I have been watching the recent downward trend of mortgage rates recently in hopes of refinancing my home at a lower rate. This week after the federal reserve cut interest rates and the stock market plummeted rates hit lows not seen in years. However as of yesterday most of the rates have risen quite dramatically:

Penfed
30 year fixed jumped from 5.5% to 5.875%
15 year fixed jumped from 4.625% to 5.125%

MadRate
30 year fixed jumped from 5.125% to 5.625%

MTG Capital
30 year fixed jumped from 5.125% to 5.75%

With the recent tax rebate announcement and the stock market seemingly stabilizing I’m not sure we are going to see rates hit that low again for a while. Unfortunately it seems I may have missed rock bottom to refinance, at least for now.

I recently decided to switch our checking accounts from HSBC to Charles Schwabs new Investor Checking account. I have not been happy with the steady decrease in my linked HSBC savings account and decided it was time for a change. It has a lot of attractive features that drew me to it:

• No account minimums
• No monthly service charges
• Free checks
• Free bill pay
• No ATM fees
• 4.0% APY

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Eating out can be hard on your budget while on vacation. I recently traveled to Las Vegas and stopped at a few cheap restaurants along the way on the strip. With the takeover of the corporate supercasino the days of $3.99 buffets seem to be gone, however you can still find quite a few good deals if you try.

Cheap Steaks

Ellis Island Casino & Brewery - This is a place where the locals hang. The restaurant here offers a $6.99 steak special that comes with a salad, potato, vegetable, an 8oz steak, and one of their homebrew beers (or root beers). Its not on the menu though, so you have to know to ask for it. While the ambiance left a little something to be desired (unless you like 60s vegas nostalgia without actually trying for it) the service was excellent and the price hard to beat. The steak was not the greatest I ever had, but was the best $7 steak I ever had. They also have $1 microbrewed beers there as well. Its a block off the strip, behind Ballys… though a very long block… about a 10-15 min walk.

Mr. Lucky’s at the Hard Rock Hotel - A coffee shop atmosphere and a bit cleaner than you would expect from a cheap restaurant. They also offer an unadvertised Steak & Shrimp special for $7.77 which also includes steak, potatoes and salad. The steak here was also good for the price, and while the shrimp were a bit overcooked it was an enjoyable experience. Be warned the Hard Rock is not exactly on the strip, but a couple blocks off, a 20-25 minute walk.

Sherwood Forest Cafe at the Excalibur - This place offers a $7 strip steak special from 7pm to 7am. Unfortunately for us who plan ahead for the unadvertised specials this one is advertised, and is right on the strip, making it a mad house until midnight or so. I did not get to try this since the line to get in was about an hour so I decided to pass on it. Perhaps if you were hungry at midnight or later this would be a good choice, or had more patience than me.

If you travel downtown to Fremont Street via cab or rental car there are also some cheap eats which I did not partake in as well. The Plaza has a $9.99 Steak and Lobster special, as well as a $7.99 Prime Rib. There are plenty of other deals plastered around down there as well.

Please feel free to comment with any other Vegas deals!

Taxable Accounts:

$2,035.63 - Liquid Savings - 4.50% APY HSBC Savings Account
$25,205.67 - Savings - 5.30% APY Countrywide Savings Accounts
$15,731.53 - Stocks - Misc. Direct Investments
$6,021.93 - Stocks - Ameritrade Izone
$2,825.68 - Stocks - Zecco
$2,657.44 - Bonds - TreasuryDirect

$54,477.88 TOTAL

Retirement Savings:

$17,556.69 - ROTH IRA - Vanguard
$1,022.50 - ROTH IRA - Scottrade
$55,859.95 - 401K - T. Rowe Price

$74,439.14 TOTAL

Debts

$3,010.32 - Student Loan - AES (3.625%)
$4,222.00 - Credit Card BT - Chase(0%)
$17,638.28 - Credit Card BT - BOA NEA (0%)
$7,273.18 - Credit Card BT - Juniper (0%)
$19,497.00 - Credit Card BT - Upgromise (0%)

$51,640.78 TOTAL

Housing / Automobiles

$265,478.35 - Mortgage - Countrywide
$339,900.00 - Approximate Home Value
$9,464.00 - Approximate Car Value - Edmunds.com

$83,885.65 - TOTAL (Approximate Equity)

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My previous favorite online bank has dropped its rate again. HSBC Direct lowered their savings rate again this morning to 4.25% APY (from 4.50%). It seems like while other banks are able to maintain rates with the Fed drops HSBC keeps slipping. Emigrant Direct also dropped their rate to 4.65% APY this week.

Fortunately as previously discussed I moved all my long term savings money over to Countrywide SavingsLink who is still holding steady at 5.30%. Here is a roundup of some of the popular online savings accounts rates (APY):

• Countrywide SavingsLink - 5.30%
• FNBO Direct - 5.05%
• E*Trade Complete Savings - 5.05%
• WAMU Online Savings - 4.75%
• Emigrant Direct - 4.65%
• HSBC Direct - 4.25%
• ING Direct - 4.10%

Lifehacker has announced their 2007 guide to free software and webapps with a ton of FREE applications for your everyday needs. They broke it down into 20 categories and here are some of my personal favorites:

Backup Utilities
Mozy (Windows/Mac, online backup, up to 2GB free) - Provides automated backups of your important files online.

Desktop Search
Google Desktop (Windows/Mac OS X/Linux, free) - Search through all your files, emails, web history and more.

Virus Killers and Malware Cleaners
AVG Free Edition (Windows, free with paid upgrade) - Free virus protection for your computer.

I have never actually tried any of their apps in the Personal Finance/Money Managers category. I personally am a huge fan of Yodlee Moneycenter which they seem to have overlooked so haven’t explored too much. I may give them a try in the near future.

Check below for the full list:

Lifehacker 2007 Guide to Free Software and Webapps

Microsfot is currently running a campaign where you can get yourself a free copy of the $400 Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, Office 2007, or Microsoft Money Plus.

***UPDATE: This offer has ended.

The catch? You have to join their feedback program where you have to answer a few surveys and install a program on your computer where they can monitor your everyday actions for 3 months before you get your software. I’m sure to some giving up your privacy to big brother will not be worth it, but I decided to give it a shot - hopefully it will not be too bad.

Here are the requirements from Microsoft:

1. The survey feedback program. When you join the survey feedback program, you’ll be invited to take a survey on a regular schedule. If the survey arrives at a time where you are busy, you skip that one and take the next one instead. You will not receive more than a survey every two weeks.

2. The automated feedback program. When you choose to participate, most of the work is done behind the scenes, with no additional effort, time requirement, or inconvenience to you. Occasionally, we might send you an invitation to participate in a survey or another feedback program to get additional information about your use of computers but, in general, you only hear from us if we make significant changes to our data collection method or if we want to offer another feedback program to you that you might be interested in.

Join the Windows Feedback Program

Perfect for that holiday gift giving - now through December 16th, 2007 you can get 12% off a single item during your instore purchase at Best Buy. All you need is a free rewards zone membership to get the full 12%, otherwise if you do not have / want a membership you get 10% off.

Best Buy Coupon

Here is the fine print:

10% or 12% off any single item1 from the following categories:

TVs & More: TVs $399 and up • DVD players and recorders • TiVo® and DIRECTV® hardware • receivers, shelf systems,
speakers and home theater systems. Also valid at Magnolia Home Theater®.

Computer Accessories: DVD-RW drives • flash and external hard drives • notebook accessories • printers $149 & up •
scanners $99 & up • computer networking • computer speakers, mice and keyboards • PC cameras • PC gaming controllers •
digital recorders $99 & up • surge protectors • computer flash memory • computer cables • graphic and sound cards •
computer software • blank digital media and blank video media • ink cartridges • printer docks • paper

Cameras & Accessories: digital cameras $279 & up • digital camcorders $279 & up • digital camera accessories •
blank mini-DVD media • blank video media • camcorder accessories • camcorder batteries • blank camcorder media •
premium photo services

Music Players & Accessories: MP3 players and accessories • car audio • satellite radio hardware • musical instruments •
CD/DVD storage

Phones & Accessories: phone cards • cordless phones • answering machines • landline phone accessories • 2-way radios •
cellular phone accessories • pay-as-you-go phones

Appliances & More: major and small appliances • shavers • vacuums • microwaves • batteries • toys • mobile electronics •
navigation hardware

---

Excludes Zune® devices; Bose®; JBL and Shure MP3 player accessories;
DIRECTV® service; Blu-ray and HD DVD players; digital SLR cameras; Apple® products; the Dyson DC18; video game
hardware and accessories; satellite radio service; Cinema Systems; HP ink; high-definition camcorders; pay-as-yougo-
phone cards; cellular phones; Roland, Boss and Edirol musical instruments; digital music services and download
cards; special order, clearance, demo and open-box items; Gift Cards; taxes; Magnolia Home Theater products: Bose®,
SpeakerCraft®, Sonos, Vienna Acoustics, Tivoli Audio, MartinLogan, BDI furniture, installation services, Magnolia
Guaranteed Performance Agreement and special order merchandise

Best Buy Coupon

Taxable Accounts:

$2,331.07 - Liquid Savings - 4.50% APY HSBC Savings Account
$25,128.31 - Savings - 5.30% APY Countrywide Savings Accounts
$15,731.53 - Stocks - Misc. Direct Investments
$5,861.64 - Stocks - Ameritrade Izone
$2,657.18 - Stocks - Zecco
$2,647.58 - Bonds - TreasuryDirect

$54,357.31 TOTAL

Retirement Savings:

$17,555.93 - ROTH IRA - Vanguard
$1,115.42 - ROTH IRA - Scottrade
$55,011.88 - 401K - T. Rowe Price

$73,683.23 TOTAL

Debts

$3,052.81 - Student Loan - AES (3.625%)
$4,308.00 - Credit Card BT - Chase(0%)
$17,816.28 - Credit Card BT - BOA NEA (0%)
$7,346.18 - Credit Card BT - Juniper (0%)
$19,793.00 - Credit Card BT - Upgromise (0%)

$52,316.27 TOTAL

Housing / Automobiles

$265,943.83 - Mortgage - Countrywide
$339,900.00 - Approximate Home Value
$9,988 - Approximate Car Value - Edmunds.com

$83,694.29 - TOTAL (Approximate Equity)

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I have been trying somewhat unsuccessfully to earn a bit of extra cash through side projects. I have a pretty decent computer background so freelancing seems like my best bet.

I have done some work for local businesses but have not received any new work in quite a while. I’ve been tying sites like rentacoder.com and guru.com, but it seems like I am getting bid against by South American programming outfits whose prices make it not worth my time.

On Friday I saw a part time position on Monster doing something I specialize in - telecommuting and a very nice hourly rate. I would venture to guess only maybe 50 people in the world have as much experience with this as myself and can’t imagine them at least not calling me about it. I am anxiously awaiting this company contacting me, but trying not to get too optimistic.

I’m not really desperate for money but hey everyone could use more right? Plus its nice to keep up on skill sets I don’t get use use as my regular job.

Sears is having their 10% off just about anything in the store VIP sale this weekend - on Sunday November 11th from 6pm-9pm.

To sweeten this deal even more, Sears also currently is running 20% off any Kenmore appliance which is stackable with the 10% off, making an effective 28% off! Could be a good time to buy if you are in need of a new appliance. They are also going to be offering some of the Black Friday deals during this time (unfortunately not the early bird doorbuster sales though).

Sears VIP Sale

The 99th edition of the Festival of Frugailty is up over at Learning to be Frugal. There are some great posts over there including my cheapo eyeglasses experience so if you have the time you should check it out.

Well after just switching from HSBC Direct to Countrywide, Countrywide has lowered their APY from 5.50% to 5.35% on the heels of the latest federal reserve interest rate announcement.

Its slightly disheartening but compared to most of the other online banks its still a good rate. ING Direct is 4.2%, HSBC is 4.50% (for now), GMAC is 4.50%. I will be sticking with Countrywide for now but as always will keep my eye out for something better.

I came across a most excellent tutorial today How To Actually Search Craigslist via Lifehacker. I am a huge fan of Craigslist for those who didn’t know, and I often find it difficult to manage searches on their poor engine.

Craigslist does offer RSS feeds (which I am also a huge fan of via Google Reader) however you can only have 1 search term per feed. So if you are looking for 20 different items you have to have 20 feeds in your RSS reader which can become quite messy. The tutorial shows you how to use Yahoo Pipes to create customized searches from these multiple RSS feeds and combine them into one search. It may sound a little complicated at first but its really pretty easy and very helpful.

The tutorial provides an example of it in use, and here is one I made to search for snowblowers (with the terms snow, snowblower, and snowthrower). So if you crave more command over your Craigslist addiction then this may help you out tremendously.

How To Actually Search Craigslist

Taxable Accounts:

$3,806.66 - Liquid Savings - 5.05% APY HSBC Savings Account
$25,021.28 - Savings - 5.50% APY Countrywide Savings Accounts
$16,393.20 - Stocks - Misc. Direct Investments
$6,105.13 - Stocks - Ameritrade Izone
$3,089.63 - Stocks - Zecco
$2,647.58 - Bonds - TreasuryDirect

$57,063.48 TOTAL

Retirement Savings:

$18,111.93 - ROTH IRA - Vanguard
$1,306.73 - ROTH IRA - Scottrade
$56,051.88 - 401K - T. Rowe Price

$75,470.54 TOTAL

Debts

$3,094.84 - Student Loan - AES (3.625%)
$4,395.00 - Credit Card BT - Chase(0%)
$17,995.28 - Credit Card BT - BOA NEA (0%)
$7,420.18 - Credit Card BT - Juniper (0%)
$20,094.00 - Credit Card BT - Upgromise (0%)

$52,999.30 TOTAL

Housing / Automobiles

$266,406.71 - Mortgage - Countrywide
$339,900.00 - Approximate Home Value
$10,201.00 - Approximate Car Value - Edmunds.com

$83,694.29 - TOTAL (Approximate Equity)

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