Well, I don't get to blog as much. I have been pretty busy here at my home. Like I have stated before, I have been restoring a 1930's cottage in a great area of Michigan.

I have completely re-painted my kitchen, which was no easy task, due to my large free-standing antique kitchen cupboards and China Cabinet, but all was moved out of the way, so that I could paint every wall. The color is kind of like melted vanilla and butter pecan ice cream mixed together. It is a great color, but makes me hungry for ice cream. I hope I don't gain weight just standing in that kitchen.

Now, I am on to my living room and foyer. I recently built a brand new large foyer that opens up into my living room. We did get that insulated and wired this past weekend and I am working on re-painting the livingroom while the drywall is being hung in the foyer. We haven't opened the wall between the foyer and the livingroom yet, so I am not getting any construction dust.

Also, I had to drain my accounts to pay my mortgage. I used my mortgage money at the beginning of the month to pay up all of my property taxes to the tune of $875.00. I am on the "Gazelle Intensity" that Dave Ramsey talks about. Yeah, I have skipped a couple of Dave's steps, but it is working for me to do it my way. But, hey all of my bills are paid, I am working on my house. My kids school is paid and it only gets cheaper from here on out, with spring coming and my bills getting cheaper with each warming month and my debt is getting paid off.

I am filing my income taxes next Wednesday. My husband will get his portion and my portion will be used to put new tires on my car and pay down my debt.

Then, when the government check gets here, $300 will go to my husband and the rest is mine to pay down debt. I can't wait to see where my debt is at in June. I am thinking I will have made a big dent in it by then. It is pretty exciting.

Well, enough from me, I need to get moving on painting the livingroom ceiling, which is now cathedraled and I am not one for heights. Yikes.

I have an ING account, but the interest rate right now is down to 3.65%. I was noticing that Shore Bank is offering 5.00% and a $25.00 bonus. I like the bonuses. I just got a bonus from E*Trade for $25.00 for opening an account with $1.00.

Is anyone else jumping around to different online accounts, or staying the course with the Online Bank they already have.

My ING account is up another $300, bringing my total to $1092.15.

My savings account is at $501.25

Two of my kids competed in the Odyssey of the Mind Regionals this past weekend. My son's team placed second and my daughters's team placed first. Both teams are now headed to State competition next month. Had to reserve a room for the weekend, cause it is four hours away. www.odysseyofthemind.com

I am doing real well with decreasing my debt and adding to my savings and ING accounts.

My washing machine seized up on Sunday. Bought a new one today and paid cash for it. It gets delivered tomorrow.

So, I am completely on track with all my goals since writing a new spending plan in January.

On my property that is.

I bought the property for fairly cheap and have sat on it awhile, but it cost me about $400/year to maintain it (taxes, water bill, association fees) and we never use it, so I thought I would sell it.

Well, an offer came in. You see my property is not appreciating as rapidly as the cost of upkeep.

So, I have paid approximately $5,825 for my property and the upkeep and the offer is $2,500. Now after subtracting the realtor fees and pro-rating around taxes, water bills and association fees, I will pocket about $1600. I am at a loss of around $4225.

I will probably accept the offer so that I won't have to be responsible for the upkeep in the future, and we can still visit the area, just not have access to the Association.

So, I will deposit that money into my savings account and let it sit there. I am eventually going to put it towards debt, but all of my debt is at 0% interest until November. Might as well take advantage of that and have a little EF on the side drawing interest.

This is part of my De-Junking process. To get rid of those items that are costing me or could be put to better use.

Yesterday, I added another $725.00 to my CC for a tooth we have been working on for a month. It needed a root canal from a 30 year old filling that gapped and got infected. I had an infection around my tooth and was put on an antibiotic which shut my kidneys down, so they switched my antibiotic which gave me a rash. Luckily, the infection is gone, my tooth is pretty much done and I am almost completely recovered from my antibiotics.

Transferring $400 from my savings today to pay my property taxes, leaving me a mear $40.18 cents in my general savings account until the beginning of March, where another $200 will be deposited back into my savings.

My "Up North" property has been listed "For Sale" and I am praying every day that it does sell. That extra money will help with my savings account and debt.

Also, need to file my taxes and get my refund. I usually get somewhere around $2,500 back. That is also going to help with debt and my savings account.

Working on the "Snowball Effect" on my debt, so that I can become debt free again within 12 to 18 months.

My purchase of "Midway Games" stock has been pretty much going up every day in my Sharebuilder Account. That is really exciting. Can't wait for my $25.00 bonus money to be deposited in that account so that I can buy some more stock.

My ING account keeps going up, that is an awesome thing.

Pretty much everything is right on track since making my "Budget and Spending Plan". My major bills have all been paid along with the regular "keep your life going" bills, I have made some investments and feeling pretty good about eliminating my debt, along with my investment in my beautiful smile.

So I invested the money in my Sharebuilder account on MWY (Midway Games) stock.

I like this stock. Its all about the gaming systems and games.

I need to invest my money in Sharebuilder and pick a good stock. One that I can just let sit there for years to come. One with a great return. One that is here to stay.

Any suggestions of some I can look into so I can make a decision.

Christmas 2004 - $2400
Christmas 2005 - $1425
Christmas 2006 - $1285

This is so I can remember. I did have it listed to the right under Author Info in my blog, but I am using that area for my Investments.

I am becoming an Investor. That is my new title. When someone says "What do you do for a Living" I will say: "I am an Investor, Bargain and Treasure Hunter"

I hope I can make a living off of it.

Does anyone have a bonus link for Emigrant or do they know if Emigrant gives sign-up bonuses. ING's interest is not moving while Emigrants seems to keep going up. I would like to transfer my money, but would like a bonus to go with it.

So, I have opened a Sharebuilder account and got a $25.00 bonus. I did find an article in regards to the Sharebuilder accounts and there are promotions out there for a $50.00 bonus, so I am going to do that also.

You need to make an initial investment, no minimum and the cost is $4.00, but once you invest and get your bonus, you can withdraw/transfer the initial deposit back to your account and let the bonus money make all the gains which could be between $1000 and $5000 over 20 to 30 years.

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-invest-with-only-100.html

Hey, it is worth the try.

I have an ING account, but noticed that Emigrant is higher up on the pay scale for interest bearing accounts.

http://www.smartmoney.com/top5/index.cfm?story=20061116

Might have to change my accounts around. I want all the money I can get.