Money Saving Challenge 1-10-12

I haven't really been doing too much lately other then going to work and coming home so I haven't had too much interesting stuff to write about. We did make the decision to refinance our house using HARP (Home Affordability Refinance Program) which helps those that are underwater in their mortgage to take advantage of the low interest rates. We are currently at 6.25, and are going to 3.75 or 4.00. If we choose the 3k closing costs, our rate will be 3.75 and if we chose to do 1k closing, our rate will be 4%, so we are toying with that. Our home appraiser guy is coming this weekend to appraise the home, so we cleaned up all our Christmas stuff and started really cleaning to make it nice for him to see.

Last night, I went with my friend to Staples since he needed to get trading card inserts (I got him to be a semi extreme couponer!) and while we were there, I recycled 10 ink cartridges, good for $2 a piece ($20). I also brought in my receipt from Saturday when I bought Turbo Tax at $59.99. Now of course it's $49.99 so I asked for the adjustment. So I got $10.07 credited back to my card...and I got $20 coming in the mail for recycling ink cartridges!! CHA CHING!

We also walked over to Kohls b/c I needed to return curtains. We were planning on getting smaller curtains for our bedroom but the ones we ordered were not pretty at all, so we returned them and got long ones. But the sheer curtains that would be on the window side were the short ones, so I needed to return them and get the long ones. So I did that, and got $15.98 credited back to my account. I spaced and forgot my Kohls coupon, so I just went to browse the curtains for the sheer long one I needed. It was on BOGO sale, but they were 19.99 each! Last time I got the long ones they were $9.99! So I'm going to wait for them to go on a better sale (and bring my coupon!) then buy them. DH is in no rush to put the new curtains up, so I have time.

I have been cooking dinner at home the past few days, and I love it b/c I get leftovers for lunch the next day! Monday I found a Buffalo Chicken recipe (been CRAVING that for days now, and I keep eating them!) so I made a batch of that. A big batch. So me, DH and my BFF had that for dinner Monday, then I bought some for lunch yesterday,AND we had more leftovers for dinner last night! I also heated up some food we had from Saturday night when we ordered out so that did not go to waste at all. Tonight I'm thinking of either pasta or cereal night. I love cereal night. DH and I get to spend more time together rather then me running around cooking and cleaning. So it's a nice night to have together.

Other then that, I'm still slacking on 2012 goals, but I hope in the coming weeks to go over it with DH. We are doing a mini vacation next weekend (free weekend room at a casino thanks to my nastygram to them, as well as free Starbucks coffee!) so maybe I will bring some stuff with us to sit, away from home and go over our budget and expenses.