The past few days have been extremely cold here in Minnesota, with yesterday’s temp bottoming out at around -23 degrees Farenheit. I’ve come to the conclusion that once you reach -5 or so, it all just feels cold, and it doesn’t really make a difference. -23 feels the same as -5, so bring it on!
We’ve also had about 8-10 inches of snow, when coupled with the extreme cold means black ice, accidents on the roads and long commute times. It took my carpool and I almost 2 hours to get to work today. We listened to several Dave Ramsey show podcasts on the way in. At least the time wasn’t wasted!
My wife and I are finding plenty of other things to keep us busy lately, including trying to find a better rate on our home mortgage. We have done quite a bit of shopping around for good rates, and low costs. A lot of the places were able to offer us good rates, but in the end because their fees were so high we had to pass.
We finally found a good deal on a 5% fixed rate mortgage that we’re in the middle of signing on right now. If all goes as planned we’ll end up dropping our rate from 6.5% to 5%, and dropping a couple of hundred off of our monthly mortgage payment. Not too shabby! We’re going to continue paying the same amount every month, however, paying extra towards our principal. I’m excited to see that amount start dropping faster than it had been!
Links From Around the PF blogosphere
Here’s some good reading to catch up on while you drink your morning coffee (or midnight glass of milk!).
- Start Your Day By Eating A Frog (*My favorite of the day)
- Giveaway for a 6-month subscription to the Wall Street Journal
- $100 Target Gift Card Giveaway
- 7 Things You Need To Know about Your Roth IRA For 2009
- How To Replace Bad Financial Habits With Good Ones
- Time To Chck Your Annual Credit Report!
- Problems with Gift Receipts?
- Debt? What Debt?
- Mortgage Refinance Rates Continue to Fall
- The New Frugal Forum @ frugalhacks.com
- Free Advice From Kiplingers!
- Debt, Lies and Marriage
- Barriers and Problems Refinancing a Home Mortgage in 2009
- A Day In The Life Of A Preblogger
Have a good read!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
We’re freezing too. They’re expecting to close school tomorrow for -45 degree windchill. I’m sure being to the north of us, you’re going to even worse! Stay warm!
My Dollar Plans last blog post..Free Suze Orman Book, Business Tax Software, and More!
Thanks for the great reads! We’re also shopping around for a better mortgage rate. A good time to refinance. We’re hoping with the better rate, we can also get a shorter term. We’d love to pay a couple hundred more a month to have the house paid off in half the time. Plus, we’d save a ton in interest.
Mirandas last blog post..Is Money The Cause of Marital Problems? Or a Symptom?
Banks are slipping high fees into all sorts of accounts and offers, so great job doing your homework on weeding out the sneaky offers! It will definitely pay in the long run!
Elisa@Thrives last blog post..Financial Resolutions and Splurge Confessions
It was -42 here yesterday morning as I walked to class. This morning it was only -8.
There was definitely a difference
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