With all apologies to the Beatles, it's starting to be that time of year when we all look at our W-2s and fill out our form 1040s. I've used TurboTax for the past several years, and it makes life so much simpler. I won't say it makes the task of doing taxes fun, but it does take some of the sting out of it.
One thing that does sting -- at least on the surface -- is that number that pops out when it's done. Now, the whole thing is just preliminary right now, since I need to go back and verify a few things before I send it off to Uncle Sam, but the numbers are only going to change a few dollars either way.
The results? I owe Uncle Sam about $1,566, and Indiana owes me about $140.
Ouch.
This has happened ever since I started working for myself teaching piano lessons and composing music. That number gets a little bigger every year, and as it does so does the smile on my face.
Huh?
That $1,566 I owe Uncle Sam is money which has been in my hands, in my bank account, working for me, lowering my debts, saving me or making me interest, instead of helping out the government. Oh, they'll still get their portion -- give to Caesar what is Caesar's and all that -- but not before it's due them, and in the meantime, it'll be doing me all manner of good.
When you do get finished with your taxes this year, take a critical look. If you got a refund -- especially of the "whopping" variety -- have your withholding changed so that money is yours all year long, not just when April rolls around. If you're worried you won't have the money to pay when the time comes, put it aside in an interest-bearing account until you need it.
(On a more personal note, now that the taxes are done, I think it's about time to get that mortgage refinancing underway. Rates dropped an eighth of a point in the past couple of weeks, so if we act fast, we can knock over two percent off our mortgage, and quite a bit off our monthly payment.)
Anyone else want to share your thoughts about taxes? Comment section is below -- share away!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
The End of the Great Pantry Experiment
Yes, our posts are getting less and less frequent. In my wife's defense, she's also taking grad school classes online which are taking up much of her time. In my defense, I have none.
Well, like all good things, the Great Pantry Experiment has come to a close with the end of our credit card statement on February 10. (Yes, I know it's the 15th. Tough.) Here is our final grocery break-down:
Bananas -- $1.73
Yogurt -- $2.40
Green Pepper -- $.90
Taco Saure -- $2.12
Milk -- $2.29
Potatoes -- $2.79
Bread -- $2.99 (but it was buy one get two free, so we got three loaves of really good bread for that price)
Ice Cream -- $2.99 (more on this later)
Pasta Sauce -- $2.06 (ditto)
Salad -- $2.00
Avocados -- $2.00
Total: $24.27
Experiment total: $74.28
We had a couple of my piano students over for the day and sort of splurged on ice cream and pasta sauce for a dinner to celebrate their successes at contest. Totally worth the extra few bucks.
So, was the Great Pantry Experiment a success? I would say so. We spent about $75 on a month and a half's worth of food (longer with some things like the extra two loaves of bread thrown in). Our credit card statement for January 10 through February 10 was right at $1900. Sounds like a lot, but when you take into account the following:
Grad School payment for my wife: $1275
Grad School books for my wife: $58
Oil change: $42
it's not so much, especially knowing that out of that credit card bill comes our home and cell phone bills, plus about $100 in gas every month. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than it would have been otherwise? Well, since there were no restaurant meals on there at all, I'd say that in and of itself makes it a success.
In other news ...
Well, there really isn't any "other news", except for the fact that the latest rumors we're hearing around the school district make it seem like both my wife and I will still be gainfully employed next year, which is a huge burden off our shoulders. What does that mean for our finances?
1) We're still going to keep adding to our Rainy Day account instead of paying off debt, at least until we have written confirmation that all will be well for the 2010-2011 school year.
2) We will probably go ahead and refinance our mortgage. We're paying 5.875% interest right now, and we can refinance through ING Direct (where we have many of our accounts) at about 3.875%. Not only that, but it drops our monthly payment from $1079 to about $500 (although we have to pay insurance and taxes ourselves, but that money may as well be earning interest for us instead of the mortgage company). The upshot of this is that, if our financial picture does drastically change, the amount per-month we need to pay out of pocket drops drastically, too, which will let that Rainy Day fund last us just that much longer.
3) Once we feel like we're in the clear job-wise, we will begin accelerating debt payments again, although our current thinking is that we'll put that extra money toward the student loan instead of the mortgage. Why? The difference in interest rates (after we refinance) will be minimal (3.25% vs. 3.875%), and we can pay off the student loans in much less time than we can pay off the mortgage. Once that loan is gone, that's $128 less we need to have on hand every month to make ends meet.
Regardless of the final outcome of this job "scare", we are being a little less cavalier about our finances. We're making sure we have our safety nets in order, and doing what we can to make sure that the amount we have to pay out every month is as low as possible, so that should the unforeseen happen, we're just that much more likely to be able to stay out of the poorhouse.
We still haven't given up on our goal of being debt free in 40 months; we're just taking a different path to get there. Same destination; different route.
I'll close with this ... I'm curious -- is anyone else out there doing anything different based on what they've read here? I've already heard of one of our readers who forewent (is that the past tense of forego?) buying a piano because of what we're trying to do here. Anyone else joining the debt-free bandwagon? If so, let us know!
Well, like all good things, the Great Pantry Experiment has come to a close with the end of our credit card statement on February 10. (Yes, I know it's the 15th. Tough.) Here is our final grocery break-down:
Bananas -- $1.73
Yogurt -- $2.40
Green Pepper -- $.90
Taco Saure -- $2.12
Milk -- $2.29
Potatoes -- $2.79
Bread -- $2.99 (but it was buy one get two free, so we got three loaves of really good bread for that price)
Ice Cream -- $2.99 (more on this later)
Pasta Sauce -- $2.06 (ditto)
Salad -- $2.00
Avocados -- $2.00
Total: $24.27
Experiment total: $74.28
We had a couple of my piano students over for the day and sort of splurged on ice cream and pasta sauce for a dinner to celebrate their successes at contest. Totally worth the extra few bucks.
So, was the Great Pantry Experiment a success? I would say so. We spent about $75 on a month and a half's worth of food (longer with some things like the extra two loaves of bread thrown in). Our credit card statement for January 10 through February 10 was right at $1900. Sounds like a lot, but when you take into account the following:
Grad School payment for my wife: $1275
Grad School books for my wife: $58
Oil change: $42
it's not so much, especially knowing that out of that credit card bill comes our home and cell phone bills, plus about $100 in gas every month. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than it would have been otherwise? Well, since there were no restaurant meals on there at all, I'd say that in and of itself makes it a success.
In other news ...
Well, there really isn't any "other news", except for the fact that the latest rumors we're hearing around the school district make it seem like both my wife and I will still be gainfully employed next year, which is a huge burden off our shoulders. What does that mean for our finances?
1) We're still going to keep adding to our Rainy Day account instead of paying off debt, at least until we have written confirmation that all will be well for the 2010-2011 school year.
2) We will probably go ahead and refinance our mortgage. We're paying 5.875% interest right now, and we can refinance through ING Direct (where we have many of our accounts) at about 3.875%. Not only that, but it drops our monthly payment from $1079 to about $500 (although we have to pay insurance and taxes ourselves, but that money may as well be earning interest for us instead of the mortgage company). The upshot of this is that, if our financial picture does drastically change, the amount per-month we need to pay out of pocket drops drastically, too, which will let that Rainy Day fund last us just that much longer.
3) Once we feel like we're in the clear job-wise, we will begin accelerating debt payments again, although our current thinking is that we'll put that extra money toward the student loan instead of the mortgage. Why? The difference in interest rates (after we refinance) will be minimal (3.25% vs. 3.875%), and we can pay off the student loans in much less time than we can pay off the mortgage. Once that loan is gone, that's $128 less we need to have on hand every month to make ends meet.
Regardless of the final outcome of this job "scare", we are being a little less cavalier about our finances. We're making sure we have our safety nets in order, and doing what we can to make sure that the amount we have to pay out every month is as low as possible, so that should the unforeseen happen, we're just that much more likely to be able to stay out of the poorhouse.
We still haven't given up on our goal of being debt free in 40 months; we're just taking a different path to get there. Same destination; different route.
I'll close with this ... I'm curious -- is anyone else out there doing anything different based on what they've read here? I've already heard of one of our readers who forewent (is that the past tense of forego?) buying a piano because of what we're trying to do here. Anyone else joining the debt-free bandwagon? If so, let us know!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Unexpected Rewards
Unexpectedly, I have been having a blast making meals from what we already had in our pantry and freezer. Today, I noticed we had some frozen blueberries that probably wouldn't be good for much longer. So, I took two cups of it and made homemade blueberry jam in our bread machine. Then, I took the last cup and made blueberry scones. I used the leftover blueberry juice from making the jam to flavor the tea we had with the scones. Would I have made these if we weren't trying to clear out the freezer? No way!
Because I can't just jot something on the grocery list every time I think of a meal idea for the week, I have to turn a critical eye toward what I already have. It's brought out the creative side of my cooking that's been dormant for quite some time.
Want to see what I mean? If you're not ready to try a month-long experiment like Jason and I, try a one night experiment. Look in your pantry and grab something at random. Then, see if you can't figure out something to mix with the item that you wouldn't normally try. You might be surprised how good the final product will be! Let us know how it goes in the comment section below.
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