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Archive for February, 2011

Apartment option.

February 26th, 2011 at 03:56 pm

One of the guys that is deploying with me is looking for someone to watch his place while he is gone. Usually he splits the rent, which means a 2 bedroom furnished apartment for $300 per month plus lights ($30-50).

My Ex-Husband actually knows this person. So for this cost this MIGHT be another option. If it was not for my BFs dog, I would suggest he rent the place if My Ex does not take the aparment option.

I have a million ideas going through my mind.

I am not sure but I am thinking that I might OFFER my EX an lease option while "HE" is deployed for $150 per month in exchange for not changing the Current Child Support situation. I just would need to figure out if he would be in the house rent free, in my co-workers apartment and if he takes the apartment am I going to pay the full $300 rent, a portion or him pay all during "MY" deployment.

** My deployment is from Fall 2011 to Fall 2012 and My EX is deploying from Spring 2013 to Spring 2014.***
Just need time to pass to see what ends up happening.

Need to Vamp up Savings!!!

February 26th, 2011 at 12:41 am

Well I got my Tax Refund today. I originally was planning to include my regular $165 cost of daycare into my savings plan BUT I changed my mind.

Now I want to just save the money I am short for daycare costs so that I can apply the $165 to my mortgage.

See with my Ex-Husband basically saying if I don't let him stay in the house while I am gone that he will NEED to come after me for child support, I am going to need to make sure I have a fully funded Mortgage and Escrow account prior to Him graduating.

That way If my paychecks are garnished for Child Support while I am deployed then I have the money there in savings to pay my mortgage while I am gone and will just need to figure out how to pay my mortgage once I get home until the garnishment from my check ends.

I talked to my BF about the situation, He now knows that the Ex Moving in is basically something that has to happen. I just have to make sure to cover my bases, if My Ex moves into my home rent free and then still trys to go after CS from me trust me, my EX will have royally screwed up because I will not bend over backwards to be nice.

I also addresses the cost thing and BF said he was planning to pay me the amount of rent he was paying for rent starting on March 15th. If that is the case that is another $525 per month I will have to save up into the emergency fund. I don't know IF BF will move out right before EX moves in or if he will be able to get over his uncomfortable-ness of having the EX in the house. But I hope he does.

See I know this sounds bad BUT I would like him here, He is such a good role model for my son and he is such a calming influance on both me and my son, so IF the two adult males can just get along then it would be good for my son.

I guess that sounds wierd, but my EX and I managed to live like roommates for 8 years, so I hope that my Ex and my BF can live like Roommates while I am gone. My Ex taking care of our son, and My BF taking care of the house such as house repairs and upkeep, mowing grass and shoveling snow.

What would you do? I am not thinking clearly.

February 24th, 2011 at 07:53 pm

I am divorced, My divorce was final in May of 2010. My Ex-Husband moved out of state to go to college. It is a 12 hour round trip distance. In our divorce decree we were suppose to sell the house and divid the profits. Well my Ex-Husband is underemployed because he is lazy.

We tried to list the house for sell, but it did not sell. So eventually we came to a both agreed upon house value and I bought my Ex-Husband out of the house and refinanced the loan.

He lived rent free in my home until he moved out of state to start school in August. In Late July we finally came to an agreed house value and I refinanced.

Before I started dating my BF, my EX-Husband would come and stay in the spare bedroom in the basement when he came to visit our son. (Nothing PHYSICAL was going on, so I felt not fear).

****
Fast Forward.
I learned that I would be deployed out of country this coming September and asked if my Ex-Husband would take an extra large course load to graduate at least one month early (they are on a 6 week cycle) so that he could be done before I leave so that he can take care of our son.

I came up with the idea of my Ex just moving back into the house while I was deployed so that my son would not have to change schools and because if my son is living in my home then his medical is paid 100% with no co-pays BUT if he moves out of my home then he get moved to standard with a 20% co pay. Plus my son has a support system here on the cul-de-sac of people who love him.

Also I figured this would mean that someone would be around to watch the house. I was going to let him live there rent free because he was doing me a favor by watching the house and because of all the benefits for our son.

***
Fast Forward 3 months.
Well then I met my BF and I started thinking maybe I should adjust my plan a bit. I would trust BF to take better care of the house and IF I did have my Ex-Husband living in the house I would need him to pay the waste/water and elec/gas bills ($225 per month) just so that I could insure my Ex-husband would not run up the bills just because he was not paying it.

After a while I gave BF a key to my place not thinking he was going to move in but just so he could come and go as he pleased without me needing to let him in. Well he took that as me asking him to move in. I guess maybe I was asking him to move in without asking. Anyway he asked if I was sure IF I wanted him there because if he was staying at the house then my EX would need to find an apartment during the deployment AND he would need to find another place to stay when he came to see our son, because he was not comfortable with the situation.

My BF gave notice to his landlord and is in the process of breaking his lease. He has a dog and his parents are bringing the dog here with them when they visit either this weekend or next weekend. (They live out of state and have been watching BF's dog). At this time the only financial contribution BF has provided is that he has watched my son for me so that I could work the weekend twice.

****
A few days ago my EX said he wanted to talk to me because he was stressing the housing situation and wanted to iron down the details. I think he thought I might be on the edge of letting BF move in. Anyway when I told EX that he should plan for an apartment when he moves back to this state after finishing school, he said he was really looking forward to living in the house rent free to get back on his feet and since he will not have a job he is not sure how he can afford to rent some place and IF he has to pay rent then he would have to go to Child Support to stop his payments and to get something from me.

Please note that my EX-Husband ran through his Equity buyout in like 3 months and is now getting calls from his bank, creditors, and credit card company. I know this because I told him he need to update his telephone number because his "Services" still had the house number listed as a contact and they were asking for him to call him back.

***
I did the online calculator from our child support website and I currently get $319.90 from him now, IF I was forced to pay him Child Support I would have to pay $717. This is $1036.90 more money he would have a month and $1036.90 LESS money I would have if he chose to go that route. IF he goes that route I dont know where I am going to cut $1036.90 a month out of my bills.

I was thinking to make it easier I would see if BF would agree to let EX live in the basement. I have a two floor home with four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms so the only shared space would be the laundry and the kitchen. My EX is neat and tidy so that would not be an issue.

My another FEAR is once MY Ex-Husband realizes that if he has custody that not only would he not have to pay $319.90 a month he would make that $717 and so he might try to get permanent custody while I am deployed so I have to pay him the $717 each month. Another thing is once I get back from deployment and have to ask for another Child Support Adjustment to get my garnishments stopped and his started his other daughter (Different mother) will have turned 19 so if he maintained custody of our son her amount he would get to keep instead of possibly increasing my amount because of the freed up money.

Yes it is a complex MESS.

What would you do? Would you ask your BF to just try to look at your EX as a housemate? Would you do something totally different? What would you Do?


I am not thinking clearly and don't know what to do.

Bought Shoes and Talked with BF

February 24th, 2011 at 02:58 pm

So last night I realized I needed to start the look out for new running shoes as they no longer make the style number I have. Mine are old and when I run in them my arches start to ache within like 3 minutes.

I have been putting this off for a while. I went online and checked about five different sites. They all had the shoes listed for $84.99. But then I checked kohl's. The good news was I got Free shipping and there was a coupon code online for 30% off. Plus Kohl's sale price was $5 cheaper. So I saved $30 a pair. Yes, I bought two pairs because after taxes and everything they were $55 each. Which was too much of a deal to pass up.

Yes, you are might be thinking what is she thinking, buying two pairs of shoes instead of just one. Well the reason for it is....I need one pair now. And if I doing my math right this pair will wear out about half way through my deployment. I am worried that I will either break, lose, or have this one pair stolen and so I want a spare pair at home. I also have never shopped online and dealt with APO shipping so I figured it would be easier to buy them now and then if I need them before I come home for R&R then I can have BF ship them, instead of possibly having to pay jacked up prices because of the possibility of the cheapest provider not being APO friendly.

****
I talked to BF again about the fact I am broke. He let me cry and told me he understands and has been in my shoes and it is just going to take time to get back on our feet. He gave no ideas, no oh honey but I am going to pay the water bill, nope just yak yak yak about how it will all work out it time, it is just not been very long since my divorce and I just need to relax and let things settle into a pattern.

I knew I needed gas in my car, I need to pay my son's $24 dental bill and my water/waste bill is coming due soon. So this morning I took the gas that I purchased for the snowblower that does not use a oil mix and put it in my car. When I started the car it was nearly on E, oops thought I had a bit more. I now have almost a half tank of gas. I don't know if we will need to use the snowblower again or if it is just going to be shovel weather, and the tank is also the mower one (the grass is still covered in snow so don't need the gas for that yet, so I figured I would use it up).

I know when BF and I sorta talked about him moving in (did not talk about exact finances) anyway he said he would not stand for 2 Rosters in the hen house. Meaning EX could not stay there if he was. Well I am planning to tell him that I NEED to let the parasite live there while I am deployed because I can't afford the financial ramifications if he does not. I hope BF can deal with that. I know it will not be ideal BUT what does he expect for $225 a month rent (which he has not started paying). Yes, it will be ackward for everyone at first, but either everyone will get used to it or I guess BF will move out once he has saved enough money from leaving in my home to either rent an house that will allow a dog or have saved up for a down payment.

I think BF is a good guy, and I would hope he would be able to deal with the situation but in the end.

Not having my Ex live in the house while I am deployed will cost me.
$319.90 Child Support I am paid
$717 Child Support I would have to pay
Child Deduction 2012 taxes
Head of Household 2012 taxes
20% co pay of medical insurance instead of Full coverage
$250 Seperation Pay per month
Yep sure adds up fast.

I feel bad that BF is going to have to put up with my EX living in the basement in one of the spare bedrooms but I can't justify the financial losses.

Time to find a NEW checking account.

February 23rd, 2011 at 07:22 pm

I have had US Bank as my checking account home for 11 years, in that time I have earned just over $40.00 in checking rewards.

They used to pay every October when I first opened the account. A few years ago they changed it to once you got to $10.00 you could request the reward, but reward dollars were only good for 2 years, if you did not claim them or they did not get to the $10 limit you lost them.

Well Today I read another persons post about checking points and that got me thinking. So when I went into my checking account rewards section, it has changed again.

Now I have a balance of $0. Seems that the .01% reward on all debit card purchases has been changed to select businesses having different rewards points percentages, and the only businesses (5) that I actually use are not paying in store rewards just online rewards. But Rewards where reduced to requests allowed at $5.

I Do Not use my Debit Card online, I use my CC, then pay off the CC.

So since the Rewards Checking is of no reward to me I need to start looking at other Checking accounts so that I can find a rewarding partnership. I would like a local bank or an online bank that I can scan checks to. I do not like the idea of having to mail a check to be deposited into my checking (So ING orange Checking is out of the loop). What IF it is one of those rebate checks and it gets lost in the mail or delayed in the mail and it says on the check must be cashed within 30 days.

I went to the Savings Advice Forums and located a link for Checking Rewards based on my State. The problem is the higher paying ones don't have many Locations. I want to be able to bank when I am also out of state if need be.

The other thing that sucks is that I have almost all my automatic payments coming out of this non-rewarding account. I will have to go in and reset up all my automatic transfers etc. Oh well.

If BF is going to take over the utilities, I guess this is as good a time as any to start looking for another bank since some of the automatic payments would be stopping. I think I will have to keep this account open for a few more months though so that I know the afterschool daycare final autopayment clears on April 5th.

I am not looking for much.
1. Some Sort of Rewards - either from debit card usage or based on the balance I have in the checking account.
2. Free ATM usage at either their bank machines or at certain machines if online bank.
3. Online Access
4. Deposits made either at a local bank or online such as scanning the front and back of the check.
5. Overdraft insurance or low low fees.
6. No Debit Card required transactions (while deployed will need to use star card for cash not debit card).
7. allows actual checks. (again sorry ING)


I don't have a smart phone but I am thinking of going that way because I am thinking of going to Straight Talk which would be cheaper than I am paying for cell service now. So if the bank had a banking application that would be cool also. I know of one bank that does the check scanning that you can take a picture of the front and back of the check using your phone to make the deposit.

So Far
ING Orange is a No!
US Bank is what I am leaving!

Wish me luck...

Financial talk with BF, Housing plan talk with EX, and Doggy update.

February 23rd, 2011 at 04:28 pm

So Monday I had the talk with BF about finances, not really totally happy with the outcome. I feel sort of taken advantage of when it was done because I was not comfortable telling him what I wanted, just asked him what he thought was fair.

He said his take home is $1600, and he is not going to completely hand his check over to another person ever again. I care about BF, and he is a good housemate, but I want a chance at a long term relationship and BF doesn't plan to get married again. Which is fine with me, because it would just complicate things, but I would like a more intertwined relationship. Okay, I would like to be one of those engaged for 10-12 year people.

Back in Sept 2010 I told my EX-Husband he could move into my house (so our son would not have to move while I was deployed). Well I was not planning on charging him rent since he would still be paying child support but then I got to thinking and feared my EX would damage things such as the stove etc. Or to be spitful run up my utilities bill. So I desided that he would have to pay the utilites so that he would not be tempted to set the heat at 80 in the winter or air conditioner at 65 in the summer. So utilities $250 average per month plus 319.90 child support equals $560 per month $$$ I would have gotten from EX.

Well then I met my BF, and he moved in. I trust my BF to take care of the place better so last night after my EX said he wanted to know exactly where we were sitting, I told EX "he should just rent an apartment". I think it would be best for our sons mental adjustment anyway and mine since I don't trust my EX not to purposely damage the house while I am gone if he gets upset with the responsiblities that come with being a father.

Well BF knows that I was going to let EX move in and just pay utilites so that was what he suggested. That he pay the utilites. I guess part of me feels that is taking advantage of me because of the fact that since my EX is not staying in the house I will need to pay him $319.90 in child support so having BF stay there instead of the EX is costing me $319.90 for my deployment time frame. Also $250 in utilites is less that the $410 (1/3 total household costs) I was hoping he would offer. He was paying $525 a month plus lights in rent so I feel like $410 would have still been a better deal than what he was paying.

That aside, I am trying to look at it like a house sitting option, BF is house sitting my house for me and I am getting the utilites paid out of the deal. Then once I get home I think I will have to re-address the issue. Right now in addition to the utilities (which he has not started paying yet, he does provide me with daycare for my drill weekends whenever he is not working also so that saves me $100 each month).

###

I was trying to look up IF I could get composite fencing done here, and the main professional fencing webite had the type of fence I wanted and a section on Dog Kennels. We will need one once my BF's dog comes to live here because I want a composite fence if one is going to be put up and they are expensive PLUS a fence is not one of MY priorities. BF said he would pay for the fence and install it since it was for his dog BUT in his mind he had a chain linc fence in mind. Sorry but if I am going to put up a fence it is going to add curb appeal. I do not want to put up a chain linc fence then try to sell the house later and the buyer turned off because there is a chain linc fence. So for the time being a dog kennel will have to do. I guess I don't really want to pay for the fence, I plan to get a estimate on what having a pro install what I had in mind done. Then maybe BF can apply what he is saving in rent by living with me to the cost of having the fence either installed by the pros or towards the materials that I approve. I saw some at the hardware store but I was not at all impressed. I would prefer the pro install.


After seeing the dog kennel on the one website, I desided to check if there where any new listing for kennels on our local free online website. The last time no luck but last night there was one that was listed on the 16th.

Menards had a deluxe model (5 x 10) for $350 and a basic chain linc the same size for $290. The ad did not have a picture BUT I think it is the deluxe model anyway they want $250 or best offer, because they said they paid $350 plus at Menards for it which leads me to believe it is the deluxe one. BF called them last night and left a message. He will call again today. Hopefully they still have it. It would be nice for him to get a deal on it, also the hardware store said it would take one week for it to get to the store.

Well Last night after I showed BF the web ad, he got a text from his mother to call his tonight. Seems BF's parents are coming to visit, they will be bringing the rest of BF's things and his dog. We found out last night that they will be here either this weekend or next weekend. So need to either get the online one or order the one from the hardware store asap. The good news is because they are doing the trip it is only going to cost BF gas money so instead of having to pay for a uhaul and time off work ($2000 approx) he is figuring about $600 in gas.

Now I just have to not let the housing agreement with BF bug me, I don't want it to ruin our relationship so not sure what to do.

I want new food storage containers

February 18th, 2011 at 03:37 pm

I currently have no food storage containers left in my container drawer. Kmart was a 40 piece set which is really 20 containers on sale for $15.98. My local Wal-mart has a 6 piece (3 containers) of my most used sizes for $9.98 yep for $6 more I can get an additional 17 containers, but only one of the additional sizes are my Favorite sizes.

I have been wanting to buy new containers for a while since my lower quality (the take and toss kind) are starting to be at the end of their life cycle. I believe I have had them for about 5 years. The bowls are cracking/splitting from the applied pressure to put the lid on, and the lids are starting to crack at the seams so they are no longer air tight.

I don't know why it is so hard to just go out and buy new containers. My old containers I loved them because I had three sizes. The three sizes had three different shaped lids, round, square, and oval. This made figuring out the size and lid super easy. I would like to do that again but I am running into the problem that buying just the size I want is more expensive than buying the bigger set and having extra in different sizes.

I think I am going to start with 1 or 2 of the sale Kmart 40 packs. Then as more or my old ones wear out I will buy just the size I like. The reason for wanting the multipack is that my primary goal is storage containers to take lunch to work BUT there are times when the leftovers are not enough to be a meal or they are small things like diced onion or diced green pepper that I like to cut once and use out of the container over a few days.

So I think it is time to bite the bullet and buy the storage containers. By the way, I don't have any storage containers in my drawer right now because the ones I have (that are not broken yet) are all in use. I like to make double batches of meals or make meals large enough for at least 1 lunch of leftovers so BF or I can take them for lunch and not have to go out to eat or buy frozen entrees. Yes I used to buy a months worth of frozen entrees and put them in the extra freezer at work (no one uses it but me).

Buying one set of containers is what is would cost for 4 and a half days of frozen entrees so this actually pays for itself the first week. Looking at it like that has helped. Tonight after work I think I will swing by Kmart and buy 2 sets of the dishes.

Need to cut out the Extras.

February 17th, 2011 at 09:11 pm

I need to get my Emergency Fund Finished. If the Continuing Resolution is not fixed prior to 4 March 2011, then I am going to have pay issues.

I made a list of my expenses and posted it as a page on here. Hopefully later after I am thinking clearly I can ask for advice on whys to cut out costs that I am over looking.

My Mortgage was refinanced in July 2010 so there is not much I can do about that. It is what it is but I noticed that interest rates are higher than my 4.25% currently so that is that.

I also can't do anything about my house taxes, they were just assessed this Summer also so they are actually correct.

I am thinking maybe it is time to call my house insurance company though and see what I can do to reduce that cost or if that does not help get other quotes. BUT I think I will put that on the back burner for now because I don't want to increase my deductable until I have the increase in my in my Savings.

Today I will try to reduce my Gas/Electric Bill by reducing the heat temp and changing the time settings to match up more with what time we are getting out of bed and going to bed.

I have a list of 5 things that I think will be easy and then hopefully I will start tackling the harder stuff.

Lease Termination, Not Good.

February 17th, 2011 at 03:07 pm

Well I guess BF's apartment manager called him yesterday and told him he was SOL, that they were not going to do anything about helping him terminate his lease he just has to keep paying rent. WTH??? What IF he could not afford to pay his rent would they then do something?

BF would have gave them 45 days notice IF they had returned his numerous calls, he ended up giving them 30 days written notice with this months rent. Now 11 days before the end of the month they tell him nope, nad, too hard to find renters in the winter. Really, he could have started to locate a sub-leaser or renter to take over his lease 45 days ago if he would have know that.

I am a little upset because that $450 per month for the next 5 months is $2000. He signed a 9 month lease. I did not expect for him to get out scott free (truthfully I was expecting a lease termination fee/fine, and at a minimum 30 days rent and possibly rent until it fills and possibly deposit loss) but I did not expect for him to be completely shot down with no options.

I went to my states government website under the housing section and they had a tenants rights flyer, the flyer has a Legal Assistance Number on it and also a Fair Housing number and Depatment of Labor telephone number. I am hoping they can offer some help. See when BF was staying at the apartment the landlord/apartment manager came very close to breaking some laws many times. So if necessary I guess BF might have to play hardball.

An example is Snow removal is under the landlord responsibilies and BF told him many times that the front steps were icy and asked when the snow would be removed from the parking lot, The apartment manager ignored the ice comment and told BF he needs to make sure to get every speck of snow off his shoes when he enters the apartment building and that there is a snowblower over in the shed....Really you are going to have a tenent use a power tool they are not familiar with, also what if said tenant can't operate that power tool because it is HEAVY??? There are more examples but that sticks out in my mind.

I love having my BF living with me, I just wish that he could help with added household expenses. BF will not be able to do that until this lease mess gets ironed out. The sad part is I am starting to feel a bit taken advantage of (kinda like when my EX-Husband was not working), so I want this mess settled soon.

I know someone who might be willing to take over the lease BUT they don't need a place until right before the lease ends, and I don't want to put them into a place with an unethical borderline lawbreaking landlord/manager.

What happened to my Deal Shopping Mogo.

February 16th, 2011 at 05:07 pm

I have noticed that since BF moved in I have went from grocery shopping every few days (Boredom/Freebies and Cheapies) to doing the bulk of the shopping the Saturday after the first of the Month Payday. The reason for that paycheck being the one that restocks our pantry, I am not sure.

I have been adding stuff to the grocery list on the counter as I use it so that when that Saturday rolls around I restock what we have used. I guess my only issue is when I do that I am buying the cheapest at the time (brand name with coupon or generic) and I wonder if there is a better way to reduce our grocery expenses.

I am in a rut. I am not sure how to get back into the money saving mindset. See I am not sure if my grocery shopping has gone up since BF moved in but I feel like it has. Before he moved in my son and I were eatting the stockpile and we were not spending much on groceries. Also we were eatting cheap foods and not well balanced meals, and not much in the vegetable relm. So now that I needed to restock the pantry and freezer in order to create meals it seems like to my mind I have spent more than normal. We also always have onions and green peppers in the fridge. A vegetable staple is unheard of pre-BF.

BF's last Student loan payment comes out of this paycheck. I am not sure IF he was paying rent with the 15th paycheck or the end of the month one. So depending on when he used to pay rent will depend on how much money BF will soon start to have available to buy groceries and a portion of the utilities.

Last night I made a potato based soup and I realized the potatos we had were sprouting along with the last sweet potato, so I asked BF to pick up 2 potatos on his way home from work. He did and he picked up a few of the things he needs for the chili he plans to make this weekend. I am wondering if the best way to handle the groceries is to just ask BF to pick up the needed parishables as we need them and have me purchase the staples.

Tax Refund 25 Feb 2011.

February 16th, 2011 at 02:47 pm

I itemized this year, so my return was held at turbotax until the IRS said they were ready for itemized returns.

Last night I checked my email to see if Turbotax sent me an email saying the IRS accepted my return. There was not an email when I went to bed. So a few minutes ago I went to turbotax to check and it shows that the IRS accepted my return and I should get my return on the 25th of Feb 2011.

I am super excited for my return. It is going to go to the Emergency Fund and Daycare Fund. I will have a bit leftover and that is going to the house repair saving which will mean that it is fully funded for my deductable.

I am thinking since my appliances are really new (2007), the only issue I have is with my washer. I had to replace the motherboard in it and since then the loads take super long so I wash on the quick cycle which is still long but my clothes come out clean.

I am thinking that I might stop the automatic payment that is going to my house repair account and increase the mortgage or escrow amount or both. Yes I want to save money to put on the deck but I think the mortgage and escrow are more important than the deck at this point.

Mortgage and Escrow paid.

February 15th, 2011 at 08:27 pm

Okay so today is Payday. This means I went into my checkbook added in the deposit for the 15th and then subtracted out all my automatic payments for the rest of the month.

So leftover money went to fund the Mortgage Saving Account and to the Escrow Savings account.

I now have $407.14 for the rest of the month. This includes my internet bill (Should be 40.23) and about $36 for water. I figure I will spend $60 in gasoline for my car and hopefully I can keep groceries low and of course there will be unplanned expenses.

I wish we had another internet option but this is the lowest priced option. I just hate how it will be one price for like 3 months and then a few cents more the next month etc etc.

I hope I can keep from buying groceries since it really should be BF's turn since he has not purchased groceries in a while. I hope I can keep from buying wants. I would really really like to buy some new food storage containers.....BUT whatever I don't spend will be able to be applied to my savings goals on the 1st of March.

Got half my Valentines Gift. / freezer stash

February 15th, 2011 at 02:49 pm

Yesterday I got flowers from BF. They were delivered to the house at 5:30pm which is the time I always tell people if they need to come to the house that we will be there. So BF has picked up on that. Embarrassment)

The flowers were nice, they were actually much prettier this morning. Last night I was looking at the roses and thinking they seemed a bit bruised. But this morning once they opened more they were very pretty.

I am picky about my plants and flowers because I used to work in the lawn and garden portion Wal-Mart.

Anyway, it was the card that I loved. Last night I pulled out the card and message made me laugh out loud. He makes me smile. Later that night he asked if I like the flowers and I said yes even though I had already told him thanks for the flowers three times, but I think he wanted to know if I REALLY liked them. He then asked if I like the bear..... Bear, What bear?

See BF jokes that he is going to send me a singing telegram by a teddy bear. He will not because he is the same as I and not into that big production singing stuff. So I was wondering if it was a joke in reference to that. Well he said you were suppose to get the flowers, a stuffed bear and a card. Now I don't know IF flower places just call the stick thing they stick in the flowers with the printed message a card or if there was suppose to be another card. But he is going to look online again because of the MIA teddy bear.

I gave BF a thermal shirt (a need as he is from warmer climates and needs to increase the amount and warmth level of the cold weather gear he has). And the big box of Whitman Sampler Chocolates (My favorite). He ate half the box last night. :0) So I did well. He mentioned that he was thinking of stopping on the way home from work to get me chocolates but he would have probubly eaten them all before he got home.

I got my son a gift package, it came with a tiny box of hard candies, a box that you can put a photo in the front and a stuffed leopord. He really liked his stuff. I knew he would.

****
Last night I made Easy Chicken Parmisean. I had 7 servings left for lunches since I made a double batch. I took 4 of the containers to work for lunch. They went into the breakroom freezer. Tonight I am making Pork Chops with Mushroom Rice.

Right now I have 2 brown bag berritos, 2 easy chicken parmisean, and two lemon pepper chicken with rice and veggies for BF for Lunches.

I also have 3 lemon pepper chicken and about 8 brown bag berritos in the freezer for lunches. I want to slowly build up the lunch leftover stash in the freezer so that there is food for lunch even if I make something that does not produce leftovers (like tonights small meal), or we are just not hungry so we just graze all night instead of sitting down to a meal.

Payday is tomorrow ....Good Thing too.

February 14th, 2011 at 09:38 pm

I went grocery shopping. I need to stop!!! See if I buy all the groceries really there is nothing left to leave to BF to buy.

I used the last of the ground beef last night, I made these brown bag burritos. It called for two pounds of ground beef, I only had one so it had to be half beef half turkey. I could not tell the difference at all.

I told BF we were out of ground beef so we are going to have to use start to use turkey for a while and then he said well tell me what else we need that is left on the grocery list (I have been lining through stuff as I buy it) and he would pick it up on the way home. Well we will see if he does.

I think I am going to start double batching stuff and using half beef and half turkey. I think it will stretch the beef out longer.

I am planning on making Easy Chicken Parmesan. I really like this recipe and it reheats really well for lunches. I plan on using two pounds of italian seasoned ground turkey, so I can double the recipe.

Today on the way home from work I need to deposit my rebate from some free shampoo and my telephone refund. The telephone refund is only good for 30 days so I need to get that cashed fast.

Today is Feb 14th....Yes it is Valentines Day BUT it is also the day that the IRS is suppose to start taking itemized tax return. I need to get into my yahoo email and see if TurboTax released My tax return. I can't wait to get my return!!!

****
Today is Valentines Day, I love Roses. I love getting Roses at work especially on Monday so I can enjoy them all week long before taking them home for the weekend. The problem is Valentines Day is the EXPENSIVE holiday for flower delivery. So deep down I want roses and I want them today so I can enjoy them all week long BUT then the frugle side of me does not want my BF to get overcharged, next week he could get double the flowers for the same price. So even though the day is now coming to a quick end and I am thinking BF is not getting me anything I want to be positive because I know he has that final Student loan payment tomorrow.

Truthfully I want something for Valentines day. I do. BF told me yesterday he does not like Valentines day, he is more a Christmas and Birthday gift guy, he thinks Valentines day is just another day for stores to try to get you to spend money. So we will wait and see....If nothing else I can enjoy the box of chocolates I got him. (They are after all my Favorite Chocolates). :0)

SO the EX-Husband and the NEW Boyfriend are going to meet

February 11th, 2011 at 07:12 pm

My Ex-Husband is going to be in town for drill. He fixed his starter problem. I am not sure if he took my advice and towed the car or what. Anyway he wants to come over to see our son tonight and do some laundry.

When I told BF about this he asked "Does he not have a laundry machine at his place?" I told him he is probubly trying to save quarters since he is low on money. A extra load or two is not going to increase my water bill since they charge by the 1,000 gallon of water.

I can tell BF is uncomfortable with having EX over at the house, not sure how to get that to not be an issue. I guess his concern is my EX snooping through stuff. My EX is not like that, I think they will hopefully get along.

I need them to get along because if I am not around and BF is helping me by watching my son and my EX wants to see our son then they are going to have to interact. I know both will act like adults BUT it is going to be ackward.

On a financial note, I was going to use the time that my EX was spending with our son and doing laundry at the house to be out of the house ALONE with BF. I was thinking we could go out to eat and I could call it part of my BF's Valentine Gift, But I think he just wants to hang out at home because of spending all day flying home and then having to work tomorrow. He has Drill Just like my EX. So if BF and I go out to eat that is money spent, but if we stay home then that is money saved. Wonder if it will be a NSD or a Spend Day.

My Ex-Husband wants my tools

February 10th, 2011 at 07:20 pm

I just got a phone call from my Ex-Husband. He was calling, not really sure why.

Anyway his starter was going out and his friend was going to replace it for him. So he purchased a new starter, instead of finally making his credit card payment. He delivers pizza for employment so a working car is a need.

Well he said his starter went totally out and now he can't get it to his friends house. He stated at one time I offered to split the tools with him. Hummm don't remember that as I have been selling the extras in my rummage sales as I find duplicates and triplicates. (Divorce decree states he gets the orange colored tools I get everything else). He said IF he had the tools now he might be able to replace the start himself IF he could find it.

He stated he had to get to drill this weekend and was suppose to get promoted this weekend. I suggested he maybe call his car insurance and see if he might have the roadside service added on because then he could tow the car to his friends house and then the car insurance would cover the charge.

**
The good news of this call is I found out he got promoted....YES this is good news. His pay will go up. I was kinda stressing about if he was going to try to get me to pay child support to him for the 12 months he will have our son while I was deployed. Not because I cared about the money. I was not wanting to have to have to deal with a child support review to figure out how much I would have to pay him each month for 12 months, just to have a child support review a year later when I get back and have my child fulltime and figure out how much Child Support should be payed to me.

See if he leaves all alone the rate will stay the same and yes he will have to pay me $319.90 per month while our son is in his care while I am deployed.....BUT if he makes a fuss, then I might have to pay him a little child support while I am deployed but once I get back his Child Support would triple. Not worth stirring the hornets nest if you ask me. I think it is one of those cases of think of the long term instead of the short term.

Why would his Child support triple? Because when we divorced he was working 2 part time minimum wage jobs but he will be gainfully employed when I get back also he has that promotion and finally his oldest daughter will have graduated high school. Oh and I forgot the child support calculator has been modified to try to keep up with cost of living increases or something like that.

Going to have to add a tolietry expense to the Budget

February 10th, 2011 at 03:50 pm

On Wednesday, I noticed that I was able to pull my hair back into a bun. Yes there was a bit more of that loose hair down my neck than I would have liked (just a half inch too short to get into the pony tail).

Well I pulled it back and hairsprayed the heck out of it to get it to stay in place without getting a bunch of flyaways. One thing I noticed was that there was not much left in the can. This weekend I am going to have to dig through my supplies and see if I can find my hair gel, booby pins, barrettes and hair ties.

Once My hair grows another 3 inches or so I will not have to use hair product on it to get to stay in place except for days when I know I will be wearing headgear alot and taking headgear off and on repeatedly.

Right now my hair is pulled back. :0) it is messier than I like but I dont have any gel or a comb to redo it. Not sure why but I love having my hair pulled back and out of my face.

I cut my hair because my EX-Husband who was not my EX at the time always complained about my long hair. So today (day two of pulled back hair) I feel like my old self. :0)

Where is my NetWorth?

February 9th, 2011 at 10:27 pm

Okay, a while back someone posted they used a website to track their NetWorth. Well I desided to check out the site and plugged in my numbers.

The problem....I don't remember the website. LOL

I am thinking maybe I will start a excell page and just update it maybe every 6 months or so.

I was looking at one of my accounts today and I realized that a CD that I put my son's money into does not mature this year it matures next year. This is good because the CD is earning more than current rates. At the time I only went 30 months because I was hoping by then this would start to pick up and I did not want his money underperforming. Never thought It would go lower, lower, lower until I started thinking maybe I should have put it in for a longer time frame. Oh well I still have 18 months to see if it was a wise choice.

Gettting New CC #

February 9th, 2011 at 04:10 pm

I went online to see how much I needed to pay on my CC. I have not been using my CC. I have been using my debit card. BUT I had a refund that I used my CC to purchase and so I used my CC so that I could get my money off the card.

I ended up using my card for $19.82 more than I had on the card. So when I get paid on the 15th I will schedule a payment for the future. I noticed when looking online that they cancelled my current CC # and within 20 days I should get my new card and will need to activate it.

Normally I hate non-company data comprimises that cause me to need a NEW cc number. The last time was when I was out of town on flood duty and I was using that card for food and necessities and it was a pain in the butt to worry if I was going to get home before the CC sat in the mail box for days or before I ran out of time on my CC. I was on night shift and so getting to the bank and pulling out a bunch of cash out of checking to pay for meals was not ideal.

But today THIS New number makes me happy. Why??? Well it makes me happy because I was divorced 9 months ago, Part of me has wondered.... Is my credit card number "Remembered" somewhere in one of the many online websites my Ex-Husband visits? Well now it is no longer an issue. I also cancelled my netflix account about 9 days ago so I have no more revolving payments on that card. I suppose I could have just asked for a new cc number a while back. But that seems like such a pain in the you know where just incase the number MIGHT be stored somewhere.

I was not afraid my EX would intentionally use my number if it had been stored somewhere, I was more afraid that he might forget to review the payment section and charge it to my card without realizing it.

But now it is no longer an Issue. I wonder what my new CC is going to look like? I know that seems silly BUT I like my CC and my Debit card to look as different as possible. Have you ever used a card and then was like....OH Crud I used the wrong card. I did that with my Work Card once, I don't even know why my Work card was in with the rest of the Cards cause I normally keep that in a different area. But having them look nothing alike is NICE.

No Spend Day!

February 9th, 2011 at 03:20 pm

On Monday I took a return to Wal-Mart.

I had purchased a birthday gift for my Cousin's son. I then forgot to take my son to the Birthday Party because I had to work that weekend and we ended up being released from work early because the weather was BAD.

I totally forgot about the party until it was over for like 3 hours and my son looked at the calendar and said "____'s Birthday Party is tomorrow right?" I was planning on still giving the present to him BUT then I got to thinking. You know the saying the gift for someone who has everything. Well this child has EVERYTHING so not getting this one little gift from us is not going to matter to him. But it will buy my family groceries.

On Monday I was planning on going to the Grocery store and using a store coupon to get two jars of pasta sauce for 99 cents each. I ran out of time before I had to pick my son up for daycare and figured I would plan for it the next day. (It is between work and the daycare location). IF I dont take my son along the trip is much faster and I have to tell him No we can't have that so many less times.

We are doing okay but lately I had been going crazy with the grocery shopping spending more in one week than I used to spend in a month. So I have been sticking to my budget closely since I made that Retirement Allotment mistake and I feel bad saying no when my son asks for food at the grocery store. It is just so much easier not to take him.

So Tuesday I decided that I was just going to wait until my BF gets home and then I would go to the store. But if I make a trip to the store just to buy 2 jars of sauce on sale am I really saving money? The gas I use would possibly bring it to the same price as it normally is. So I am going to skip it unless a situation happens that I am in the area.

I should go online and check if my paycheck stub for the 15th is posted yet. Then I can figure out how much money I have to apply to my savings goals.

BF out of town so the diet starts.

February 7th, 2011 at 02:57 pm

BF went out of town on Sunday, it is for work. He has a new employee type orientation thing until Friday.

So Sunday I cleaned out the fridge, BF and I had done a little of it on Saturday. Sunday I put all the leftovers into the Freezer. BF will eat them for lunch at work once he gets back. They will last longer in the freezer. My son and I then ate the rest of the tiny containers of stuff that was left that was not big enough to call a meal. I tossed out some of the yucky containers (yogurt, cheese dip, etc) and some cheese and summer sausage that was not tossed on Saturday. So now my fridge is very empty except for sauces in the door and EGGS.

This week I would like to take the shelves and drawers out of the fridge and wash them.

Yesterday I bought two green peppers, one red pepper, mushrooms, and some loss leaders for the pantry. The peppers and a onion I already had I cut up for dinners this week. My son and I are going to be eatting Denver Omlets this week. I love Denver Omlets, they are cheap but packed with veggies and so they are a complete meal. Plus it will use up some of the two 18 count cartons of eggs we have in the fridge.

I boiled a dozen eggs that I had in my fridge and took them to work for a snack incase I need protein. Yes this was in addition to the above mentioned Eggs.

I have a return to do today on the way home from work, I also want to pick up two more pasta sauces. I have a store coupon so I am getting big jars of Ragu Sauce for 99 cent each (Limit Two). This should be the only shopping I do this week.

I love Denver Omlets and I will be eatting them all week, My son will probubly eat them twice and I will make him other food and save any leftovers for BF for lunches. BF does not like to eat the same food routinely so that is why I don't do Denver Omlet binges while he is here.

When BF was growing up, he and his mother lived with his grandparents and I think his mothers sister and brother. Because of this he does not like to eat anything more than once a month for dinner. Let me explain growing up Every Friday was MeatLoaf, Every Monday was Spagetti, Every Tuesday was Tuna Cassorole, ETC so 7 different meals for dinner for Years.

Leftovers for lunch is different and turning let say a Turkey into different things like Roasted Turkey Day one, Turkey Soup Day Two, Turkey Sandwiches Day Three, Turkey Hot dish Day Four, and Turkey Chili Day Five is Okay also. It just can't be Omlets EVERY Thursday or Omlets Every Night for a week.

So the time is now to get my Omlet Fix taken care of, Why do I crave Denver Omlets? Tonight I will be having diced Ham, Green and Red Bell Peppers, Fresh Mushroom, Black Olives, and Chedder Cheese folded into Eggs with Milk and Salt, Pepper, and Garlic.

My Son is having Ham, Bacon, Black Olives, Cheese folded into Eggs with Milk and Salt and Pepper.

Yummmmmmmy!

How do you keep focused on goals? Irrational fears in my way.

February 4th, 2011 at 06:21 pm

I have a problem, I make a plan then I change my mind. First I might decide to pay extra on my mortgage but then I start playing it over and over in my head and I think I should save a years worth of mortgage payments into saving FIRST before doing that.

How do you keep with your savings goals without getting side tracked and rethinking your plan.

The only debt I have is my mortgage. So I am causing myself mental STRESS over what to assign my extra money each month into.

If all the debt you had was your mortgage and you had a pretty secure job, what would you do? How do you figure out when to start paying extra on your mortgage?

******
My irrational thinking below, please don't let it sway your advice to the questions above:

I fear losing my job even though I have no logical reason to fear this, then having to get a new job. My job pays EXTREMELY well and I fear making my mortgage payment if I had to find another job. This is not rational either, Yes I am paid well and would more than likely take a pay cut. The reason the not make the payment is not rational is I have my BF living with me, he has not starting paying rent yet, but if this happened then he would be a shoulder to lean on.

I also currently save a large portion of my paycheck to retirement. If I did not save a dime to retirement at my new job, I would have to find a $18.77 per hour job. OUCH in this area that would be tough. So my fear boils down to how can I find a really good paying job IF all of a sudden world peace broke out.

I guess worst case I could try to sell my home. See I tried to sell it this summer but I know why it did not sell. BF has plans to do some stuff to the home which would will just add buyer interest at a later date. I just hope I can sell it for close to its value. If I was, I could buy a cheaper home and thus reduce my mortgage. I have 74K in equity IF it sold at value. In this town a decent home starts at 110K, so I could get a bare bones house for a loan of 36K and that I think I could afford on a NEW less paying job.

Was down to $3.90 in Checking....

February 4th, 2011 at 03:12 pm

Well I ordered a Pampered Chef Pitcher that I have wanted for a LONG LONG Time about two weeks ago. I was not sure exactly when it would come in, my friend was closing a party and then going to combine orders etc. So I did not write the check right away when I told her to order the pitcher for me.

I also got gas yesterday. I had $3.90 in my checkbook after subracting the gasoline. I admit when you pay with debit card vs credit card you actually notice how much you are paying and how often for gas.

I went in to my checking account to balance it and I think I was going to check if maybe my tax return from the state was deposited.

Yesterday I got a note in the mail from my state saying I missed a credit. I have a carry over housing tax credit from like 2008. I used $20 so my tax return got increased by $20. I still have like $131 left so this credit could take a while to use up.

Maybe credit is not correct. See I owed $20 in taxes once they took all my things into play, so I got all I paid in back except that $20. I had that housing credit thing and they used it to apply to the $20 so I got all that had been taken out of my paycheck back. I still have more of this credit left cause it can only be used to apply to what you owe not what you get back.

My State Tax Return was basically what I had leftover or not given a home in my savings plan. Part of me wants to apply it to my Emergency Fund or my other savings goals but then part of me thinks leave it in checking as a cushion incase something comes up. BUT doesn't something always come up if you do that.

Oh also my Child Support came in....I always forget about that. I use my Child Support to pay for Daycare. The Daycare bill gets pulled on the 5th. So now that the child support came in to pay that, I can use the money "I" allocated for it out of the checkbook. So I now have that for these two weeks until payday.

After reviewing my savings I applied my State Tax Return to my House Repair Savings. Once this months autopayment goes through I will have $2000 which is my deductable if I make a claim against my homeowners policy. Actually I think it is $2100 or $2090 but $2000 is close enough.

Need to put my note back on my wallet.

February 3rd, 2011 at 03:03 pm

I made myself a note, it said "Is it a NEED? EF 4525 ->2505"

I had this on a post it and taped to my wallet and my wallet and the note had two rubber bands around it.

This means I had to take both rubber bands off and this was a reminder to slow down and read my note. I then had to unzip my wallet if I was going to pay.

This actually would make me consider if everything I was an absolute NEED.

I want to finish repaying my Emergency Fund.

Today I have $41.00 left in my Checking until payday on the 15th. I need to stop and get gas on the way home. I was thinking of using the credit card BUT that would be BAD!!!!!

I have a check at home, a refund from cancelling my house phone. I need to deposit that $17.

I was reviewing the grocery flyer yesterday and there are some loss leaders I want. They are the items I did not purchase at the store the last time I went. I also learned that my grocery store puts meat on sale once a month and it is the first week of the month. I was just going to go use the credit card after the talk I had with the BF. But after reading my sidebar and a few posts here, I have desided I will just skip the sales.

Last night I asked my BF if he had any money for groceries this week, and he kinda himmed and hawwed. He said he has $200 until payday. He said once he gets his per deim check, his Student Loan is paid off or Lease gets worked out he will be able to make up for it. This was when I had the what the heck I will just charge it thought. BUT NO I am not going to do it. My BF does not have a CC so $200 is including his safety net.

The grocery sale was for Mostly things HE prefers, Ground Beef, Soda etc anyway. I dont drink soda unless it is in the house. I also will use ground turkey because it is cheaper but he prefers beef. That is fine that he prefers beef and I will watch sales so we can get it when it is on sale. But if we run out of ground beef in the house cause he doesnt have money to buy part of the groceries then he can deal with ground turkey until it goes on sale again.

I hope this does not sound harsh, BUT soda and Ground Beef are not NEEDS. Soda is a Want and Ground Beef is a preference, lots of people even do meatless days to make their grocery budget go farther.

Cohabitation – How much rent?

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:26 pm

Cohabitation – How much rent?
February 2nd, 2011 at 01:53 pm
Here is the situation; I am living with my Boyfriend and My Son. My Boyfriend just moved in and is still in the process of getting out of his lease agreement (Not sure how much longer he will have to pay rent or what kind of lease breaking fee he will have to pay because he cant get the owner or the apartment manager to call him.)

Because of this he has not started paying rent to me. He buys a portion of the groceries, and is helping me with child care and is really motivating me to watch my spending (My Son and I have not gone out to eat or purchased Fast Food since he moved in). So it is a beneficial thing even if he is not at this time handing me Ca$h.

Once his rent situation with his landlord is ironed out, what is reasonable to ask him to pay towards lodging costs? I own my home; I have a mortgage, house insurance expenses, housing taxes, Gas/Electric and Water/Waste bills. There are three of us living there so anything more than one third seems wrong.

First Question; is it fair to charge a third of the housing expenses when at this time he has no “Vested” interest in the home, meaning if I were to die he would not get any portion of the proceeds of selling the house. A third of the costs would be at least $150 less than he is currently paying in rent for his apartment, and my home is a massive step up from that Dive of a building. I bet once he switches over his car insurance, his car insurance will go down being this is a better area and the vehicle is now garaged.

Second Question; should I average the variable bills (Gas, Electric, Water) so that the rent is always the same or should I ask him for his third as those bills come in?

I know, I know, I tend to over analyze things.

(I am moving this from My Other Blog- So I am moving the reader comments and putting them below IF Possible)

4 Responses to “Cohabitation – How much rent?”

1. Savings Queen Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:05 pm
I vote for a third of the rent and a third of the utilities. Either that or he should just pay you what he paid his old landlord. Suze Orman would say "He's already moved in and you haven't talked about money yet???!!!" I know the money talk is difficult, so maybe you could broach it with something like, "Honey, while you are settling things with your landlord, of course you don't need to pay anything and once that's done I don't think you should pay for half the expenses here since there are two of us and just one of you. What about you just pay a third of the mortgage and utilities?" I think it's very fair of you to not ask for half.

2. Savings Queen Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:07 pm
On second thought...maybe he SHOULD continue to pay what he was paying and then give you a third of the utilities. After all, if he wasn't living with you, that's what he'd have to pay. Also, your place sounds MUCH better than his!


3. creditcardfree Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:16 pm
How about you ask him what he thinks is reasonable, and have your plan as the backup? If his is higher, I'd agree to that. I think if he's moving in he would want to know what rent he will be paying. If he seems surprised about paying rent...well, he might think he's getting to live in free.


4. ThriftoRama Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:20 pm
He should pay something. He'd have to pay to live somewhere even if it wasn't with you. This doesn't have to be a bad conversation. He'll probably be happy to contribute.

Tax Return Headaches and Getting on the same page.

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:24 pm

Tax Return Headaches and Getting on the same page.
February 2nd, 2011 at 08:40 am
Not sure what has gotten into BF, but I think he is starting to feel more financially secure and thus less stressed.

On the 31st he started his taxes in turbotax, not sure where he linked from because when he was done (two hours later) it wanted to charge him $39.95 for tax prep fees for each of the two state returns. (Luckily I was looking over his shoulder at that point- okay I was kissing his cheek).

I convinced him that he should not have to pay for tax prep and last night he reentered all his data into the link in I suggested ( not the one I use but this one claimed to handle up to three state returns). It was free and should have been easy but the glitch was that he moved last year and this H&R Block basic at home version could not process a part-time resident state return for this state.

So this means he desided to efile his federal return and efile his other state return last night and will paper file this state return soon. He will do the paper part of this state return at a later date. This state return should be $165 if I remember correctly. I should say also that paper tax returns are handled very promptly in my state. So not such a big deal.

It will be nice because next year he can just go to the state gov site and file both returns using the link I always use and efile both right away for free.

BFs tax return is $1991 when all three returns are factored in. The blessing is this is $9 short of the amount that BF had in his mind for the expense of returning his parents Van to them, Renting a Uhaul and bringing the rest of his belongings and his dog here.

*****

Last night I asked BF what the story was because his answer for everything is lets save for it. So he basically told me he likes to have an Emergency Fund without using those words. He also told me that his Emergency Fund would ideally have $3,000 in it.

See my BF just starting working again about 4 months ago, so he is playing catch up. He was getting workers comp/unemployment for a few months (Long Story but he was hurt badly at work when he was dragged down the road by a Drunk Driver).

I knew BF had about $500 dollars left on his student loans, what I did not realize is that he is making huge payments. BF makes the last loan payment with the paycheck on the 15th of this month then he should have about $460 per month to use to restock his emergency fund.

***

I think from small chats with BF his financial goals are as such.
_Done as of Feb 15th_ Pay off Student Loan
$2000 - Return Parents Van, Rent Uhaul (Tax Return)
$3000 - Emergency Fund (Starting March 1st paycheck)
$ Save for Fence, and Deck/Porch and Shed
$ Payoff Truck Loan (only other debt)

***
Yesterday, I had the day off. I went grocery shopping and came in right at budget. I added thing in my head as I put them in the cart. I bought all generic as I have little coupons in my coupon organizer it seems. I ended up having to leave without about 15 items from the list (they were wants not needs).

I got Valentines stuff, I bought a box of my favorite Chocloates for BF and a winter long sleeve undershirt total cost $12 plus tax. I bought my son a $5 prepackaged gift with a box that you put a picture in the front, small box of hard candy and stuffed tiger. This $17 came out of the grocery/household spending budget.

I cancelled My netflix account. (Save $10.59 per month)

I also washed laundry and sorted it, that night all three of us folded and put away our own laundry. My son misses the days when I used to fold his laundry and put it away, but I sure dont.

Have a great February!

Feb Goals

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:24 pm

February Goals
January 31st, 2011 at 10:48 am
#1. Figure out how to set up a online account for my mortgage, so that I can view the principle balance and make online extra principle payments.

My excuse for not having done this sooner was that I already have my payment autopaid. I get statements in the mail but I have not made the time to create the online account since I refinanced.

#2. Research what I need to do to get a passport. (DONE)

I would write get a passport but I am in the process of growing out my hair and I dont want to have the picture taken. I plan to tackle all the items it takes to get on in March.

#3. Calculate how much extra each month I have to apply to my mortgage principle in order to have my house paid in full before my mandatory retirement date.

#4. List items for sale on Free Online Website.
At a minimum:
_Couch
_Bookshelves
_Two Padded chairs
_Two Dressers

#5. Track ALL my spending in a notebook, so that I may use that to create a more truthful budget.

(Okay I Cheated and completed the Passport research today and I will post it as a March Goal).

Excited to do Taxes....Am I Crazy?

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:23 pm

Excited to do Taxes....Am I Crazy? 2012 taxes Questions.
January 27th, 2011 at 07:33 am
I want to do my taxes. I am actually pretty sure I have all the documents I need. I say pretty sure because the last two years I seem to keep forgetting documents BUT in both cases once the tax return was amended I got a slightly larger refund (daycare reciepts, etc.).

I will be itemizing again this year, because I refinanced my house this year. Actually I could be itemizing every year from this point on until I pay off my house. I keep forgetting that I am single (well head of household) so I only have to meet $7,850 in deductions to itemize.

I am going to have to do some math BUT I might do that thing where one year you pay your property taxes after Dec 31st so it is applied to the next years taxes and then pay that following year before the 31st so that you have double property taxes and the mortgage interest in one tax return and basically itemizing every other year. I dont know, I might pay enough in taxes and interest just to itemize every year for a while. See last year we did not itemize because we were like $200 short BUT that was as married and the property taxes were smaller.

This year the basement was finished, inspected and the house value rose by 39K, thus the taxes went up. I refinanced the house, and I went from a deduction for a married couple to head of household.

I wonder if I will still get head of household in 2012? See I will still have a house, but My son will have lived with his father Jan - August because I was deployed. BUT I would still have provided about half of his expenses for that time frame because I provide the Medical, Dental and I already purchased ALL his clothing for while I was gone, to make the process easier. Then Sept - Dec I will be providing basically 100%. *** Edit*** My Ex-Husband could claim head of household because he would have had our son more than 50% of the time, I also wonder if he might fight me for the dependant deduction (even though our divorce decree states I get it- his child support was reduced because I am suppose to get the deduction). I am really confused. A few months ago I was going to have my Ex live in my home basically rent free (which then basically there would have been no question on the provided support issue), but I think it would better for everyone for him to rent an apartment instead. ??????????

What do you do to make your tax time easier? I would like to create a checklist of items I need to file my taxes but I always seem to forget until it is time to file and then it is too late for that year.

Next Year I need:
W-2
1099-INT ING
1099-INT USAA
Property Tax
Mortgage Interest
Daycare Receipts
529 Statement
Church Donation Receipt
Charity Donation (Itemized) Receipt
?????

I started my tax return at turbotax...With just my income and interest entered I am at a $1604.00 fed return. I wonder how much it will be once I have my itemized deductions in? I would like $2505+ when both my state and federal are done, because then my Emergency Fund would be funded and I could start my other savings goals and start saving for Flood Duty daycare. I should know before the end of the evening because I know I will not be able to sleep until I have it finished.

My 2011 Goals

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:22 pm

My 2011 Goals
January 18th, 2011 at 01:44 pm
Financial
1. Complete all Baby Steps up to 6 Before April 30
- Baby Step 3. Escrow (DONE)
- Baby Step 3. Emergency Fund Balance Needed 4525
(at 2020.00 on 18 Jan 2011)
2. As soon as 1 is done start Mortgage Extra Payments each month automatic payemnts.
3. Start Savings Goals.
a. House Projects/Furnishing goals (60%of remainder after D & E)
b. Travel & Vacation Fund (20%of remainder after D & E)
c. Braces Fund (20% of remainder after D & E)
d. Save $50 per month automatically for 529 account
e. If BF is paying rent then $319.90 to Savings for Son

Intellectual
Work on Correspondance Courses for Work. Complete 320 credits before 31 Dec 2011.

Family
Take atleast two family vacations prior to 30 August. Examples ValleyFair, LegoLand, SixFlags-Illinios or Missouri and will be atleast 4 days in length.

Spiritual
Find and attend religious services that the whole family enjoys on Sunday on the weekends I do not work.

Physical
Workout atleast 1 hour at the work gym two times per week.
Get weight back down to 155 like it was at the start of the year.

Career
1. Correspondance Courses
2. Attend resident courses need atleast 8 weeks (attend at least 1wk this year)
3. attend ALC
4. Workout weekly

Social
1. Attend Church weekly when not working
2. Attend Facebook invite events by friends to enlarge routine activites.

*** I break my Emergency Fund into three sections. My Mortgage, My Own Made Escrow account of House Taxes and House Insurance and Thirdly a Emergency Fund that is Bills.

Oops...

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:13 pm

Hi Everyone.

I now realize why my other Blog account was blank.

I will slowly transfer some of the posts from that deleted account over to here.

Thank you.

*** I found this because someone had both my blogs listed in their favorites and I was like What the heck that was my sign-in wasnt it. ***