on the saving advice forums.
His name is Jeff Yeager and he wrote the book, "Ultimate Cheapskates road map to true riches".
He is the man that found over $7 in change in just one day. It is his hobby. I haven't found $7 in change in my entire life!!
I would like to read his book!

So far, I haave been doing great on the $30 a day challenge. I have put away $30 in savings every day since the first of the year. Since April had 30 days, this means I added $900 to my savings the past month. I hope I can continue to do this everyday.

So far, my plan to save $30 every day is working out great. March had 31 days in it, so I saved a total of $930 in March. I deposit the money once or twice a month in my ING electric orange account. However, I do not add it to my $20 challenge.

I opened up a 5 year CD at Melrose credit union, a year ago. I was hoping it was not a mistake to tie up a lot of money for that long.
Apparently, so far, I made the right decision.
I am getting 2.9% interest when everyone else is paying no more than 1%. I just earned over $1800 in interest for the past quarter. (3 months)

On Aug 31st, I made a decision to try and start saving $30 a day. I managed to put $30 in a large canister every day but the 4 days my dh went to visit his father in Florida. (He did not work that week)
I take the money and deposit it about once a month in my ING account. That is the one day is paying the most interest, .0094%.

So far, I have put away $3630 in my 4 month quest to save more money.

I have decided to continue this in 2012. Starting today, I am putting away $30 a day. I wish some of you could join me. It would not have to be $30, it could be $5 or $10; whatever works for you. The important thing is to do it everyday.

Anyone want to join me??

I noticed today that ING lowered their interest rates on their electric orange checking account. They went from .0114 to .0110. Not that big of a change but I am ready to see rates start to rise. I just gave away an old railroad bond dated 1869 and way back then they were paying out 7%. You sure can't live on your interest now a days.

My sapphire card came in today. I wasn't sure if it would come or not cause I got one in hubby's name about 2 months ago. however, they sent me an invitation which I returned and my card arrived today. I am suppose to earn $500 back (bonus points) when I spend my first $3000. I already received the $500 check on hubby's account.
The main difference between our two accounts, his has a higher limit and the rate is lower. I have no idea why that is???

On saturday, I mailed a large check to Melrose credit Union in Briarwood, N.Y. I wanted to open a certificate of deposit. They are currently paying 2.9% for 5years.
Yesterday, I emailed them to see if they got my check and opened an account for me. I got an e mail back saying that my account was open and they gave me the account number.
Even with my very little computer knowledge, I was able to come up with an ID and password and to view my account.
So far, I am very happy with my Melrose credit union experience.

In spetember of 2006, I opened up a new money market account at my local bank. They were listed for several months in Money magazine as having one of the highest money market rates in the country.

The rate was 5.25% and I treated this account as if it was my savings account. I rarely wrote a check out of it.

We sold our last spec house in January of 2007 and I put the whole check into this account. One month later, the account paid us $1,793.00 in interest for just one month.
Since I never needed to balance this account, I kept the monthly statements in a note book. Things were great for a while. Then the interest rate dropped to 3.1% but still the interest was adding up.

(It has always been my dream to some day retire and live on the interest since we (dh and I) will never receive a pension from anyone.)

Yesterday, I cleaned out the notebook. We are now receiving an interest rate of 1/10 of 1%. My last interest payment was only $2.50. A big difference in that and almost $1800.oo!!!

So, now I will start putting my new money market statements in the notebook. It is only paying 9/10 of 1 percent, but still better than 1/10! I have 3 c.d.'s coming due in 2 weeks, but the c.d. rate is only 9/10 of 1%, so I might as well put that money in the new money market. As least I can get to it easily if c.d. rates ever go up. Oh yes, I will also add some to my ING account since it is paying 1.1% now and has been for a while.

I have an amortization book that I bought over 30 years ago. The lowest rate in that book is 3%. No one ever dreamed that rates would ever go this low. When I worked for Surety savings and loan, we were paying 6% on savings, 8% on c.d.'s and charging 9% on mortgages.

I miss the good old days!

I had a c.d. come due today. I remembered how disappointed I was last year that it only paid 1.99 interest. Today they were offering .0065.!
I checked all of the local banks and the highest was a money market account offering .009. So, I opened a new money market account at my old bank. I will have 3 more c.d.'s coming due in February, so I guess I will put that money in the new money market. ING is paying .011, so I will transfer some money back to them. Boy, that 3-5% interest sure had me spoiled. I want the good old days back!

That is how much I earned in interest on my personal checking account this much. Hey, that is almost $22 more than I had for doing nothing. I like free money!!

I meant to say, this month!!

I am a member of a couple of local forums in my town. Once in a while, people will make comments about me having a lot of money.
I just want to straighten them out.

I started work at age 12 and worked full time til I was in my mid 40's. Then i worked part time for several years. I have never made "big" money and neither has my husband. But no matter how much or how little we made, I always saved part of my money.

When I first got married at age 20, I was making $1 an hour. My dh was making $1.25 an hour. I saved enough money that year to put a down payment on a new house. We had very little furniture for years.
My second marriage ( I was 32) and I was working at a small savings and loan making $89 a week. (this was 1977) My new husband was making $4 an hour ($160 a week) We continued to save.

We moved to the mountains in 1984 and lived on our savings for an entire year while my husband built our log house completely by himself. (He lifted every log alone)

I got a job as a waitress making $2.01 an hour plus very poor tips and my husband began building houses for $7.50 an hour. My husband was always busy cause he always charged less than the other really good builders.

But the difference was, we continued to save out of every paycheck and then I began investing in mutual funds.

My husband makes decent money now, but our last two customers told us that he still works too cheaply. We got lucky with our spec houses. They all (six) sold quickly and for a nice profit. We have never spent one dime of the profits, we are saving them for the next spec when building picks back up.

So, you don't have to make a lot of money to have a nice net worth. It is not what you make that counts, it is what you KEEP!!

I am loving the new business checking account that I opened last week. Actually, it is the same account I have had for 12 years, but they changed the terms. I must keep a minimum of $1000 in the account, but for that, I get paid 3.1% interest. I was use to getting .005%, just 1/2 a percent or if my balance got low, I got zero percent.
Just in the past 8 or 9 days the account has been open, I have earned about $47 in interest.
I think I will withdraw the interest every month of two and add it to my challenge money!!

I total my June interest on all my savings and checking accounts and it comes to $1987.00 That is the first time my interest has been below $2000 for the month, in over a year. My savings has not gone down, but the interest rates have.
Last week, I switched two acounts earning 1.98% to an account paying 3%. Hopefully, that will help.

I earned that much in interest in one of my money markets for the month, yesterday. Not all accounts pay interest on the 1st of the month. I have some that come due on the 8th, the 10th and the 22nd. I keep track of my interest monthly. Got to love free money!! $131.83!!

Thngs are really slowing down in our little town. Most of the work around here is related to the construction of new homes. Lots of people have found this area and are moving in. That has almost come to a standstill right now.

I am on a local forum. For years, I have been preaching to the other members of the forum how important it is to save some of what they make, every paycheck.
Of course, they did not listen to me, but continued to spend every dime.

Now, they are complaining that they no longer can pay their bills on time. And after 20 plus years of marriage, they have no savings to help them in these slower times.

But still they do not listen. Anyone can save a little bit, even if it is only $5 out of each paycheck. Please, everybody, pay yourself first!!

Someone mentioned to me that they had bought Tide on sale, instead of paying $10 a box!! When did it go to $10 a box? I have used Trend for years and years. In one store it costs 99 cents and in the other store, it cost $1.09. It works just fine too!! Oh my gosh, I am shocked!

I check my accounts at the bank almost daily. I had two accounts (money market) at the same bank. When i opened these accounts, they were paying 5.25% for amounts over $50,000. This has gone on for over a year. In October, the rate fell to 4.75% and has been declining ever since. For the past month or so, the rate has been 3.44%. I checked today and the rate has fallen to 2.96%
My gosh, what are us savers supposed to do?? My goal was someday to earn enough interest to live on!! That is never going to happen at less than 3% interest being paid!

I got a great deal on a new chandlier last night. We are building a really big house with a really big foyer and this chandlier is going to look great!

It was over $500 but they only had two and they were on sale for $180. We paid for it, but could not fit it in the vette, so dh will have to go back for it next week.

I am happy when I save someone else money too. This is a spec house we are building, but we are building it for another couple to sell.

I have often bragged about my local bank appalachian Bank which offered money market accounts paying 5.25%
These accounts worked out great for us, cause we could make 6 withdrawals a month and that was all we needed when we were building a spec house.
I had 2 accounts there, one in joint names with $200K and one in my name, payable on death to my dh, for $100K.
That way, all $300K was fdic insured.

A few months ago, when the fed cut the rates, my interest rate dropped to 4.1% Yesterday, I was shocked to see that the rate had fallen to 3.4% I called the bank to see if I could move into a c.d. paying about 4% and was told no!

So, I called my husband to come home early from work and we drove to another town about 25 miles away.

I opened up a joint c.d. there for 200K earning 4.8% interest for one year! They had a 5.% rate for 6 months, but i think rates are going down, not up, so I took the lower rate in order to lock it in for a full year.

I figured I will earn an extra $2720 in interest money by moving it to the new bank.

That is worth losing a few hours pay.

Just 11 more months til christmas! Have you started to save your christmas money? I have!!