Miscellaneous Stuff...Mostly Money

Just a mish-mosh of stuff......

*  I paid #2 Son's Fall school bill with cash.  I toyed with the idea of using the credit card to pay this bill and then paying off the c/c bill before any interest accrued.
Our c/c is in a rewards program so all those dollars on that card would have only earned me a $100 gift card.
Hey, $100 is $100 but since the college passes on the fee the c/c company charges to accept our payment to us(thanks a lot institute of higher learning!), it didn't make sense to pay $264 cash to "earn" $100.
Sigh.

*  Speaking of the Fall school bill--I used the 529 funds in the Vanguard account for #2 Son to cover this bill.  Luckily I remembered that August is a bad bad month historically for the stock market and I yanked the funds before the market took a nose dive about 2 weeks ago.  Saved myself $500 in funds we would have lost if we cashed it out later than I did!

*  Starting with September's regular bills I can start tracking how much our regular monthly expenses are going to go down since the last kid is outta the nest fulltime.  True, expenses will start to decrease mid August(next week)but full monthly bills won't come through until September.
I am anxious to see what our new "nut" will be.  8-)

*  I am happy about how we kept the college living expenses down by shopping from home(using what we already had)and waiting for sales and deals on items we had to purchase.  We could have spent less than we did(there is always room for improvement)but I can live with the results we achieved.

*  Hubs company has what they call a "market adjustment".  In order to keep valued employees from leaving, every few years they see what the going rate for the jobs their employees do are earning at other companies and if salaries have gone up elsewhere, they get a raise, so he did.
Of course after taxes it won't amount to much per week(enough for a cheap meal out...maybe)but it's something.

*  I continue to sell fabric on Etsy in drips and drabs.  A few sales a month is better than a poke in the eye, right?  ;-)   I received an email from another Etsy store owner today.  She has 2 store fronts....one selling baby clothing and another selling jewelry.  Said owner wants to trade me her items for my fabric.  Umm, I don't THINK so!  I want cash for my goods thankyouverymuch.

*  #2 Son has his last private flute lesson on Monday.  This has been a regular monthly expense for the last 2 years.  It's going away now....of course replacing it is college tuition.  Not much of a win there, huh? lolz

*  I topped $100 in revenue on Google for my blog so I should see a direct deposit by next month into my bank account.  Go me! 8-)))
Who says you can't make money blogging? lolz

*  We got the 1098 from oldest son's college concerning educational expenses paid in 2013 to said college in April...possible AFTER the tax filing date.  (Aren't schools, like employers suppose to get those out in late January?)
Anyway since we didn't claim oldest on the 2013 tax return, we gave this potential tax credit hunk of money to him to use on his return.  But he had already filed so now an amended return has to be filed....oh joy!   And since oldest son doesn't know how to do one, guess who gets to file out the return and figure this out?
Yep.
Yours Truly.
I got everything gathered and printed out so next week I'll attempt to tackle this chore.
Whatever did I do to deserve an encore round of Tax Filing Hell anyway??!!
I thought I was done for the year back in April......

*  As for my $24K Savings Challenge for the year--we are on track to meet that goal by the end of 2014.
However......I just got around to noting all the August bills and it's clear there will be NO excess monies to throw into that goal once all is paid this month.  I like to throw $2K(after taxes and all payroll deductions)per month into this goal.  But with paying for #2 Son's laptop for school, the bill for the nifty lime green chair(which was on this month's c/c bill)and all my spending put on the c/c for my road trip(some of which I need to tap into my 2013 Savings Challenge savings to cover), the August savings total will be nil.
bleh.
Not that this means we are in any money crisis(just the pretend one in my head!)but this month will be a wash.
We don't have these kind of months on a regular basis.....if we did, we'd have to totally rethink what we do with our money!  Now and again, things come up(or you bring about things coming up by spending money you don't usually spend) which throw you off the money tracks.  We have emergency funds up the wazoo so no worries.  It's just a momentary bump in the financial road.

How is your money holding up this month?

Sluggy

Glad This Week is Almost Over....My Bitchfest

I think I have a manic-depressive aspect to my personality....ok, I see some of you who know me out there rolling your eyes, saying "Duh!" and just plain snickering......so cut it out! ;-)

Anyway, most everyone on the planet feels a sense of letdown after going on vacation, right?
What comes over me when I get back from vacation is a whole other level of letdown......I liken it to depression.
I get sad....sad that the good times are over.....real sad, like want to cry all day sad.....and then reality bites me in the ass and laundry needs doing, meals need cooking, the house needs cleaning, the dogs need looking after and I am here again, alone and having to do all these chores.....with leaky eyes.

And then I sink lower and just don't want to do anything but sit, or sleep, or wander the interwebs......making the chores pile up higher.....which leads me to get more depressed.

And this goes on until I finally snap out of it and get back to living life.
If I'm lucky, I'm only caught up in this cycle of blah for a week or so but it has been known to stretch out to almost a month before.

I tell y'all this to explain why I haven't been very chatty lately and god help me....perky!......ok.....more like "as-perky-as-I-get perky"(which isn't very).

I don't do perky.
Must be my dna or something.

I spent most of this past week sighing deeply and wandering around the house trying to ignore the chores.

I'd start to feel better and then I'd sit down and try to edit the many photos I took while on our Road Trip or upload those lame videos I made and I'd just feel even sadder......because I miss being on that trip and seeing/meeting everyone/doing fun things.

Plus I would also be sad about Tanner not being here.  I didn't get a chance to have a letdown after she left because we left on the Road Trip 4 days after she went home, so we were busy preparing for the Road Trip during that time.
I guess I am doubly sad, mourning the end of 2 fun times of my life.

Yeah, I am a big old emotional mess inside a hard snail's shell......

Then while I was going through my sad/letdown cycle,  annoying and bad shit started happening the middle of this week.
First the very expensive a/c system we had installed in July?  Yah, we come home and turn it on and it's not throwing off cool air.
WTF?!?
We had a heat spell the last couple of days here and by tonight I had it jacked all the way down to 65 degrees and it was cooler outside and no where NEAR 65 degrees in here and didn't even cut the humidity in the air.
Again...WTF?!?!
So now we get to call Sears and bitch about this and want to slap people around over it because I just paid that bill and now I wish I hadn't.
Plus I'm having flashbacks to earlier this year when the 3 week old freezer shit the bed.
PTSD anyone??!

Then the 4 month old tv remote died tonight which sent Hubs over the edge because he couldn't watch his baseball.
Forget that!....what about Project Runway?!?!lolz
So he went and wasted $15 on a universal remote(those things NEVER work!)before ordering a new remote from the tv manufacturer for $40 + shipping a few minutes ago.
Good times......

Shall I add that the mail brought 2 headaches today....
1-the Local tax company has no record of us filing our local taxes.  We don't owe them anything as it's taken out automatically by the employer and it always lines up as accurate but the tax collecting company needs their recordkeeping to be correct.  So Hubs has to take care of that.  It's a hassle but nothing outrageous.  Oh, and Daughter got a notice from them too about her local taxes so having to deal with her form will be a PITA since we have to mail everything to Louisiana to get her signature and then mail it back to them.
More good times.....
2-Got the EOB for our dental plan and the wisdom tooth dentist overcharged us on our copay by about $100 so now I get to go nag his office about a refund.  Oh goody!  I get to call someone on the phone.....one of my FAVORITE things!lol  I bet if I didn't contact them they'd keep my money too. 8-(

Plus I am having problems with my durable medical supplies supplier about my BIpap machine.  Their customer service sucks donkey's ass and I just found out today that we should have been getting bills from them(with co-pays owed)for the last oh.....5 months....but we have yet to see one bill.  Because we weren't getting EOBs or bills I assumed our insurance paid 100% on this stuff.
I am a donkey's ass for thinking this, right? 8-)
The sleep disorders clinic no longer has them as an approved supplier for their patients but once you sign up with one(might be a PA state thing)you are locked into keeping them for your needs for 3 months.  But this shouldn't apply to me since I've used them for 5 months now so I should be able to "fire" them.
But if I do, the 3 months credit toward my 10 month then I don't pay for the BIpap rental until I give it back goes away, and I would end up paying more in rental monies if I switch suppliers now.
Sigh.

Let's see, what else can I bitch about? ;-)

*  I finished paying all the bills for August this week and now I get to add up the damage.  I am HOPING we come out in the black and not the red for this month.  It's anybody's call which way August will have played out with the spending.  The semi-annual car insurance bill hits in August plus we had some unplanned medical bills(wisdom teeth co-pays)and a big check we wrote as our present to the Hub's sister's wedding.  "IF" there is anything leftover this month for the $20K Savings Challenge it is going to be tiny. 8-(

* How about the fact that I gained 12 POUNDS while on vacation?
Yikes!
Not so bad because I already lost 9 of it.  I chalk that part of it up to eating restaurant food(over salted/high sodium content=retain water)for 11 days(except for 2 meals of home cooking).
Let's chalk the last 3 lbs. up to too much alcohol and fried foods and I am on the way to losing that piece of it.

*  And the last part of this week was hot and humid, thus making my feet swell and feel like crap so it's been hard to get much walking in.

On the good side of things.....

I did go to a medical appointment today and I finally went grocery shopping, the 1st trip since we got back a week ago.  I figured the store would be cooler than the house today so why not loiter a bit in there. 8-)
I got some good deals(a few coupons the store sent me in the mail, and some instant discounts on bakery and meats).  All totaled I spend $108.48 on $191.82 worth of groceries, for a 43% savings rate.
Weis PMITA Markets had London Broils Bogo this week plus I had a snail mailed Q $2/$10 meat purchase so I got 5.65 lbs. of beef for $14.17 or about $2.50 lb.
They also had party size Lay's snacks BOGO($4.99)and I had a snail mailed Q $1/1 item so I got 2 mega-sized bags for $3.99.  If we have company Labor Day weekend or if #2 Son needs snacks I am set now.
Arnold breads were BOGO as well($4.29)and I had a $1/1 Q so 2 loaves of good bread cost me $3.29.  I also picked up some preformed burgers for cheaper than just plain old ground beef after Instant Meat discount Qs.  The flyer had some Qs as well so I got a hunk of cream cheese for free, another bag of chips for .99¢ and a case of Poland Spring water for $1.99.  Potatoes were BOGO and Jamestown bacon was 3/$9($3 each....not bad but not great but we need it for BLTs to use up all these tomatoes here).
I did splurge today and buy a pint of gelato for myself....it was on sale for $3.99.
Bad Sluggy bad!
Bananas, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, bagels 50% off, muffins 50% off, chuck steak $1 off, shrimp burgers $3 off, 2 1lb. bags of shredded cheese, sour cream, 2 bags of frozen French fries(for #2 son), a second cream cheese hunk, some deli turkey meat, a hunk of green leaf lettuce, a bag o' salad 50% off and a big box of greens 50% off round out the groceries procured today.

That trip and the unloading and putting it all away in the heat just about did me in though.

Can I just go back on vacation now??? lolz

Ok, I'll shut up now and go start adding up the receipts from the road trip and see how far off the tracks we went with the spending there.
Oy!

Sluggy




 

$20K Savings Challenge....SEPTEMBER Update

As promised, this will not be pretty. 8-(

Ok, here is my SEPTEMBER Savings Challenge Update post for 2012.

This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against "unconscious" spending.  Ok....not so much this month, but in general. lol

Just to update, My Savings Goal for the Year in 2012 is $20,000.  It's well below what I've saved in previous years I know.  But we also have a goal of paying for 4 home improvement projects at Chez Sluggy this year.  We plan on cash-flowing these projects with the additional money we save and/or our income tax refund.
Our background info--We are a family of 5(kids are 21-16)with one living away from home.  We have 2 dogs. We own 4 cars at present and live in/own free & clear a 4 bedroom house in a small town.

On to the September report.....

I have posted my SEPTEMBER End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up September in the RED!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of September with?.......Negative $153.54
So we went backwards and are now $153.54 further away from our goal for the year.

meh.

Income
We had -$236.86 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Luckily we had a Stock Dividend, a car insurance Reimbursement and some Bank Interest to offset this net loss for September.  This combined $83.32 brought our net less down to -$153.54 for September.

Yes folks, the loss could have been worse without this little bit of income.

Outgo
The usual along with large irregular bill AND an unexpected/unplanned for expense converged on September to make it our worst month for savings since I can remember.

As for the expenses this September......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* The school taxes were paid and planned for so the money was there.

* The credit card bill decreased by $250.85.
* The cash withdrawals went down $550.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill went up $26.62-this was mostly due to Hubs closing the pool for the winter.

*  The electric bill went up $5.42.
* 2 unexpected car repairs totaling $1,551.75. Yah, THAT was the real bad ones.

The Food Budget costs for SEPTEMBER are in another post, which is located HERE.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 9 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is at  $16,215.75.

Not only did we NOT save the $1666.67 we need to each month in September, but we lost $153.54 toward the goal that we had saved up to this point.

Luckily though, we had a few "better than our monthly goal" months so far so we are still on track to get to our $20K mark by the end of 2012.

With 9 months done, we should be at $15,000.03  saved for the year, so we are still $1K+ ahead.

At this point, I need to come up with $3,784.25 for the rest of the year to make my $20K goal.  This breaks down to $1,261.42  per month for the next 3 months.  Unless something untoward happens we should be able to meet this goal.

As for a look ahead at OCTOBER.......

*  No irregular bills are due this month.

*  Normal bills only are expected.

*  We have a trip to take so there will be some additional spending but it will not affect the budget.  Any cash needed for that will be taken out of the money I saved in 2011 for my Savings Challenge.

So how was your September financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
How much did you save in September?  Did you use it to pay down debt or build your Emergency Fund?

Even if what you are able to save each month doesn't look like a lot of money, figure out what percentage of your income you saved.  You might feel that it's a more substantial amount in those terms!

We saved 12.71% of our take home income in August.  My goal is to shoot for 50% each month.
Our heavy expenses in August had us fall short of my goal.

Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.
Did you have debt you were able to pay on?
Did you pay off a car, a house or a credit card?
Did something financial blow up on you last month?
What are you doing financially to change your life?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!

Sluggy