Tax Time, 2013

Oh boy this is the one time of year we look forward to the most, tax time – thanks to my wonderful Dad our taxes get filed for us each year and we don’t have to go through the hassle to making an appt. somewhere to have them done all the while worry about the kids being occupied.  We send him the documents required and he files everything via TurboTax and then we wait! It’s been that way for the last, God I can’t even remember.

With that being the case, our taxes for 2012 have been filed and we are waiting for our refunds now, and while waiting I have done a mock-up Budget for the breakdown so we know where our monies will need to go along with where we want them to go, we usually have spent the whole of the refunds by the end of April, so this is not a surprise:

Federal Refund	$ 2,557.00		Paychecks In-Comings Mar-Apr
State	$ 685.00		Lara	$3,579.03	$447.38 * 8 Weeks
	$ 3,242.00		Jimmy	$1,969.74	$246.22 * 8 Weeks
				$5,548.77
Total Incoming	$ 8,833.07
Bills To Be Paid:
Car Past Due:	$ 695.30
CitiMortgage	$ 2,589.00
	$ 3,284.30
Wish List:
New Bed for Ashley	$250.00
Jean for Lara	$75.00
Furniture & Access for Living Room	$900.00
Haircut for Lara	$40.00
Down Payment on New Car	$500.00
	$1,765.00
Utilities/General to be Paid:
APM (Austin TKD)	$178.00
AT&T	$250.00
Blockbuster	$42.78
Brigade Boys & Girls Club	$560.00
CCA	$20.00
CFPUA	$295.00
DB Plumbing	$160.00
Gas	$280.00
Groceries	$1,360.00
Hulu.com	$15.98
LCA	$40.00
L-Student Loans	$86.00
OT Solutions	$40.00
Progress Energy	$300.00
State Farm	$130.40
	$3,758.16
Total Outgoing	$8,807.46
Remaining	$25.61

I certainly hope this pans out as we expect!

Budget Week Ending 02.24.13

It’s that time again, for the weekly budget – doing the bills bi-weekly I am finding takes the stress off of actually doing the budget because I guess I feel I have more wiggle room each week…that does help some and frankly I could use a little of that in my budget.  So without further adieu, here you go!

Table 1 – All bills/monies split by line-item:

	$  514.10	Lara
	$  226.65	Jimmy
	$  740.75
Avail	$  877.55
	$    65.20	02/23, State Farm, Car Insurance, Auto-Draft
	$  812.35
	$    5.00	02/25, OT Solutions, Austin’s Co-Pay
	$  807.35
	$    5.00	02/27, LabCorp, Auto-Draft
	$  802.35
	$    40.00	02/25, Austin TKD Testing
	$  762.35
	$  170.00	Groceries
	$  592.35
	$    35.00	Gas
	$  557.35
	$    20.00	Jimmy’s Allowance – Bus $ & Cigs
	$  537.35
	$    25.00	Dinner 02/22, Dinner @ McDonald’s
	$  512.35
	$  165.00	CitiMortgage
	$  347.35
	$  165.00	Credit Acceptance
	$  182.35
	$    83.00	1/2 Progress Energy Bill Due
	$    99.35
	$   5.00	02/27, Coastal Behavioral
	$    94.35
	$    25.00	New Phone For House
	$    69.35
	5%
	$  3.47	To Merrill Savings
	$    65.88	Bal. Remaining for Week

And then with the bulk cash withdrawal, actually needed $255, but again with only being able to pull twenties from the ATM I took out $260.00

$  514.10	Lara
$  226.65	Jimmy
$  740.75
$  877.55
$    65.20	02/23, State Farm, Car Insurance, Auto-Draft
$  812.35
$   5.00	02/25, OT Solutions, Austin’s Co-Pay
$  807.35
$   5.00	02/27, LabCorp, Auto-Draft
$  802.35
$    40.00	02/25, Austin TKD Testing
$  762.35
$    5.00	02/27, Coastal Behavioral
$  757.35
$  165.00	CitiMortgage
$  592.35
$  165.00	Credit Acceptance
$  427.35
$    83.00	1/2 Progress Energy Bill Due
$  344.35
$  260.00	Cash for Groceries, Gas, Jimmy’s Allowance, Dinner
$    84.35
$    25.00	New Phone for House
$    59.35

This week I waited until after we go paid so I was working with actual numbers!

Lesson Learned: Actual Numbers give a better picture than forecast ones!

TTFN All, until next week’s budget!

Traffic Court…

Had to go to traffic court this morning for my inspection/registration ticket – thankfully New Hanover County has this process down to a friggin science I swear!

They line you up on two sides of the courtroom, A-K on one side an L-Z on the other according to your last name – they then use a clerk to collect your citation and then you talk to an Assistant District Attorney who then decides if your case is going to either be dismissed, head over to traffic school (for speeders), implement a fine, or pass on your request to speak to the judge, my case it was dismissed – on the whole the process moves quickly, for which I am eternally grateful every time I have to go (and yes with my piss poor driving habits it had been frequent, but has backed off – now it seems I only end up going for this same reason just about every year).  Today I was in and out of the court room in less than 15 minutes – yes 15 minutes – and I still had time to get over to my favorite coffee shop and get me a Latte and some Coffee Cake before heading into work, and all in all I was only an hour late to work.  Not too shabby!!

Here’s hoping next year I don’t run into this issue because whatever vehicle we purchase won’t require a ton of cash in repairs prior to the inspection!

This Probably Shouldn’t Bug Me But It Does…

My boss, a seemingly nice person who takes zero responsibility for anything negative happening in our division, and all the credit for everything good that happens in our division, just recently, and I only know this due to observations, purchased a Brand New Macked-Out Mercedes Sedan – 4-Door, Tinted Windows, Nice Chrome Rims, the Works…with what I am guessing to be her annual bonus.  I know this is recent because just last month she didn’t have this vehicle, but she had the same Silver Volvo shes had since I started working here near three years ago…yet to see her driving off yesterday in this brand new car just irritated me.  Not entirely sure why it did, but it did nonetheless…

It’s been said between myself and another woman I work with that she refuses to put as permanent employees (yes I am still listed as a ‘temp’ employee after near three years, this other woman it’s been almost four years) with benefits and paid time off because she wants to keep her overhead CV low so she can continue to draw a large annual bonus – this was not based in fact – that was until yesterday – it was confirmed…while I am somewhat sure she’s “earned” her place as our division Director, I am not sure she’s right in keeping us as ‘temp’ employees while she continues to draw an overly large bonus each year.

I know that new car of hers has to be somewhere around $45,000 – $50,000, HAS to be! And I wonder where my benefits are going…um yeah there they go in her brand new toy!

Lesson Learned: NEVER take the Word of a Two Faced Spoiled Brat! **yes I am irritated and bitter**

Week Ending 02.17.13 Budget, Actual

It’s simply amazing to me how much one or two little things can throw off a budget – in our case here it was a drastic difference in the income…my goodness I was off big time for both of us, my initial numbers showed about $100.00 more coming in that what we actually got, while this didn’t change the budgetary items we needed (i.e. gas, groceries, etc.) it did function to alter how much will be going out next week, it hurts to do that, but it’s the truth of our situation.  Living paycheck-to-paycheck and hand-to-mouth really hurts when something is altered, especially when that something is this dramatic, so here’s our actual numbers:

Again this first set is the line-item breakdown of our finances where they are currently:

On Friday 02.15.13 our paychecks were such:

$  538.88	Lara
$  180.66	Jimmy
$  719.54

Avail	$  736.28	This is the dollar amt avail after payroll is deposited
	$    89.00	02/15, TKD, Auto-Draft
	$  647.28
	$  124.06	02/15, AT&T Payment Due
	$  523.22
	$       5.00	02/18, OT Solutions, Austin’s Co-Pay
	$  518.22
	$       5.00	02/18, CCA, Credit Coll. Agency, Auto-Draft
	$  513.22
	$       5.00	02/20, LabCorp, Auto-Draft
	$  508.22
	$    65.20	02/20, State Farm, Car Insurance, Auto-Draft
	$  443.02
	$       7.99	02/21, Hulu.com, Auto-Draft
	$  435.03
	$  170.00	Groceries
	$  265.03
	$    35.00	Gas
	$  230.03
	$    20.00	Jimmy’s Allowance – Bus $ & Cigs
	$  210.03
	$    25.00	Dinner 02/15, Pizza @ Incredible’s Pizza
	$  185.03
	$    20.00	Clothes For Kids
	$  165.03	Remaining for Bills to be Paid 02/22/13

This second set of numbers is with the Gas, Groceries, Jimmy’s Allowance, Dinner and Clothes for the Kids (totaling  $270.00, had to take out $280.00 due to the ATM only dispensing in amount multiples of $20.00) in a lump sum cash withdrawal:

$  736.28
$    89.00	02/15, TKD, Auto-Draft
$  647.28
$  124.06	02/15, AT&T Payment Due
$  523.22
$       5.00	02/18, OT Solutions, Austin’s Co-Pay
$  518.22
$       5.00	02/18, CCA, Credit Coll. Agency, Auto-Draft
$  513.22
$       5.00	02/20, LabCorp, Auto-Draft
$  508.22
$    65.20	02/20, State Farm, Car Insurance, Auto-Draft
$  443.02
$       7.99	02/21, Hulu.com, Auto-Draft
$  435.03
$  280.00	Cash for Groceries, Gas, Jimmy’s $ & Dinner 02/15/13
$  155.03	Remaining for Bills to be Paid 02/22/13

Let’s just hope next week we bring in slightly more…

Lesson Learned: Can’t bank everything in predictions or rather forecasting.

Car Inspection…

Is done and went well, the car Passed, Woohoo!! Once Less thing to worry about, $30.00 spent there, Thank Goodness for that!

Left my hubby at the License Plate agency to get the sticker for the car, $28.00 going there

This all came from last weeks budget and the cash was sitting in my wallet, I am very relieved to hear this and very happy that it’s all getting resolved today.

Court next Friday @ 8am, should be dismissed with the paperwork, but it’s been a very long road.

After our taxes are filed we can make the back due payments on the car and then begin to search for a replacement for this money pit!

Week Ending 02.17.13 Budget

Here’s the first of many to follow, our Weekly Budget – my Weeks will run Monday to Sunday, like my pay periods – this is this week’s Mock-up Budget, right now I have roughly $12 sitting in the bank, the starting amount of $774.89 does not include that $12 – as I don’t know 100% what the pay will look like, I can only use what I do know based off of what was previously paid to us for weeks with a similar hours count:

$  551.05	Lara
$  223.84	Jimmy
$  774.89	Total Paid
$    89.00	02/15, TKD, Auto-Draft
$  685.89
$  130.00	02/15, AT&T Payment Due
$  555.89
$       5.00	02/18, OT Solutions, Austin’s Co-Pay
$  550.89
$       5.00	02/18, CCA, Credit Coll. Agency, Auto-Draft
$  545.89
$       5.00	02/20, LabCorp, Auto-Draft
$  540.89
$    65.20	02/20, State Farm, Car Insurance, Auto-Draft
$  475.69
$       7.99	02/21, Hulu.com, Auto-Draft
$  467.70
$  170.00	Groceries
$  297.70
$    35.00	Gas
$  262.70
$    20.00	Jimmy’s Allowance – Bus $ & Cigs
$  242.70
$    25.00	Dinner 02/15, Pizza @ Incredible’s Pizza
$  217.70	Remaining for Bills to be Paid 02/22/13

$  551.05	Lara
$  223.84	Jimmy
$  774.89	Total Paid
$    89.00	02/15, TKD, Auto-Draft
$  685.89
$  130.00	02/15, AT&T Payment Due
$  555.89
$       5.00	02/18, OT Solutions, Austin’s Co-Pay
$  550.89
$       5.00	02/18, CCA, Credit Coll. Agency, Auto-Draft
$  545.89
$       5.00	02/20, LabCorp, Auto-Draft
$  540.89
$    65.20	02/20, State Farm, Car Insurance, Auto-Draft
$  475.69
$       7.99	02/21, Hulu.com, Auto-Draft
$  467.70
$  260.00	Cash for Groceries, Gas, Jimmy’s $ & Dinner 02/15/13
$  207.70	Remaining for Bills to be Paid 02/22/13

The first set of columns is the line item break-down  and the second set of columns is the simpler version where the Gas, Groceries, Jimmy’s Weekly Monies and our Dinner Expense is lumped into one cash amount that I’ll withdraw from the bank Friday evening.  We’ve gone the cash route for these as it eliminates un-necessary spending on items we think we need but eventually discover we truly did not need.

I will add an update on Saturday of the actual numbers…it intimidates me slightly to put the actual numbers out there electronically as we’ve not had the best of luck with electronic budgets and checkbooks – it would seem they curse us, so I am putting this out there with good faith that we’ll be ok…just ok…

Been Contemplating this for Quite Sometime…

I am in the midst of some changes in life…career wise more or less – I am in the process of researching and familiarizing myself with the publishing industry which will eventually lead to a new career…but all the while I am trying my damndest to maintain some semblance of normal when it comes to our finances.

That said, our financial life has always been a major issue – it would seem that no matter what I do we simply cannot get ahead – we depend on those major windfalls of cash each year, the annual tax return in the thousands, Birthday and Christmas money to help us stay normal – or what would best qualify as normal…we are a household of 4 – Myself, a 35 yr old professional administrator working for a contractor of GE (won’t list my company name here, so please do not ask), my husband also 35 yrs old a Department Lead for a Major Retailer (again we will not list his company name so please do not ask). He has benefits through his employer – I do NOT – No paid time off, no insurance, no 401K offered. Our children a son who is 10 yrs old, diagnosed with ADHD/ODD (oppositional defiance disorder)/and somewhat mild Sensory Processing and our daughter who is 8 yrs old also diagnosed with ADHD.  I know a lot of children are diagnosed with this disorder, but if you could see my children at present when unmedicated you’d know 100% that they are in fact ADHD….we’ve learned to just let them be at night.

We don’t have credit cards, we’re 100% a Cash based household, our finances are for a lack of a better term a hot friggin’ mess and I am hopeful someone can guide me along my path…I am going to be honest, it’s not going to  be pretty…so here we go:

We currently own our home – a 1920s Cottage in Downtown Wilmington, NC, we bought said property in June 2007 for $110,500, since that time we’ve re-structured the mortgage twice and now owe $121,000, and are currently in the pre-foreclosure stage hoping to once again re-structure to put our current 5-Mos past due balance on the back end of the mortgage.  The house, and I am spit balling here, is worth roughly $80,000, so yes we are very upside down here.

Our car, a 2000 Ford Focus has been the bane of my existence since we purchased it in July 2011 – we bought the monstrosity and financed $12,500, we were good on our payments until the car was stolen from in front of our home in July 2012, we were without said vehicle for a month, during which time we had to pay for a rental car (discounted rate due to the insurance paying for it), and then repairs to replace the keys (I had inadvertently left the keys in the ignition after taking groceries in that afternoon, and those jerks tossed the keys into the river)…and ignition.  That was covered by the insurance but cost me my deductible of $250.00, plus the cost of the rental, which was $125.00, nevermind the loss of hours from work due to retrieving the vehicle, picking up the rental, and returning it.  Due to this plus other repairs because of the infernal check engine light being on I am behind 3-months on this payment, back due balance, roughly $700.00 plus some change.  I still haven’t had the 2012 inspection and registration done, I have a court date next Friday the 22nd and we’re hoping just disconnecting the battery and re-connecting it will allow us to pass inspection…if not I am not sure what we’ll do…as I am on my 2nd continuance.

During the time our car was in the shop from the theft the water line that feeds the house burst, so we had two different plumbers come to the house and make repairs, totaling $800.00 on top of the water bill.  Thankfully we were able to get the cost of the water bill reduced some of the cost of the repair, but we’re still paying on that back-due balance.

We are currently 1.5 months behind on our electric bill – total due, $250.00

The water bill as stated above, past due balance of $125.00

Our phone and internet are bundled together, past due 1 month – $125.00

Our normal monthly expenses include:

Tae Kwon Do for my son, $89.00/mos (this is part of his Occupational Therapy for his Sensory Processing), a weekly co-pay for his Occupational Therapy, $5.00/wk, and his ADHD Meds with his Sisters, $3.00/mos. (thankfully the kids are on the State Health Insurance Plan)

Blockbuster Membership, $21.39/mos (this stands in place of Cable)

Hulu.com membership, $7.99/mos

Car Insurance, $65.20/mos

Groceries, $170.00/week

Gas, $40.00/week

Monthly Mortgage Payment, $824.00/mos

Monthly Car Payment, $336.38/mos

My Student Loans, $48.00/mos (I am on an income based re-payment plan with the Federal Government for the duration, this won’t change)

This is just the beginning, should you stick around, you’ll get a picture of how bad it gets…put simply we haven’t had a vacation EVER (our last one was our honeymoon in 2001), we have dreams of a weekend in Greensboro to go to the NC State Zoo, or even to Raleigh for the weekend…but alas that’ll never happen…nevermind Disney or going to Texas to visit my Aunt & Cousins.  True we regularly go to MD for Christmas or a trip in the summer, but we can do that because we stay with my parents…so there’s no excess costs involved other than the gas to and from NC and MD.

The Lesson Here: Cash Only household only gets you so far…