Freebies, Snow Story and a House Update

First the freebies!

Walgreens has great freebies this month. A free Fructis shampoo, Revlon foundation, Revlon lip gloss, contact cleaner, cold tabs (zinc things) and a neck heat wrap. Your store might have a $1 off pealie on the shampoo which you can use. Then you'll get an extra $1 back when you request the rebate :) I've been doing Walgreens rebates for years now, I've cycled the same $40 a good 30 times. I do one for me, my Dad and my Mom then we swap the stuff around. I am totally stealing Dad's makeup! lol

I got a survey email for CVS and I got a $10 ECB added to my account, cool huh? :) Then I did two pinecone surveys and got $3 each time! They also mailed me 3 different flavors of a particular product (I told them I wouldn't say what it was) which the baby liked (I hated it yuck). I love free things!

We have snow, like real snow! We haven't had real snow (over an inch) in years. We have AT LEAST 1.5 inches - everything is shut down. So here is my snow story. A big huge car fishtailed and was perpendicular on the road and about 10 cars were backed up. I called 911 from the deck to let them know (and apologized about it, I mean is that really an emergency? They said it was ok lol) and wouldn't you know, he seesawed his way out of it and the road cleared. The cop went down the road and I felt like a big old dummy. BUT three minutes later, another huge sedan fishtailed in the exact same spot and backed up traffic through 2 red lights on to our main highway. So when the cop made it back to the condo about 5 minutes later he had a big mess and called for backup. I of course grab my hat and a camera!
(small town - traffic never backs up - this is the second car before the cops came)

I have been pre-approved for a loan for the house. But if I increase the HELOC line on my current house for a downpayment, I have to apply for a business loan because I am renting it. If I don't, then my PMI will be $150 a MONTH! Are you kidding me? So we ran the numbers. I think I can pay off the HELOC in 10 months, by the end of the year, so I can just max out that HELOC again(which is much smaller than I could of gotten) to use as a downpayment and not have to go through the business group (which involves expensive appraisals). I would also not have PMI. So I guess I am going to wait. I really like that house but there will be others. I told my Realtor that if that one drops big time in price to let me know but I don't want to pay the PMI or the money for all the appraisals. So I'll try to be patient!