After suffering what seemed like a minor sinus infection the past few days - congestion, sore throat, mild headache - I woke up before my overnight shift with no voice. Only the raspiest of whispers will escape my throat, even after the full gamut of home remedies: neti pot, gargling saltwater, taking a shot of cider vinegar and honey...Due to the perpetually understaffed nature of my employer, no one could pick up for me on only three hours notice. One coworker will relieve me a few hours early, but I still have to maintain a presence for the better part of the night. A silent presence.
Anything is bearable in the short-term, but I hope this doesn't develop into something more sinister. A facebook update on my condition inspired my aunt to tell me how losing her voice led to a near-deadly case of pneumonia...fantastic. I just need a little rest and some aspirin, thank you. Whether I can get the former is another question.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Spending and Moving Forward
I went to the dentist yesterday and had two fillings put in for $210. That, my contacts (six months worth for $110) and Darling's eye exam and new lenses for his old frames ($320), makes over $600 paid to health this month. That along the amount paid to recent, personal debt ($600) and student debt ($400), pretty much absorbed 150% of my tax refund. But these purchases, along with my new-to-me clothes and Darling's work jeans, basically set me up for the rest of the year...or at least set me up to devote almost as much to health and debt in March. And April. I already have an appointment for more fillings in March that will require 2/3's of my next check.
I'm really feeling good about my money choices, even as I anxiously consider whether or not I can afford to put gas in the truck to get to work. It's a relief to know that I can get to work with the bike and bus system. During the latter part of our trip to Michigan, Darling and I wouldn't hesitate to make a ten mile trip. It was the psychological equivalent of driving to the corner store to get a soda, no big deal and a chance to get out of the house. Of course only a few months later I seem to have achieved the worse physical health of my life, and it will take a little while to reverse this and tackle the 20+ mile daily ride to and from work. Until then, the bus picks me up and lets me off just a few miles from my start and finish points, and I have the truck for back up.
So thanks to the "new" clothes and expensive haircut, I'm looking generally presentable. The bike commute should put me back at my ideal fitness level in the near future. Oh, and speaking of feeling good about myself, I'm learning to play the cigar box guitar! One of the friends we're staying with builds them and wants help in the shop. So he took the time to teach me the basic theory last night and it must be the easiest instrument to strum in the entire world! I've never considered myself to have any sort of ear, but after being shown the first few chords of "You Are My Sunshine," I was able to work out most of the rest today in a twenty minute solo practice session!
Had you asked me to note the sexiest traits in humanity five years ago, serious cycling and playing an instrument by ear probably would have been high on my list. So the fact that my lifestyle encompasses both right now - if only for this week - makes me deliriously happy.
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| This humble facility is pretty much saving my life. |
So thanks to the "new" clothes and expensive haircut, I'm looking generally presentable. The bike commute should put me back at my ideal fitness level in the near future. Oh, and speaking of feeling good about myself, I'm learning to play the cigar box guitar! One of the friends we're staying with builds them and wants help in the shop. So he took the time to teach me the basic theory last night and it must be the easiest instrument to strum in the entire world! I've never considered myself to have any sort of ear, but after being shown the first few chords of "You Are My Sunshine," I was able to work out most of the rest today in a twenty minute solo practice session!
Had you asked me to note the sexiest traits in humanity five years ago, serious cycling and playing an instrument by ear probably would have been high on my list. So the fact that my lifestyle encompasses both right now - if only for this week - makes me deliriously happy.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Bits n' Pieces
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| Because I promised to start posting pictures, here is one of my favorite things at my current job: hanging laundry at sunrise :) |
* I drove my Mom's truck back into town, because I live outside of the Austin city limits and need a vehicle to get to work.
* I rode a borrowed bike to work today. Well, I rode to the bus stop at the edge of town, rode the bus into my old neighborhood, and then rode the rest of the way to work. It was so great to get exercise and prove to myself that I don't need a vehicle to get to work. According to Google trip planner, riding my bike (and using my bus pass) saves me $12 in gas. If I weren't driving a toyota tundra, I wouldn't believe that.
* There is a Goodwill on my route home from work, and I am feeling much happier about my wardrobe. Austin Goodwills sell t-shirts for $1.99 each, so I have happily purchased 4. The jeans are more expensive, $7.99 a pair, but the selection is worthwhile enough and I've bought five. I also purchased a pair of shorts, because this is Texas and it's seventy degrees in February. Oh, and a cute little black shirt with little gold buttons...On the one hand, I feel as though I have gone on an insane spending spree. On the other hand, I have spent less on my entire refurbished wardrobe than I did on thee pairs of new work jeans for Darling.
* I also bought two boxes of contacts, which should keep me for the rest of the year.
* I also had my annual hair cut, which basically amounts to a trim and lots of layers. It's still long, though, and super cute.
* I also scheduled a dental appointment for myself on Thursday and an eye appointment next Monday. Darling has an eye exam tomorrow.
* The job I was hoping for in Wyoming is not a paid position, but it would involve mountain climbing instruction...I'm not sure if it's worth it. But then, I'm not sure of anything beyond next week's eye exam.
* I paid back the $300 I "borrowed" while house-sitting, which was really kind of pay for house-sitting, but which I called "rent" for the following few weeks. I've also purchased groceries and generally tried to make myself less of a burden to our hosts. I still haven't been taught how to make soap, but Darling now knows how to play the cigar box guitar.
* My goddaughter, Pip, was born in Minnesota on Sunday.
All told, life is pretty great. Expensive, and confusing, but pretty great.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Doubt
Today my Mom and I discussed her financial future.
She has been fortunate enough to have received quite a bit of money from her father's estate over many years, but the amount is finite and will be exhausted in the next 28 months. She won't qualify for social security for another decade. So there's definitely going to be a gap where myself and my brothers are going to have to help her out.
It was a hard talk for both of us. Obviously, she doesn't feel good admitting to such desperate need. And I came clean about my own general intentions about life, which probably aren't music to a mother's ears. Obviously I'm going to help her out, and obviously this means revamping my personal financial plans.
I've been tracking my expenses for twenty-five months straight. For about twenty of those months I entered in a debt payment and ever-so-briefly imagined myself financially free. The debt payments ranged from $20 to $2,000, and applied a suffocating pressure to all other areas of my spending.
For eight years now I have thrown almost everything at debt and felt guilty about every penny I didn't. I've chosen debt payment over my health and continuing education. Debt servicing is such a part of my life that a break from that tends to be a break from EVERYTHING, involving shifts in careers and zip codes, at the very least. Why? Because someday - someday soon - my I would pay the last penny and the money I'd get to keep for myself every month would double. At which point I could start saving more and working less, with the long-term intention of not working for money at all.
Today I realized I might be wrong. If I paid the last of my debt tomorrow, I'd still have the dental work to wrap up. Which would be moralizing, to be sure, but still not the key feature of my wildest fantasies. I'll still have failed to significantly minimize my spending and bring myself closer to True Financial Freedom. And by the time my teeth are fixed, I'll need to have a serious mother-assistance plan in place.
Maybe my spending is permanent. My current rate of spending, you know, everything I earn. Forever. In which case I really, honestly, just can not win. At best, I'll get by. Keep working part-time and devoting my life to friends and family, taking the odd vacation and wearing second-hand clothes, cutting my hair once a year, consistently living on half my paycheck, yet somehow never having anything set aside...Is that really the end result of The Challenge?
She has been fortunate enough to have received quite a bit of money from her father's estate over many years, but the amount is finite and will be exhausted in the next 28 months. She won't qualify for social security for another decade. So there's definitely going to be a gap where myself and my brothers are going to have to help her out.
It was a hard talk for both of us. Obviously, she doesn't feel good admitting to such desperate need. And I came clean about my own general intentions about life, which probably aren't music to a mother's ears. Obviously I'm going to help her out, and obviously this means revamping my personal financial plans.
I've been tracking my expenses for twenty-five months straight. For about twenty of those months I entered in a debt payment and ever-so-briefly imagined myself financially free. The debt payments ranged from $20 to $2,000, and applied a suffocating pressure to all other areas of my spending.
For eight years now I have thrown almost everything at debt and felt guilty about every penny I didn't. I've chosen debt payment over my health and continuing education. Debt servicing is such a part of my life that a break from that tends to be a break from EVERYTHING, involving shifts in careers and zip codes, at the very least. Why? Because someday - someday soon - my I would pay the last penny and the money I'd get to keep for myself every month would double. At which point I could start saving more and working less, with the long-term intention of not working for money at all.
Today I realized I might be wrong. If I paid the last of my debt tomorrow, I'd still have the dental work to wrap up. Which would be moralizing, to be sure, but still not the key feature of my wildest fantasies. I'll still have failed to significantly minimize my spending and bring myself closer to True Financial Freedom. And by the time my teeth are fixed, I'll need to have a serious mother-assistance plan in place.
Maybe my spending is permanent. My current rate of spending, you know, everything I earn. Forever. In which case I really, honestly, just can not win. At best, I'll get by. Keep working part-time and devoting my life to friends and family, taking the odd vacation and wearing second-hand clothes, cutting my hair once a year, consistently living on half my paycheck, yet somehow never having anything set aside...Is that really the end result of The Challenge?
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Refunded
I got my tax refund today, just ten days after filing for free online!
My first act of business was purchasing tickets to see Life of Pi. Darling has been wanting to see this on the big screen since reading the book several years ago, and I figured it would be nice to do something special for Valentines Day since we basically skipped my birthday, his birthday, and our wedding anniversary in 2012.
I then went to purchase a new wardrobe from St. Vincents. A couple of years back I was able to purchase seven pairs of jeans for about $16. Today I was only able to find one size eight that actually fit - everything else being either comically large or absurdly small. And the pair of jeans that fit just didn't look great on me. I even tried on a few shirts to make it up for myself, but nothing felt right. Story of shopping, though, isn't it? Maybe I'll have better luck at Goodwill in a day or two.
In the meantime: debt. I paid back my brother with my most recent paycheck, so I can use the refund to pay back my Mom on Thursday and have already sent the student loan company $400. So, spending sprees aside, there's a good chance I'll make good on my commitment to devote the majority of my spending on debt. I've done so by a comfortable margin so far...but I have an appointment with the dentist and the optometrist in the next two weeks, so that might change. I'm totally not going to give myself a hard time for investing more heavily in my health than debt freedom.
When the loan payment goes through, I'll have a little less than $1,900 in debt. That seems really unreal, both easily achievable and entirely impossible. Especially considering, you know, the whole health thing...But it is what it is. I need a lot of work done, and I have both an affordable dentist and a reliable eye doctor here in Austin. I'd be a fool not to take advantage of them, even if I am only $600 away from my lowest net worth ever.
My first act of business was purchasing tickets to see Life of Pi. Darling has been wanting to see this on the big screen since reading the book several years ago, and I figured it would be nice to do something special for Valentines Day since we basically skipped my birthday, his birthday, and our wedding anniversary in 2012.
I then went to purchase a new wardrobe from St. Vincents. A couple of years back I was able to purchase seven pairs of jeans for about $16. Today I was only able to find one size eight that actually fit - everything else being either comically large or absurdly small. And the pair of jeans that fit just didn't look great on me. I even tried on a few shirts to make it up for myself, but nothing felt right. Story of shopping, though, isn't it? Maybe I'll have better luck at Goodwill in a day or two.
In the meantime: debt. I paid back my brother with my most recent paycheck, so I can use the refund to pay back my Mom on Thursday and have already sent the student loan company $400. So, spending sprees aside, there's a good chance I'll make good on my commitment to devote the majority of my spending on debt. I've done so by a comfortable margin so far...but I have an appointment with the dentist and the optometrist in the next two weeks, so that might change. I'm totally not going to give myself a hard time for investing more heavily in my health than debt freedom.
When the loan payment goes through, I'll have a little less than $1,900 in debt. That seems really unreal, both easily achievable and entirely impossible. Especially considering, you know, the whole health thing...But it is what it is. I need a lot of work done, and I have both an affordable dentist and a reliable eye doctor here in Austin. I'd be a fool not to take advantage of them, even if I am only $600 away from my lowest net worth ever.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
New Phone and Megabus Fail
Friday I got my first paycheck since August and went immediately purchased a cell phone. I am not a great fan of these devices and hate how they affect our culture, but being a nomad pretty much precludes having a land-line.
If I have to carry around a digital leash I want it to do more than interrupt my meals and sleep schedule, so I went ahead and got an awesome phone. I bought a smart phone ($100) and purchased the plan that offers unlimited music downloads, talk, and texts for $50 a month. The camera makes me so happy, and you all can look forward to images on this blog again.
$50 is pretty steep, but Cricket offers a pretty good deal: for every three months that you pay your bill on time, they give you a month free. So if I go ahead and pay the for the full year, that knocks the average monthly purchase to a little less than $38 a month, which is about what I paid for last year's not-smart phone. Granted, the savings was largely lost on the purchase of the new phone, but maybe we'll be lucky enough for it to last for a few years...
My other rush purchase involved my arch-nemesis, Megabus.
Once upon a time, I was super-excited about this new addition to the U.S. mass transit system. I was young and naive, and megabus has offered me nothing but grief. On my cross-country trip megabus was useless because bikes must be boxed and treated like checked-luggage. The limited routes didn't do much for me either. But coming back to Austin I learned that megabus can get me most of the way to my Mom's house for as little as $10! Considering that trip costs at least $30 in gas, I jumped at the first opportunity to finally take advantage of the bus and see her this weekend.
Really, the resulting Hell was not the fault of Megabus. I had to get a coworker to come in for his shift two hours early so I could get to the pick-up point on time. I decided to us a car2go to get downtown, and then could not find parking to save my life. And then, after parking semi-illegally and standing 20 minutes in line to climb on the bus, I pulled out my confirmation number only to discover I'd grabbed the wrong print-out! I might have been able to pull up the information on my phone if I'd had five minutes to do so, but as I scrambled to type my e-mail password onto the tiny touchscreen keypad the bus left me in a cloud of exhaust.
The icing on the cake was how impossible it was to then get home after this terrible adventure. Darling and I are south of Austin now, so the bus stops about five miles away from the house. The long walk gave me plenty of time to miss my bike. I got back after 8 a.m., three hours after leaving work to catch the bus and about the time I should have been at my Mom's. Between clocking out early, paying to drive the car2go, and bus ticket, I spent more failing to get to my Mom's house than I would have spent paying for gas to drive there!
If I have to carry around a digital leash I want it to do more than interrupt my meals and sleep schedule, so I went ahead and got an awesome phone. I bought a smart phone ($100) and purchased the plan that offers unlimited music downloads, talk, and texts for $50 a month. The camera makes me so happy, and you all can look forward to images on this blog again.
$50 is pretty steep, but Cricket offers a pretty good deal: for every three months that you pay your bill on time, they give you a month free. So if I go ahead and pay the for the full year, that knocks the average monthly purchase to a little less than $38 a month, which is about what I paid for last year's not-smart phone. Granted, the savings was largely lost on the purchase of the new phone, but maybe we'll be lucky enough for it to last for a few years...
My other rush purchase involved my arch-nemesis, Megabus.
Once upon a time, I was super-excited about this new addition to the U.S. mass transit system. I was young and naive, and megabus has offered me nothing but grief. On my cross-country trip megabus was useless because bikes must be boxed and treated like checked-luggage. The limited routes didn't do much for me either. But coming back to Austin I learned that megabus can get me most of the way to my Mom's house for as little as $10! Considering that trip costs at least $30 in gas, I jumped at the first opportunity to finally take advantage of the bus and see her this weekend.
Really, the resulting Hell was not the fault of Megabus. I had to get a coworker to come in for his shift two hours early so I could get to the pick-up point on time. I decided to us a car2go to get downtown, and then could not find parking to save my life. And then, after parking semi-illegally and standing 20 minutes in line to climb on the bus, I pulled out my confirmation number only to discover I'd grabbed the wrong print-out! I might have been able to pull up the information on my phone if I'd had five minutes to do so, but as I scrambled to type my e-mail password onto the tiny touchscreen keypad the bus left me in a cloud of exhaust.
The icing on the cake was how impossible it was to then get home after this terrible adventure. Darling and I are south of Austin now, so the bus stops about five miles away from the house. The long walk gave me plenty of time to miss my bike. I got back after 8 a.m., three hours after leaving work to catch the bus and about the time I should have been at my Mom's. Between clocking out early, paying to drive the car2go, and bus ticket, I spent more failing to get to my Mom's house than I would have spent paying for gas to drive there!
Friday, February 8, 2013
A Reminder
I laughed when I read Lizzie's latest comment, which suggested the only way I'll meet my goals is to win the lottery.
I mean, it's been six years, love. My message is not that complicated. Darling and I could meet our stated goals by the end of the year if we wanted to...except for the children part, which has nothing to do with finances but everything to do with biology and isn't really the topic of today's post...Winning the lottery would be a bizarre and unfortunate accident, not exactly a step backwards but certainly not a step in the right direction.
So many people get wrapped up in the money thing, and I can understand that most new readers would get the impression that my goal is to get rich and retire in the lap of luxury. Pursuing wealth and convenience is a popular financial mistake and there are about a kajillion blogs, books, and articles available to those who would like to study that path. But if you really think this blog will ever devolve into a conversation about dollar-cost averaging or SRI, it might be time to decide whether or not the material I offer now is of actual interest to you. Because it's not going away.
I like reading about investing every once in a while. When I started this blog at the age of twenty-two, I did foresee a future of mutual funds and imagined that my goals were original enough to be challenging. I was wrong. A lot of people have been ignoring the credit industry for a long time. A great deal of people are living off-grid, building their own homes on shared property and living rich lives outside the confines of the status quo. They paved my way years before I was even born. It's embarrassing how easy it would be for Darling and me to join a community and start the process of settling down (pick out a property, build a home, etc). The only thing stopping us is my determination to do it on my own terms - stretching the process out another fifteen years in the process.
I'd like to take this blog beyond frugality. I'd like to talk about dismantling the financial myths that shape our lives and rule our behavior. I'd like to find out why we feel guilty when we borrow from family, ashamed to pull perfectly good food out of a dumpster, and proud that we can buy a big house when so many are homeless. Why do we treat so many destructive fictions as inevitable facts? Meditating on those matters is way more interesting than comparing interest rates and dividends.
In the meantime, I'm going to work and earn and travel. I'm going to learn crafts, trades, and skills. I'm going to pay the last niggling debt (over $300 paid off today!) and talk - a little - about where to put whatever extra may accumulate. I will continue to share my real numbers, because that is my unique gift to you: how many writers out there are truly revealing the deepest darkest confines of their bank accounts?
In other words, as I promised on my very first post, I will continue to do EVERYTHING WRONG. And by April of 2027 I will have built a house, purchased property, somehow acquired children, and achieve TOTAL FINANCIAL FREEDOM. Without the use of the credit industry, natch.
And anyone who has a problem with that is welcome to keep it to herself.
I mean, it's been six years, love. My message is not that complicated. Darling and I could meet our stated goals by the end of the year if we wanted to...except for the children part, which has nothing to do with finances but everything to do with biology and isn't really the topic of today's post...Winning the lottery would be a bizarre and unfortunate accident, not exactly a step backwards but certainly not a step in the right direction.
So many people get wrapped up in the money thing, and I can understand that most new readers would get the impression that my goal is to get rich and retire in the lap of luxury. Pursuing wealth and convenience is a popular financial mistake and there are about a kajillion blogs, books, and articles available to those who would like to study that path. But if you really think this blog will ever devolve into a conversation about dollar-cost averaging or SRI, it might be time to decide whether or not the material I offer now is of actual interest to you. Because it's not going away.
I like reading about investing every once in a while. When I started this blog at the age of twenty-two, I did foresee a future of mutual funds and imagined that my goals were original enough to be challenging. I was wrong. A lot of people have been ignoring the credit industry for a long time. A great deal of people are living off-grid, building their own homes on shared property and living rich lives outside the confines of the status quo. They paved my way years before I was even born. It's embarrassing how easy it would be for Darling and me to join a community and start the process of settling down (pick out a property, build a home, etc). The only thing stopping us is my determination to do it on my own terms - stretching the process out another fifteen years in the process.
I'd like to take this blog beyond frugality. I'd like to talk about dismantling the financial myths that shape our lives and rule our behavior. I'd like to find out why we feel guilty when we borrow from family, ashamed to pull perfectly good food out of a dumpster, and proud that we can buy a big house when so many are homeless. Why do we treat so many destructive fictions as inevitable facts? Meditating on those matters is way more interesting than comparing interest rates and dividends.
In the meantime, I'm going to work and earn and travel. I'm going to learn crafts, trades, and skills. I'm going to pay the last niggling debt (over $300 paid off today!) and talk - a little - about where to put whatever extra may accumulate. I will continue to share my real numbers, because that is my unique gift to you: how many writers out there are truly revealing the deepest darkest confines of their bank accounts?
In other words, as I promised on my very first post, I will continue to do EVERYTHING WRONG. And by April of 2027 I will have built a house, purchased property, somehow acquired children, and achieve TOTAL FINANCIAL FREEDOM. Without the use of the credit industry, natch.
And anyone who has a problem with that is welcome to keep it to herself.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Real Credit
I write a lot about debt, but I don't typically talk about my credit - my real
credit. That's a really important piece of the puzzle, one I am ashamed
to have neglected for so long. The reason I am busy in Austin - the
reason I am often overwhelmed in Austin - is that I am constantly
nurturing my creditors. I am spending time with friends and family,
taking people out for lunch, dog-sitting, helping people move, baking
birthday cakes, babysitting...When I came into town without a penny to my name, there was no shortage of people
willing to help me out. Because I would do the same for any one of them,
and have illustrated that time and time again. One time Darling had to
request a ride to an appointment outside of town. It was embarrassing to
ask such a hefty favor, but Xy didn't hesitate to agree. "For
all the free babysitting you've done for us, think of it as a $2,000 cab
ride," he said. Darling picked up the tab for lunch and they called it even.
Investing time and energy in my community has resulted in an immeasurably favorable yield, tax-free and inflation-adjusted. My safety net is far more secure than any combination of fiscal strategies. And I don't just bank in favors. I've loaned out my share of cash as well, and I've yet to be jilted - though I've never been paid back in a straightforward manner by a family member.
Of course my good credit is also the result of my reputation as a good employee and a generally trustworthy person. My friends and family know I won't borrow more money than I can pay back in a reasonable period of time. They know I can get a job at the drop of a hat, they know I will take on two jobs for an extended period of time if necessary. They know that not only can I earn good money, anywhere at anytime, but any money Darling earns is typically icing on the cake. They know that my financial obligations are generally so minimal that they won't have to wait in line behind the phone company, mechanic, bank, or utility company to get paid. And I've never, ever, used guilt or otherwise emotionally coerced anyone into giving me a loan. I always have at least two or three options available to me, and make sure whomever I'm asking for help knows that. In fact, I don't think I've ever asked to borrow money that wasn't offered first.
In other words, my credit is so good that people like to lend me money. They offer it unsolicited. I've learned to be a good investment.
A recent anonymous commenter asked me why I would borrow from friends and family but not the credit industry. I've meditated on the matter for several days, and I can honestly say that my financial transactions between friends and family have always been enriching, whereas my experiences with the credit industry have always been debilitating. It doesn't get any more straight forward than that. Some months I can be very generous with my surplus income, other months I need some help paying the dentist or making my way back to Texas. When I wrote my Mom a check for a thousand dollars to pay her back for my root canal, she was on cloud nine, even though she only loaned it to me a few weeks before. When I paid $8,000 to my student loan company over a four-month period, they didn't exactly send me a thank-you card.
Give me a choice between building trust or building my credit score, I'll take the former every day of the week.
Investing time and energy in my community has resulted in an immeasurably favorable yield, tax-free and inflation-adjusted. My safety net is far more secure than any combination of fiscal strategies. And I don't just bank in favors. I've loaned out my share of cash as well, and I've yet to be jilted - though I've never been paid back in a straightforward manner by a family member.
Of course my good credit is also the result of my reputation as a good employee and a generally trustworthy person. My friends and family know I won't borrow more money than I can pay back in a reasonable period of time. They know I can get a job at the drop of a hat, they know I will take on two jobs for an extended period of time if necessary. They know that not only can I earn good money, anywhere at anytime, but any money Darling earns is typically icing on the cake. They know that my financial obligations are generally so minimal that they won't have to wait in line behind the phone company, mechanic, bank, or utility company to get paid. And I've never, ever, used guilt or otherwise emotionally coerced anyone into giving me a loan. I always have at least two or three options available to me, and make sure whomever I'm asking for help knows that. In fact, I don't think I've ever asked to borrow money that wasn't offered first.
In other words, my credit is so good that people like to lend me money. They offer it unsolicited. I've learned to be a good investment.
A recent anonymous commenter asked me why I would borrow from friends and family but not the credit industry. I've meditated on the matter for several days, and I can honestly say that my financial transactions between friends and family have always been enriching, whereas my experiences with the credit industry have always been debilitating. It doesn't get any more straight forward than that. Some months I can be very generous with my surplus income, other months I need some help paying the dentist or making my way back to Texas. When I wrote my Mom a check for a thousand dollars to pay her back for my root canal, she was on cloud nine, even though she only loaned it to me a few weeks before. When I paid $8,000 to my student loan company over a four-month period, they didn't exactly send me a thank-you card.
Give me a choice between building trust or building my credit score, I'll take the former every day of the week.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Taxing
I know that having a tax refund is a total financial noob move, but you know what? I dig getting a big check once a year. So what if the government earns interest on my hard-earned cash throughout the year? Someone who isn't me is going to earn interest off that cash one way or another!
I've been using Turbo Tax since 2005, and was very happy until today. Today I came home from work at seven in the morning, totally exhausted but armed with Darling's W-2 and eager to get the chore over with. I logged onto my e-mail and clicked thoughtlessly on the latest piece of spam linking me to their website. Within half an hour my information was ready to go - and they took me to a payment page. $20 to file, and an added fee to use my refund to cover the charge! In my fatigued state I accidentally accepted the "Basic" option instead of free, and there was no way to go back!
At that point I was furious, but decided to get some sleep and approach it again with a clear head. After dinner I deleted my information and started from scratch. I thought I took the free link, but sure enough I found myself ready to e-file, and looking at a $20 charge!
So I went to IRS.gov and chose a new free e-file website. I chose Free Tax USA on the basis of it being neither H&R Block nor Turbo Tax, and was pleasantly surprised by how straight forward it is. I used to really like how Turbotax takes you through every single possible way of earning a deduction, but having aborted two e-files already I knew that Darling and I qualified for the standard deduction and it took less than 20 minutes to convey this information to Tax USA.
Now there's nothing to do but sit back and wait for my moneys!
I've been using Turbo Tax since 2005, and was very happy until today. Today I came home from work at seven in the morning, totally exhausted but armed with Darling's W-2 and eager to get the chore over with. I logged onto my e-mail and clicked thoughtlessly on the latest piece of spam linking me to their website. Within half an hour my information was ready to go - and they took me to a payment page. $20 to file, and an added fee to use my refund to cover the charge! In my fatigued state I accidentally accepted the "Basic" option instead of free, and there was no way to go back!
At that point I was furious, but decided to get some sleep and approach it again with a clear head. After dinner I deleted my information and started from scratch. I thought I took the free link, but sure enough I found myself ready to e-file, and looking at a $20 charge!
So I went to IRS.gov and chose a new free e-file website. I chose Free Tax USA on the basis of it being neither H&R Block nor Turbo Tax, and was pleasantly surprised by how straight forward it is. I used to really like how Turbotax takes you through every single possible way of earning a deduction, but having aborted two e-files already I knew that Darling and I qualified for the standard deduction and it took less than 20 minutes to convey this information to Tax USA.
Now there's nothing to do but sit back and wait for my moneys!
February 2013 Net Worth
My Net Worth dropped to -$2,863.27 in January, the obvious symptom of not earning a penny of my own and still needing to spend money borrowed from friends and family. Technically, it's not as bad as it sounds: the bulk of the money borrowed is from the family Darling and I are house-sitting for. They originally offered to pay us, and we declined. We're going to pay them back (and crash in their guest bedroom for a little while longer), so it will all balance out well.
The rest of the borrowed money was the cost of our Greyhound bus ticket, which my brother offered me back in October. So it's not like we just rolled into town with our palms outward and started living off our relatives.
My upcoming paycheck should clear all this up, and our net worth should reach a new low by March 1st. And in a few weeks I will get my tax refund, and negative net worths will be a thing of the past!
The rest of the borrowed money was the cost of our Greyhound bus ticket, which my brother offered me back in October. So it's not like we just rolled into town with our palms outward and started living off our relatives.
My upcoming paycheck should clear all this up, and our net worth should reach a new low by March 1st. And in a few weeks I will get my tax refund, and negative net worths will be a thing of the past!
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