It should have been easy(ier)

My big goal for my Get 'Er Done day was to finish my taxes.  And I was well on my way....

I use Turbo Tax each year.  I have tried other programs, and for me, they aren't as user friendly and I have found that their numbers don't match the ones I get with Turbo Tax.  So...Turbo Tax it is.  This year I decided to do it through the on-line program, instead of a CD or Download.  It is all the same program.  So that is where we are...

Turbo tax starts with your federal taxes.  The only "new" thing for us this year was that G-man worked ONE STINKING MONTH in NC instead of CT.  But his W-2 had the breakdown, so no biggie in entering it.  I bobbed along, putting in my stuff.  I used their "It's Deductible" program to figure out the value of the stuff we donated as we were cleaning out the house in preparation for moving.  (And have grossly underestimated the value of my bags of stuff in the past!). 

I realized that I needed to call camp to get their tax ID (used a different camp this past year).  That is the only "problem" with our federal.  Once they call me back (and they are slow about this), the federal is DONE.  We ended up with a WAY larger refund that we were expecting.  We think it is because of the adjustments from G-man's second job that we never re-adjusted after he quit.

So on to State.  Turbo Tax let us know that we have to file "Married Separate" for our State taxes due to the ONE STINKING MONTH G-man was in NC.  OK fine, whatever.  BUT.....

Turbo Tax can't handle us filing "Married Jointly" for Federal, and "Married Separate" for State.  It just doesn't allow you to have different filing statuses.  You have to go back to the "personal info" tab and change the status, but that changes your Federal Return as well.

SO...after about 45 minutes of searching for an answer on how to use Turbo Tax AND fix the problem....the only solution I found was to create 2 new accounts for Turbo Tax...one for me and one for G-man.  Then I would create a dummy Federal return as Married Separate for each of us, and then the State portion of the program will be happy.  Then I will have to figure out which deduction will belong to each one of us.  Turbo Tax had us getting a State refund (which rarely happens!!) as Married Joint...so I would like to keep it that way once we are Married Separate.

(As a side note...we will also have to file a NC return....but we are at net zero for that.  No money issue, just need to fill out the form).

The idea of having to do this was not appealing.  So I called a big-name tax prep service and asked how much it would be just to have the State Taxes done.  It would be $90 PER RETURN, plus an additional fee for each form past the standard form.  Oh hella no.

So I am back to having to create separate accounts.  I am running out of available time at this point in the day, so that is where I stopped.  This weekend I will now re-do our federal stuff (even though these returns will not be submitted, but will allow the State portion of the program to pull the numbers in).  And hopefully by Monday the taxes will ACTUALLY be done.

Anyone know of an easier way????

So...how did I do???

First off...a huge shout out to my incredible son!  He did soooo well at the orthodontist.  I am just so proud of him.  We were at the orthodontist for just under 2 hrs, and emerged with a mouth full of braces, with green and orange bands (no idea why he picked those...whatever!).  We will go back in 6 weeks for our first check up.  In the meantime, he will just need to learn how to talk with them, brushing more carefully, etc.

We had soft tacos, his favorite, for dinner and I have not really heard any complaints out of him.  He looks so grown up now......my little boy is disappearing before my eyes and he is becoming a young man.  *sigh*

***
So my Get 'Er Done day started at home before the orthodontist.  I did about an hour of work I brought home with me, which set the pace for the day. 

While at the appointment, I did another 45 min of work, and then spent 45 min balancing the checkbook.  I didn't quite finish, so that carried over to home.  I dropped Bossy off at school about 11am, which left me 4 hrs of "quiet" before the kids came home.

Once home....my time just flew by.  I finished the checkbook (which included having to figure out why I was SO off....I subtracted something instead of adding....so once I fixed that error, we were good to go).  Paid some bills...always fun.

Then it was phone call time.

• Check on blood work that was done....all normal (I told ya, Doc!!)
• Verizon....got my bill lowered $20 a month!
• Insurance Company...check on coverage
• Scheduled mammogram....save the ta-tas!

And then on to the TAXES.  I spent 3.5-ish hours on this.  I planned on FINISHING.  Yeah....what does Kim say....Mysti plans, God laughs.  I am 95% done on the federal side (need to make a phone call and get the EIN number for camp).  Very happy with our return...probably the most we have ever gotten back.  The state...that is a whole post in itself.  What should have been another 20 minutes at most will turn into 2 more hours because I refuse to pay almost $200 at a tax prep service for the issue.  Another post....

(and just a note on the tax refund...a few hundred will go toward a trip home for G-man in April, unless we are moving sooner than later....then we will just wait.  The remainder will go toward moving expenses....and between what we have saved and what we are getting back...we will be able to pay for the move in CASH!!  But boy would I have loved to put it to debt....)

In the middle of all of this...I was doing laundry, dishes, ate lunch (which was late, then I wasn't hungry at dinner, but then got hungry at 8pm and ate cereal).

Before I knew it, it was time to start dinner (tacos).  Right after dinner, I made dinner for tonight (green chile chicken casserole).  I even deboned some chicken thighs (saved the bones for stock!) and prepped those for dinner another night.  I wanted to make meatballs for the freezer, but I had to move on to other stuff.

I still had more "work" to do, so I spent just over an hour on that (totally not the most efficient way of breaking it all up...but that is how it ended up). I finally "stopped" at 8:30pm.  I had some pots in the sink that I should have done, another load of laundry to fold, and a zillion other things.  But 14.5 hrs of just about solid work and I was done. 

I am glad that I took the day off, even if it was unpaid.  I am still not caught up, but I am better than I was.  I am shooting for truly CAUGHT UP by the end of the weekend.  I guess we will see.

Exhausted

I planned on writing a more detailed account of things...but I just don't have it in me.  The past seven days has kicked my physical and emotional tushie.  I have been overwhelmed and stressed out.  So I am HOPING that this weekend can be less eventful....let me catch up on some sleep and house stuff....and start February fresh.  February is booked solid....I gotta get geared up.

But I will at least give you the highlights of the past week....some of I have already shared:

Saturday, January 24

• Shovel out from snow
• Fix broken sink
• Wedding anniversary

Sunday, January 25

• Calm before the storm (literally!)

Monday, January 26

• Busy day at office (including the copier breaking)
• Car break down on the side of road
• Drank wine

Tuesday, January 27

• Shovel out from 2 feet of snow
• Multiple calls to deal with car
• Multiple calls to talk to Brother about something big with my parents (I will not be going into this...but this has been a huge source of stress, has required many hours of phone calls, and we weren't sure how it was going to end)
• Work from home for 6 hrs

Wednesday, January 28

• Kids still home from school
• Shovel the several inches of snow we got overnight
• Borrow neighbor's car for work (I can't believe she offered...and it was a lifesaver)
• More phone calls about car, and had to go down to the place that towed my car to deal with them

Thursday, January 29

• Copier broke at office (2nd time this week...and I NEED the copier for alot of things....and the repair guy couldn't make it out to fix it), 
• Work computer died (seriously....not my week for things breaking....),
• Borrowed car again
• Car repaired to the tune of $812 (+$93 from Monday, but $100 will be reimbursed from insurance....needed new battery and my power steering cables blew out....part of the bill was for the 2nd tow, and half of the remainder of the bill was the labor charges)
• Children locked themselves out of the house
• Things came to a head with my parents (but thankfully went way better than expected)

Friday, January 30

• As I write this, it is only 6:40 in the morning...the day is still young!  
• Will need to deal with the little bit of snow we got overnight and whatever falls today

ETA, 10:30am:  Car still making noise that caused me to pull over on Monday...called shop and I have to bring it back on Monday....and get a rental car.

Realtor wants to do a showing on Sunday...so I have to get the house show ready...and leave.  And did I mention we ate getting more snow Sunday night?


Stick a fork in me......I am done.  I have a busy weekend of paperwork ahead (normal bill paying, taxes, and submitting financial waiver request for Bossy's medical supplies), need to catch up on laundry and do the "once over" in the house, and prepare for something else that is next weekend (that I will share after it is all said and done).  I hope your week was WAY better than mine.  I am not a football person....so no Super Bowl stuff for me....but if that is your bag, baby....you have a great time!!!!

Other stuff....not moving!

All I have talked about for a month is the move.  And while it consumes all of my thoughts, you shouldn't be subjected to it all the time.  Sorry!

So other stuff that (financially) has happened....

1) Escrow reimbursement.  Because our taxes went down ever so slightly on the house, our escrow account had a surplus.  So we got a surprise check in the mail for $342!!!  WIN!  I would have been perfectly happy to let it sit in the account and it get credited toward the house when it sells....but here it is.  Not that it is really staying.  It is going toward the expenses we have already laid out for fixing up the house.  But at least that covered our window ($288) and flowers ($45). 

2) Bossy's supplies.  Oh, I will NOT miss the company that currently supplies all of our feeding tube supplies.  We have not received a correct bill in at least 2 years.  And the woman who places the order each month oversteps her bounds and questions the doctor's orders.  Anyway, we got a bill for the Oct, Nov, and Dec 2013 (yes....last year) orders.  We previously had gotten the bill for October back in the March 2014 area.  And it was messed up.  We had a credit at that point and stopped paying monthly until they got the following months billed...since I didn't want to keep paying them for an unknown amount. 

So yes, they are finally billing it.  And the bill was wrong.  Again.

Once again they didn't subtract the discount for our financial waiver (actually, I was told that someone did, and then someone un-did it before the bill went out).  The $515 bill went down to $158 with the credit we had. 

We MAY have a slight bill after this, depending on how they bill things.  Our 100% waiver kicks in for 2/2/14...so there are about 5 days before that which haven't been billed yet that are technically at 60%.  It would be about $10.  Who knows what they will do....or when they will do it!

3)  Taxes at the store.  My brother bought Sassy a sweater for her birthday at a national chain store that sells over priced, very sparkly clothes.  Sassy loves them.  I say ick.  But that isn't the point.

The sweater was the wrong size, so I took it back (with the receipt that Bro sent with it, just in case) and did an even exchange.  Then they proceeded to charge me the difference in tax!  My state has a higher tax rate (go figure....) than Bro's state.  So while I didn't get charged anything for the item, I was expected to pay the difference in the tax.

We have returned and exchanged lots of things over the years at a variety of stores, and I have never been charged the difference in tax.  So I called customer service to inquire about it.

First the girl tells me it isn't their policy, it is the state. 

Mysti: This is CT policy? 
Girl:  Well, no.
Mysti:  So where did you get this information?
Girl:  From Home Office.
Mysti:  OK, then it IS company policy.
Girl:  Yes.

*sigh*  Then yes, it is THEIR policy.  This girl has no idea what I am talking about....she is reading it from a book.

She proceeds to tell me that the company isn't going to eat the cost.  I tell her that if no refunds or charging of difference in tax, then there is a good chance that it will be a net zero anyway.  Plus, there is always the price of doing business.

For the record, this wasn't about the AMOUNT I had to pay in tax....it was that they advertise free returns/exchanges....and my exchange transaction wasn't "free."  No, I wasn't charged to actually exchange the item...but I am penalized because I live in a more expense state than my brother.

The bottom line was I lodged my complaint and told her that I will be less likely to tell family to purchase from the store because of this.  She offered to send me a gift card for what I paid....no thank you....it was a very small amount and I don't need the GC.  I didn't tell her what the amount was.

It was 20 cents.

It wasn't about the 20 cents.......it was about the policy.

My BFF laughed at the story.  She said it sounded like the scene in Father of the Bride where the dad wigs out over hot dog buns.  Enjoy!!!

Taxes and jobs

New week...yay!

Today is one of the kids' predetermined "late arrival" school days for professional development.  I will say it again....whoever thought having the kids start late (10:30, vs 8am) just didn't think about parents.  *sigh*  While it was nice to not have the alarm go off at 6am, it does throw off the rhythm of the day.

Taxes are almost done.  All the main numbers are in, but I have to fill in a few minor details.  But.......drum roll please.......

Federal:  $2653 REFUND
State:      $117 OWE

I have no idea what happens with our state taxes other than they just go up every year.  We have taxes taken out, and we have EXTRA taken out, and we almost always owe (last year was a rare $34 refund).  I am not sweating this....it isn't that bad.  And our federal refund is WAY larger than we expected (considering I thought we would owe).

We have too many little amounts that we have held on to for one reason or another.  We are going to corral them all, and decide what to do.  I already know that part is going towards new tires for my car.  The tires are still ok for the moment, but I will need new tires (which we were already planning on for later this year....it was just a bummer that we spent $200 of our car savings on the alignment).  And I already mentioned our poor bathroom floor.

The rest....*ducking from the eggs being thrown*....will probably sit in savings for a little bit. 

G-man has applied for a new job out of state, and we will wait until that is decided before we do anything.  If a move is in our future (it is a long shot), then the money will go toward that.  G-man put CT as his second choice office, so if he gets that instead of out of state (they are the same job, just in different locations), we would still lose some money initially.  He would move to a day position, and we would lose his night and Sunday pay.  His base pay will be a lateral move at this time, but the potential path is much greater.  In his current position....he will not receive any raises, ever.  He is at the top of the scale, and his current position is considered a low grade position.

We are trying to laugh if I end up getting a new job at the same time we find out we are moving.  Wouldn't that just be how we roll???

If none of the above work out....the extra money will go toward his car to pay it off faster, per What's the Cost (and Tanner, I haven't had a chance to check out your calculator suggestion!).  We have started saving half of G-man's second job pay (since I increased my hours at my job) to see if we can make it without that money.  If we can, then that savings will go toward either the move, or towards the car.

Anyway you put it...we should know about G-man's job within a month, so it isn't like this will dangle on forever.  But we definitely will have a month in flux!!

Net Zero

If two things happen in the same day, and they cancel each other out....are you still allowed to be excited and upset?

Excited
Our town did a reassessment of the houses for tax purposes, and it assessed lower than what we have been paying for the past 5 years!  I wish I was more savvy over the past years about this, or I would have had the house reassessed when the marked bottomed out. 

In 2008 (previous assessment), our house assessed at $133K (70% of market value).  Then the market tanked, and our house value plummeted.  But we continued to pay taxes based on the 2008 assessment.  Each year they have increased the mill rate, and our taxes continued to go up.  In 2008, our taxes were $3400 for the year.  Last year we paid $4126.  That is 21% higher than 5 years ago.

So, at a lower assessment, we are hoping our taxes will go down some.  It is all dependent on the mill rate, which hasn't been announced yet.  This will all go into effect for Oct 1.  They are sneaky that way....we will still have to pay at the higher assessment rate for July 2014 taxes, but our January 2015 will have the new numbers.

MAYBE it will go down a bit.  MAYBE.

Upset
G-man got cut off on his way to work, and in order to avoid being hit, he swerved....hit the curb....and blew out his tire.  When we bought this car in October, the tires were practically new.  And now, one is dead.

He has a full size spare on the car now....but now we will need to get a new spare, or at least a donut, incase something else happens.


I love how these things happened in the same day.....it is like the cosmos just can't let the good stuff just hang around.  It has to make sure it is negated.

Just for Prosperity

Since I update our sidebar totals, if I don't note the starting amounts, I will never figure it out later.

On 1/1/13, our numbers stand at:

• Retirement Loan  - $31,603.91
• Student Loan - $26,314.80
• Car Loan - $10,320.08
• CC - $4,877.75
• Medical/Dental - $2,965.61

• Grand total - $77,245.15

Here is the kicker with this stuff....the Retirement Loan, Student Loan, and Car all have fixed minimums.  None of them are going to go back up since they aren't "revolving".  Just the minimum payments for the year equal $15,388 (give or take a few dollars for the miscellaneous cents we pay).  Doing nothing else but paying the minimum pays off 22% of those loans this year.  Doing nothing but what we are already doing....those 3 loans will be reduced to $52,850 from $68,238.

The remainder...that is the problem.  The medical/dental will go up.  As long as we continue on the payment plan we are on, it only satisfies the company that we are paying SOMETHING.  Each month, the amount we are charged is more than what we pay.  So that impacts the bottom line.

The CC....as long as we don't use the card, it will go down.  Any "extra" we have toward debt repayment will go toward the CC.  But again, the medical will go up by roughly the same amount we are paying.  In the end, I don't see the CC and Medical numbers really "moving" over the coming year.  They will probably end up swapped.

My as long as we can handle any emergencies (using EF, overtime money, side hustle money)....our grand total number a year from now will be about $62,000. 

Let's see how it goes.

I am not setting any real goals this year financially.  I do understand goals...but for me, the disappointment of not making a goal is way harder on me than the excitement of reaching a goal.  I just end up not feeling good about anything.  So I am not doing it this year.  I will say that I am hoping that we will just be able to maintain what we are doing.  Tax hikes, gas prices (we spend over $600 a month in gas....)...those will drastically impact our bottom line.

We have a few home maintenance projects that we need to complete.  We would love to do some IMPROVEMENTS, but I don't see that in the cards at this junction.  The few dollars we may be able to save toward the improvements won't be enough to actually complete any part, so it will just be a continuing saving effort.

I wish I could have the enthusiasm that we are going to beat debt this year!  That we are going to hit it hard and intense!  We are going to have a great year!!!  But I have done that already....hasn't happened.  2013 is going to be the year of.....let's just get by the best we can.

Taxes!!!!

This article was featured on Yahoo yesterday:

http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/article/113611/most-least-taxing-states-bloomberg


I am not 100% sure that EVERYTHING is accurate, especially after reading some of the comments.  But the overall gist....seems that the New England area is the most expensive area for taxes.  They are ranking CT as #1.  Go us!!!

I know when I have talked about the cost of things here, I frequently get comments about how much LESS expensive it is where you all live.  When I said we pay $342 A MONTH for oil....I could hear your collective jaws drop.  And remember...that is less than it was in 2008, when we paid $517!

We have high cost of living here...taxes, utilities, food, gas.  Connecticut tends to pride itself that it is so much more expensive here...and therefore better?  Nah. 

The article also listed South Carolina in the bottom 5 for cost of taxes.  Well, if our move ever happens (more on that soon), we had decided to move to SC, just over the border.  G-man would work in NC, but we could take advantage of the lower prices in SC.

Going from the #1 to the #48 place for taxes....while I worry about how this will all play out....in the end we will probably save a ton from the get-go.  Just for our escrow...we currently pay over $600 a month.  Just for escrow!!!  Based on quick calculations...we will save $400 just in taxes per month.

How about you?  Where does your state rank?

You be the judge....who's "right"?

This rack was full on both sides

Confession time....remember when we had the yard sale in June?  Here are the pictures of all the clothes we were selling (and remember...I have been selling stuff off for several years...this is what we STILL had) :

2T-size 7

Newborn - 18 months

Most of this stuff did not sell.  :(  We put them back into boxes, and those boxes landed in our "playroom."  We were too tired to deal with it.

A few weeks later, consignment shops started taking fall and winter stuff.  So I tried that route on some of the things.  I found out that wasn't worth the time.  They rejected 80% of what I brought, and the 20% that they did take...I got about a $1 per item (which was exactly what I was selling the clothes for at the yard sale).  But bringing the stuff there, having to wait hours for them to sort it, then get $20?  It wasn't worth it.

So we decided to donate it to Goodwill.

Now, G-man has participated in this process very little.  He mostly was the brawn who moved the boxes.  The actual sorting and dealing with it...not so much.  And since the yard sale, he hasn't looked at any of it.  He fully admits this, and also has no plans to help me with the cleaning up at all.

I have said multiple times that I wanted the playroom back to working order before school starts.  So I have spent a great deal of time bagging everything up, making a list for the tax donation, and driving it over.  We have donated about 12 bags, and I still have lots more stuff.

And here we are at the impasse:

G-man thinks we should just bring the stuff over...screw the tax write off.  

Just get it out of the house.

vs.

I think that for the quantity of stuff that we have, it is too big of donation to not take the write off.

I want him to help me bag and list and finish.

Ok...so who's "right"?  Are you team Mysti or team G-man????

So THAT is why we aren't getting anywhere!!!

I have really been racking my brain (which, is full of holes at this point....) on why we aren't making more progress.  If others can do it...so can we!  So what about our plan isn't working.....Then it finally came to me.  The reason we aren't making more progress....is we are PLANNING.

I can hear you all now.....Huh?  Mysti....you really are off your rocker.  Since when is planning the reason that something doesn't work?  That is so counter intuitive.

Oh, but listen, my little grasshoppas....

I looked at our budget and where all the moola is going, and it dawned on me.  We are SAVING for PLANNED expenses.  In the past...we would hope that we could use our three paycheck months to cover the shortfall.  There were some things we would put on a credit card, and then we really didn't think about them as expenses, because they just fell into the abyss known as DEBT.

Last April, I opened our first ING account, and have since opened several more.  These have allowed us to save for planned expenses, and to actually visually see where it all is.  And we are now paying CASH for things that either previously went on a credit card, or we shuffled around to make ends meet.

• We saved $1,000 CASH for the kids' camp.  They didn't take credit cards, so that wasn't even an option.  Last year, Nannie paid for camp (which was great, because we hadn't saved enough.....).  This year, we had it, no problem.

• The kids' birthday is coming up at the end of August.  They will each have a party (their first one since they were 4, and they will be 9).  I researched the cost (she is having a spa party, he is having a bowling party), and saved up.  I saved $700 for their parties, gifts, cakes, and their special dinner on their birthday.  Probably more than I need, but the left over will roll into the Christmas account.   Now, I realize that is ALOT for a birthday....but this is for 2 kids' parties, and they haven't had one in 5 years. 

ETA:  Please remember....I have a child with Autism.  He simply will not tolerate having people in the house for a party.  Kids "touching" his stuff....will set him over the edge and he will not even attend his own party.  We can't do parties the way the rest of the world does.  He likes bowling....he understands what happens there.  We can do a party for him and have him have FUN...and that is important to us. 

Sassy....her party will be for her and 3 friends.  She doesn't have friends.  She doesn't get invited to parties.  She doesn't have playdates.  She is the kid that has "that brother."  If she has a friend over, Bossy goes into hysterics, and it is a mess. 

No one has to agree with us on this one.  But if you take a 9 year old kid who has had ONE party in their life......I don't think we are being over indulgent.

(I should add that originally this was going to be for G-man's 40th birthday bash....but after this year of issues, I decided against holding it, and decided that it would go to the kids).

• The boat.  My nemesis.  It needs some repairs.  We are now saving $40 a month toward that.

• The cars.  Having a car maintenance fund has saved our tushies a few times.  It has covered oil changes, wiper blades, a few smaller repairs.  Granted, it didn't do squat when we had the $2,000 transmission bill.  But over the past year, I guarantee ever last one of those expenses would have been on a credit card if we didn't have an account for this.  We save $140 a month for insurance and maintenance.

• Christmas!!!  We are all guilty of charging up Christmas.  And last year I planned to not do it....and then did.  Not this year.  We have a Christmas fund.  We are saving $230 a month for Christmas right now (this fund is still small....we had to save for camp and birthdays first).  And we decided that the kids really don't need alot of fancy stuff...she is really happy with books.  He is harder, but again, fancy doesn't do it for him.  We budgeted for gifts, cards, postage, the tree....and when the money is gone, it is gone.  I am not going into more debt for this. 

• Irregular expenses.  These are things like the 2x a year car tax bill, 2x a year water bill, quarterly trash bill.  Those things you know exist...but sort of ignore until you have to deal with them.  Not anymore.  I save for them, to the tune of $80 a month.

After I thought about all of this.....THERE is where my debt repayment money is.  I used to think I should have at least $500 more a month to repay debt.  NO....we were living above our means, and now that $500 is being saved for REAL expenses.

I can beat myself up for not slashing through our debt in Gazelle style.  But I am not going to.  We are living a more realistic budget now.  (Even if the food budget is STILL crazy, and gas prices aren't helping either).  Baby steps.

Dave Ramsey might not be proud per se....but he at least wouldn't call us an idiot.

Happy Tax Day!

I know ALL of you have already filed your taxes....right????

We owed $192 in state taxes, and had a $1,035 refund for federal.  We scheduled the state taxes to be an autodebit for today (knowing today is payday, and we KNEW there would be money in our account).  There it was when I checked on line this morning....the debit has already taken place.

Still haven't received our federal refund.  That is estimated to arrive this Friday.  Our plan was to repay ourselves the $192 for state, and the remainder will go to finish some home projects. 

Is it bad that I am already thinking about NEXT tax day?  With the mortgage refi, where we paid points, are now paying FHA mortgage insurance, and with slightly higher child care costs....our refund should be a little higher next year (of course, we are paying less in interest costs, so it may all even out.  Who knows). 

I am really hoping to be way on down the debt snowball road by then.  We have hit so many potholes...our time is due!  I would really LOVE to hit our goals for this year.....it is still possible....just will really take alot work, a little luck, and no more derailment.

But for today...I can sit back and know another tax year is gone, and focus forward.

The Tax Man Cometh

Have you started getting your official Tax documents yet?

Over the weekend, we got our mortgage statement for taxes.  How pathetic that we spent over $14,000 just on interest?????  I know it is a tax write off, but I can think of a billion better ways to spend $14,000.  

Our taxes are pretty straight forward.  House, 2 kids.  That pretty much takes care of our deductions.  Because of our FSA, our medical expenses don't reach the 7.5% limit.  Our charitable donation are small.  A little bit on student loans, but again, not much.

I usually do our taxes myself.  I have used Turbo Tax for years and I find it easy to navigate and have never had a problem.  But now I am debating what to do about our taxes for this year.

Option 1:  Continue using Turbo Tax.  Cost is about $40-$50, plus electronic filing fee.  I have used it before, and it gets the job done.

Option 2:  Use one of the "free" programs that are available.  I have never really investigated any of these, so I don't know the layout or ease of use. 

Option 3:  Go to a professional.  Not sure of the cost, but if there is more to deduct than I am aware of, the extra refund may be worth the fee.

I am leaning toward Option 2 right now.  I know approximately what we have gotten back the past several years, so if the refund isn't in that ball park, I can always revert to Option 1.  But if I can save the $50, hey....it is $50!!

I am sort of curious about our state taxes this year.  We ended up owing state tax last year (BOOOOO!!!), so we adjusted our withholdings to compensate for that.  I think we will get a refund (albeit small), or possibly owe just a bit.  But either of those options are better than owing the $500 we did last year.

What do you all do?  Are you a DIYer, or do you bring a shoe box full of stuff to someone?  If you use someone, how did you find them???

Tax refund....so indecisive!

Our taxes are 99% done.  One question to get answered and then off it goes.  Owed a tiny bit of state taxes (we had adjusted last year when we owed, but guess not quite enough....we were off by about $5 a paycheck)...smallish refund for federal. In total, it is about $900 we will get back.

Original plan:  put it toward the retirement loan....but when that plan bit the big one.....

Plan B:  Use it toward student loan #2.  This would pay off almost 60% of this debt.  I

Plan C:  Medical debt.  Thought about putting toward the dentist....but that debt is never really going to go away for awhile.  We pay it off, then it comes back next dental visit.  In the ideal world, we will have a savings plan for this....but I digress.  Hospital #2 is going to be paid off this weekend when I pay bills, so that doesn't count.  Hospital #1 is a thorn in my side, and this would take care of a big portion of this...but this debt also doesn't have any interest on it.

Which brings us to the current plan.

Plan D:  Household repair.  I mentioned in a previous post that our thoughts on home improvement got shot when we priced it all out.  So the decision was made to cut it back to the totally necessary stuff:  bathroom repairs, fence, driveway.  This plus the cash from our sale of "stuff" will greatly ease these costs.

We have someone coming to give us a quote on the cleaning and restaining of the fence.  While I am pretty sure we will end up doing it ourselves, I wanted to know what someone would charge.  We are so tight on time, that hiring someone might be a better option. 

Thoughts????

A few updates

Car - We spent $100.99 fixing the wheel studs on G-man's car.  We used cash from the sale of stuff (you know, that money was supposed to go to the retirement loan, but that blew up in our face).  At least we didn't go into debt for this.  I e-mailed my friend whose hubby works for the car company to see if he had any ideas on what to do about this.

Taxes - I am still missing one W-2 (GRRRR).  But I am going to plug in all the numbers I have and add it in later.  I am curious where we will be.  The original plan was to put a refund toward the retirement loan, but I am rethinking it.  I might put it on Student Loan #2, and hopefully wipe that out shortly.  That will free up $60 a month, and combined with the $60 we will save  from getting rid of the land line phone, it will balance out the hike in the oil bill.

Decrease in electric bill - decided that extra $50 per month will go first toward the student loan, then toward Hospital #1.  Putting an extra $50 toward Hospital #1 will help chip that one away.

Ponderings on preparing taxes

Ah yes....that wonderful time of the year! We are past the January 1 mark, and on pace to start preparing taxes!!! If you are expecting a refund, you may have your taxes done by early February! If you are expecting to pay....April 15 might be the date you have in mind. Of course, organization is always a factor in these decisions.

Do you prepare your own taxes, or outsource it? Are you a pencil and paper person, or do you like some of the ready to use software?

For the past 10 years, I have used Turbo Tax. Our taxes are generally straight forward, so it was plug in numbers and go. I am debating this method this year. I always have remorse....did I get ALL I was entitled to? Maybe an expert could have found more ways to bump up the refund. Would the benefit of giving our taxes to an expert out weigh the money spent?

Not sure....still thinking this one over. I should add that we adjusted our taxes taken out of our paychecks a long time ago, so that our refunds are generally small. Why let the government us our money, interest free, all year when we would benefit from it as we go?

I know some people really like to get $5000 back at once and then use it as a huge debt paydown, or for a vacation or other purchase. Not us. We need it on a weekly basis.

What do you do?

Proud of me

It is 9:02am....well, at least here it is...and it is for the moment....by the time I finish this, it won't be 9:02am anymore.

I have just finished paying bills. The ones I have to write a check for. UGH. Mostly it is medical stuff....which if I can direct your attention to the right side of the screen....please notice the big ole ZERO balance in some areas!!!

But that is not the point of this post. I had to pay our car personal property tax. At least in our state, we have bills sent in July, for a July payment and January payment. My car value has dropped, so at this point, we just pay in July. G-man's car still has 2 payments, albeit they have also gone down (gotta love depreciation).

Technically this payment is due 1/1/10. But they give you until 2/1/10 to pay it without penalty. But I paid it TODAY. December 30. Two full days BEFORE it is ACTUALLY due.

With 3 paychecks this month, we had the money now. Why wait and let that "extra" money get sucked into some other vortex? The bill needed to get paid. So I just paid it. It is in the mailbox waiting to go to the happy Tax Collector.

The other bonus of paying it today....it is tax deductible for 2009. If I paid it in January...I would have had to wait for the 2010 taxes (processed in 2011!) to deduct it.

Small victory, yes. Am I still bummed that I don't have thousands of dollars knocked off of our debt....yep. But we are making baby steps in the right direction.

(BTW....it is now 9:11am *smile*)