For those of you who opened up the ING account on black Friday, have you made your 3 purchases yet to get the bonus? This is your friendly reminder that you have to make 3 signature based transactions within 45 days of opening the account in order to get the bonus. We wouldn't want to loose out on that free money!! and yes I've made mine so I'm just waiting on day 50 to have my money added.

Well all, I'm happy to say that I made it home safely from Iraq for the holidays and I am so HAPPY!! I'm laying in my king size bed right now and loving it. I started my travels on 18 Dec and I got home yesterday, 22 Dec. So for anyone that will be traveling this holiday season, just think of me before you start to complain about your travel plans. It could always be worst. But no matter how long it takes, as long as you make it there safe, that's truly all that matters. Until next time my cyber friends, Merry Christmas and enjoy your loved ones!! I sure will

I meant to post this earlier but I got busy so here you go. Well as some of you may have read from my previous post; I'm currently deployed to Iraq. Every morning we have to take about a ten minute bus ride from our living quarters to our place of work. Well this morning, we were almost there and then the sirens went off for a possible incoming attack. We had to get off the bus and run into the what's called a "duck and cover" It's basically a big cement cave looking thing that provides protection. We were in there for about 5 minutes before we got the all clear.

As we emerged from our duck and cover we noticed the billowing of black smoke. Thank goodness our installation didn't get hit but it was close enough for my liking. Oh well, just another day in beautiful Iraq..NOT!!!

USAA is a bank that used to be open only to those in the military until recently. Every year, if they make money, they give a portion of it back to their members. Well, I just checked my account and my portion is $60.87! I'm soooo excited

Old balance: $78.66

New money: $60.87

New balance: $139.53

It's hard to believe that it hasn't even been a month since I've jumped on the passive income challenge bandwagon and I'm already up to almost $140. Thanks again to Campfrugal for this great idea

Alot of civilians take contractor jobs over here in Iraq becuase of the U.S. economy and they make alot of money which is partially tax free. Well, I was talking to one of my contractor friends here last night and we were talking about how one of his friends was getting deeper in debt over here. That's hard to believe because like I said if you ask most people why they volunteered to come to a war zone, they say to get out of debt was their main goal.

I guess the friend came over with about $78K in debt, now he has over $150K and he's been here 5 years. What in the world?? You mean to tell me, he's making 6 figures for 5 years and you can't get out of $78K of debt. That means over 1 million dollars has slipped through his fingers. This just goes to show that no matter how much money you make, if you don't change your mindset, or if you're married and your spouse isn't on the same sheet of music as you, then you probably will always be drowning in debt.

Well after being here for 7 months and not having a roommate for 5 months, all good things must come to an end. I got a roommate yesterday. I'm not going to complain becuase I've been blessed not to have one for this long. She seems alot nicer than my first one and she even speaks to me when I walk into the room.

Being in a warzone, you look for the small things that makes this place bearable. I can truly tell you that not having a roomie in a small trailer is definitely one of those things. Oh well, I will be home for the holidays and will be able to spread eagle in my king size bed!

It pays to check old accounts that you haven't used in a while: I had $48.66 sitting in my Sharebuilder account. I haven't used that account in a while because I've been using Scottrade.

Old balance: $30
New funds: $48.66
New Total: $78.66

I ran across a great opportunity while reading the Stars and Stripes(military newspaper) that I thought some of you maybe interested in. The 2010 Military Spouse Accredited Financial Counselor Fellowship Program offers selected military spouses a chance to earn Accredited Financial Counseling(AFC) credential. The grant covers the costs of program enrollment fees, study materials, webinar study sessions and exam feees.

Currently spouses or surviving spouses of U.S. servicemembers on active duty, in the Guard or Reserve or retired military with at least a high school diploma or GED are eleigible. You can find more info about applying on the following websites starting in early 2010. However, you can get more info about the program specifically now. www.nmfa.org or www.saveandinvest.org

I hope this helps someone

First and foremost I would like to give a virtual shout out and thanks for the great idea to campfrugal. I will join you in your challenge of trying to make extra passive income this upcoming year. I'm off to a good start. A couple of days ago I checked a PayPal account that I haven't used in quite some time and found out I had $30 sitting there. So thanks again for the challenge, let the passive income start flowing.

Yesterday, creditcardfree informed us the 2010 Housing Allowance rate will be published 17 Dec. So for those of us affailiated with the military, what are your plans for that extra money if you do in fact get an increase. You're obviously living without it right now, so you're used to not having it.

If you have debt, you can use it to go towards your debt. If you're debtfree, you can add it to your savings or whatever goal you may have. I think the biggest thing you can do is set it up so that when the raise becomes effective, it doesn't even hit your account. In other words, have it automatically transferred to wherever you want it to go. Doing it this way helps to alleviate the desire to spend it elsewehere. Just food for thought.

As I mentioned previously before, I'm currently deployed to Iraq. Believe it or not there are some positive sides to it all, especially if you're either working your way out of debt or debt free. I'm happy to say I'm debt free with the exception of a piece of rental property I'm trying to pay off before I retire from the military in 2012 but that's another blog topic.

When you deploy you get quite a few entitlements that you normally wouldn't get if you weren't deployed. You get Hazardous Duty Pay $100, Hazardous Fire Pay $225, Family Seperation Allowance $250. As if that additional $575 wasn't enough, all your earnings are tax free.

So, although it sucks to be away from love ones, it nice to be getting PAID and putting it toward goals. I guess like Dave Ramsey states, I'm living like noone else now so that I can live like noone else later. I guess that even applies in Iraq.