January 2011 Controlled/No Spend Thread

[shanendoah]

I apparently lied Tuesday and Wednesday about my NSDs. I am only at 10, not the 11 I reported yesterday, because when DH went out Monday night, he spent money and did not mention it to me when he came home. Not a big deal, but Monday was not an NSD. Still, I have met my goal for the month and might even exceed it.

startsmart: TAKE A BREAK! You need one. Take care of you.

I feel like there's more comments I should be making, but DH didn't come to bed until 4am this morning, and when he comes to bed that late, I can't fall back asleep after. (3am, I'm good, I can get back to sleep, but 4am, no way. Awake for the next 2.5 hours until the alarm goes off.)

[spruby]

OK - who mentioned the "stray of the day" blog??? They are *so* cute!!!!! If I didn't have my girls I would drive there adopt them all!!!!!!!! The foster mom has a heart of gold.

I'll update later - but hope everyone is doing well - and startsmart - take a break!

[MittenKitten]

Hmm I am going to take forever to be a full fledged member then LOL. I guess we can see who are chatty Cathys are LOL.

The weather man was nice enought to point out that we have yet to be above 30 degrees for the month of Jan. However we are due a warm front and should get there in the next couple of days. How sad when a "warm" front is still not that warm. Don't get me wrong I will take it over the below zero temps we have had!

Did pretty well with the $400 budget. I did stock up on pop/soday for DF and toilet paper so I may need to start Feb a few days early. Over all I am pretty happy. Now we will see what Feb will bring.

[ses]

Sheila--If you do a baked potato bar for a smallish group you can wrap the potatoes in foil and bake them overnight (15-18 hours) in a crock pot or roaster. When we did a massive amount of potatoes we baked them in sheet pans in the oven and kept them hot in a big crock pot or roaster. Then different people would bring whipped butter(served with small cookie scoops), sour cream(served with small cookie scoops), chives, bacon bits, diced broccoli florets, shredded cheese, sliced jalapenos, salsa, chili, nacho cheese sauce, beef gravy with shredded beef bits.... Keep the hot stuff in more crock pots. For small groups it was serve-yourself and large groups it was "assembly line" service.
I always wondered about doing "pizza" style toppings?

3cats--I think we all have had to pay a "stupid tax" along the way. Just be glad it took two years after starting this lifestyle for it to happen.

[sheilaincali]

MK- I am deliriously excited for the anticipated high of 34 tomorrow. How sad is that? Of course in my neck of the woods it's back to the single digits on Sunday

ses: Thanks for the info. I'll bring it up to my mom and see what she thinks. It could work this spring. They do a German Thanksgiving in in Nov. and don't have a spring thing.

[Honeylioness]

Spending Goals - I am glad in a way to see that I am not the only one feeling as though some of our financial matters are feeling out of control. Even with tracking every cent I am still feeling as though I am floundering if not actually in crisis. And really not sure just what I can do in the short term to make it feel any better.

Taxes - Like red wagon I have started / finished calculating my income tax return. I too am waiting anxiously for mid-February to file and get my money!! Yes I know, the experts say you should never get a refund, that they are "bad" and you would be better off having a direct withdrawal / deposit to savings or a money market. But either I am too undisciplined or something to make that work for me. If it is going into my savings account I am sure to spend it during the year on emergencies etc. Anyway, my Federal refund is about $3K this year which is great - even if I do own the State $33. The one big downer for me though is that because of the documentation for donating the truck I cannot e-file. Boo hiss.

startsmart - I hope things start to get a little more under control soon as you know I worry about you burning yourself out.

Weather - Honestly, it's winter in New England people .... they have called of school for the FIFTH time in about 2 1/2 weeks because of snow .... I could just scream. Yes, one of the storms was very icy and made commuting treacherous but come on now ..... they called at 05:30 am this morning to cancel school because of 6" of snow?? Yet even during the dumping we got two weeks ago of 15" in 24 hours my company would not close.

Life is NOT fair.

Personal "weirdness" - I think I have been asked out on a date. Though it has been so long since such a thing happened to me I am still not sure. The girls seem to think it is a date ... but does it count if he offered to include them as well if I wanted? And it is only a couple of days away and still no idea what time I am supposed to be ready by. Just strange.

By the way - am I expected to offer to pay half? pay the tip? It has been a long long time since anyone has asked me out I have no freakin' idea if the rules have changed.

[singlemomky]

Honey - maybe he was being a really nice guy by offering to include the girls for fear that you would have to make arrangements for them so he was making sure that he got to spend some time with you even if it is in the company of the girls.

As for who pays - I always prepare to pay my share. More times than not the guy will not 'allow' you to pay but I do think that he would appreciate your offering.

[shanendoah]

Honey: Yes, its a date. He offered to include the girls in order to put you at ease, make you more comfortable, increase your odds of saying yes. It also says he's a pretty good guy.
If he asked and is picking the place, then he should definitely pay. Offering to pick up the tip is nice (though not required). However, for a first date, I always make sure I can pay for my half, just in case the guy doesn't turn out to be as advertised.
As for what time to be ready by, call him. Say hey, in the midst of everything else I missed what time I'm supposed to be ready by.

[3catslady]

Sheila; How do you get exalt on your file? I don't have it on mine.
I finally made it to Junior member

[sheilaincali]

It should be that little thing right below the "Karma" in the box with everyone's name "junior member" or whatever status, whether they are on line or off line. Toward the bottom. You just push the button for whoever you want to bestow karma points on I guess.

[singlemomky]

3cats - I believe what's throwing you off is that you do not have an exalt under your own name. I'm assuming that is b/c you shouldn't really exalt your own posts but you do have an exalt that is displayed for others to see (you just cannot see it). Hope that makes sense.

[sheilaincali]

Thanks Smokey- I forgot to mention that fact
And you can only "exalt" karma on someone once every 2 hours.

[dakota4600]

Honey- Sounds like a date to me. Is the the same guy from the fall?

[3catslady]

Thanks all, that makes sense because on my profile I can see my e-mail address and the word hidden in parentheses. Just getting to know this stuff is exciting.
Also, I tried to get excel to come up the first time and it didn't so when I tried to do it again, it came up in "safe-mode". I couldn't get the sum button to work in the safe mode. I tried it again in the regular mode and it worked. Something else I learned today.
I forgot to add, "thanks for the karma"

[moneysquirrel]

Update: 19 NS / 4CS = 23/15 (Goal 15NS/CS)

Tomorrow is Friday

[redwagon]

3cats - shoot your bank an email or call them and ask the NSF to be removed. Explain you are a longtime (if you are) customer and that this has never happened before, and you are terribly sorry and it will never happen again. You'd be surprised how accomodating they are. I got 2 NSF fees two weeks ago with blue's SL payment draining our account, and Chase took both off after I just filled in the "Contact Us" form online. Worth a shot!

I didn't read the last two pages yet.

I had my interview today. The place seems perfect - bright and cheerful and casual and FUN. They do kids books and cook books and random other art books. People seemed great. But the job doesn't seem like a good fit - very technical and even further from creative stuff than where I am now. Major BUMMER. I'd love to work there...

[dakota4600]

I booked our first weekend away without Nathan. Before Christmas I got a Groupon for a B&B about an hour north of here for $60. So I called today and booked the water spa room. It has a jetted clawfoot tub. I figure we'll go up check in and find a nice restaurant, then on Saturday we'll explore the town. If it is nice out we might drive through the bird preserve near there. I've seen bald eagles up there, but didn't have a camera with me.

I arranged for my parents to take care of Mini-D. (I really prefer having him at my parents for the firsts, because if I get worried they understand when I call.) I posted on facebook about making the reservation and my MIL wanted to know who gets to watch him. I shouldn't be upset both sets of grandparents are so willing to take care of him, but I feel like I'm depriving her if I have my parents watch him. Anyway my MIL gets him overnight tomorrow night, while we go to an indoor soccer game.

OH YEAH I made my goal for the month 20 NS/CS.

[reeneejune]

Terribly far behind but present and accounted for. I have a project that's keeping me very very busy (I seem to have taken a page out of StartSmart's book) but that will ultimately help me out of debt a bit faster. No details except busy, busy, busy!

Had a comment for someone but now I can't seem to pull it out of my head. And I even have a pen and paper next to my laptop! Speaking of, I now have internet at home!! Woot! I got a wireless hotspot device so I can access internet wherever I'd like to. Very exciting!

And lastly, I'll be traveling Saturday and Sunday. I'm getting a long-awaited weekend off and I'm taking the opportunity to go visit my DBro in the slammer. LOL. 20 hrs on a bus to visit him for like 4 hours. Sigh, the things I do for family. But it will get me out of the house overnight (yay hotel room!).

[sheilaincali]

Ah crap. DH did our taxes. We owe the feds $3000 and the state $1400. Sucks that we have no deductions we can write off. We rent our house so no interest there. We don't have any student loans- no interest there. Just the standard stuff. Sucks- but oh well. No use crying over it.

[redwagon]

Okay, all caught up!!

Honey - sounds exciting!! And sounds like a nice guy! Good luck!!

sheila - ouch. sorry chica!!

Blue's W2 finally came in, so all he needs to do is round up his savings account interest forms. Oh, and I need my W-2 from freelancing, but as they didn't withhold taxes I can guestimate. Getting closer to our final number! Oh, for freelancing, part of the check was my fee, and part was reimbursement for printing/shipping. Do you think I report the reimbursement as income? What if that isn't specified on the W2?

Also, blue owns stock in a company. Does anything from that get reported? He hasn't received any money, any gains just get reinvested I guess. Thoughts? New to that aspect of this tax filing thing.

Happy Friday!! Today is going so slowly though... and i have to work late to make up for leaving early yesterday for the interview. And I'm starving. lol.

[dakota4600]

Sheila- That sucks!

Red- His brokerage (or where ever the stocks are being held) should send you a form if there were any taxable dividends (1099-DIV) It will show you the qualified and non-qualified Dividend payments. As I understand it(Not an expert) qualified dividends are taxed at regular tax rate, while non-qualified dividends are taxed at the capital gains rate. Some of mine are on auto reinvest and some just go into the cash fund. That doesn't determine the tax treatment though. I'm glad you mentioned this I need to see if the one going into my cash fund can be auto reinvested.

Reenee- Enjoy your time off work. Glad you have internet access again.

Tonight is date night. We are going to see an indoor soccer game. I was a huge fan in middle school and high school and some of the players from that era are going to scrimmage at half time. DH has never been to one. He asked me if the player I had a huge crush on is going to be there, but he wasn't listed. The cool thing was that my parents did marriage prep classes and that player was in one that my parents did. Usually I would hang out in the basement or my room during those sessions, but the ones he was at I did my homework in the dining room, so I could see him in MY living room. Then he agreed to come to my soccer teams end of the year party. I still remember that vividly.

[sheilaincali]

Red- Eh, not the end of the world. DH is playing around and doing us married filing separately. That brought it down over $1000 so that helps. Still tinkering and seeing what's all what.

[redwagon]

Dakota - Thanks! I'll have him check online to see if there is a tax form there.

[shanendoah]

Update: 11 of 10 NSD (stretch goal of 12), 4 of 8 MOAN
I'm paid for parking yesterday, but I'm still counting it as an NSD because I will be fully reimbursed by work. Still having coughing fits, so still no exercising.

taxes: We will owe. We know this, as DH didn't have anything taken out of UE for taxes, but we've saved for it. Still, we're waiting on his W2 from the Census, and then I'll estimate before we actually do them mid-Feb. For once, I may not send in my form asap, since I'd rather keep our money earning interest a little longer.
I also need to do the MIL's taxes, which are fun. She doesn't pay anything in; she doesn't owe anything, and she doesn't get anything back. But because she has the rental income in addition to her disability and SSD, we have to fill out the forms.

black hills: We won't be able to make it. My assistant has had that week scheduled off for the last year, as she's going to Belgium to visit her brother then. I can't take the same time off and leave the office with no support.

dakota: Have fun on your weekend away! And I call in to check on my dogs when we're away, so I see nothing weird about calling in to check on your actual child.

renee: Yay for a weekend off and seeing family.

red_wagon: You should not pay taxes on the reimbursement. In fact, the W2 should not reflect the reimbursement at all, as those were not wages paid to you. If it does reflect the reimbursement, I would contact the company and ask them for a corrected and accurate W2. Another option is to make sure you have all your pay stubs and receipts for the things you were reimbursed for. Report your actual pay, and keep those papers with your tax information for this year. If you get audited, you will have the documentation to back up your assessment.

sheila: Okay, every time I've run the math, there is no difference (and should be no difference) between filing jointly and filing separately, unless there are also business expenses involved. How is your DH coming up with owing $1k less? (I'd like to know in case it could save us money this year.)

[WholeLottaNothin]

UPDATE 10 NSD

I feel totally out of it lately. What is it about February 15th and taxes? We rent so does this still effect us? I haven't felt this out of it since I was on chemo. I can't seem to get enough sleep lately, or get comfortable enough to sleep, or to get my mind to shut off so I can fall to sleep.

I finally got all our tax related information so I could do our taxes this weekend. Assuming I get to sleep twelve or so hours tonight

[shanendoah]

nutting: If you use Schedule A - ie itemize your tax deduction, then yes, you need to wait until Feb 15 because the IRS won't have their system updated (or the correct forms out, though companies like Turbo Tax have to correct info) until that time. If you don't use schedule A, it doesn't effect you.

[dakota4600]

Shanandoah- There is huge communication difference between my family and his. While I don't talk to my parents everyday, I do probably 4 or 5 times a week. We call to chat, we call if there is bad weather to make sure everyone is safe, we call if someone had something big happening that day. DH's family only call for a specific reason, maybe once a week. When mini-D was really little I would call everyday and check on him. I explained to FIL that I called my SIL and my DOD to check on him and it wasn't a lack of trust, it was just a reassurance that my boy was okay, because I was feeling really guilty about being a working mom. FIL always made me feel like I was being silly calling to check on him, so I prefer to leave him with my parents if I might want to call and check on him.

Nuttinhoney- I believe the Feb 15th is the date homeowners can actually e-file their taxes.

[Honeylioness]

nuttinhoney Because of some new tax code regulations and adjustments to forms people who itemize their tax returns (especially home owners) have to wait until mid February when all this revised information has been fully loaded and uploaded to tax websites and the IRS. Submitting prior to this date will most likely get your return either kicked back or flagged for a closer scrutiny ... not something most of us want --- the feds taking a microscope to our financial lives.



C'est la Vie - so if it WAS a date it is no more. I got an e-mail he has to cancel this Sunday, then he said he had moved it to next Saturday .... that's no good as it is Ines' birthday dinner with her friends that night. So as of this moment it seems to be a no-go.

Ah well .... and I will keep my other comments silent for now.

[sheilaincali]

Shanen: Honestly- I don't know. He is doing the little HR Block computer thing. Just plugging in our information. I make double what he does.
Originally we owed the feds 3013 and the state of MN 1400. Now as married filed separately he is getting $483 back from feds and owes the state $438. I owe the feds $1946 and the state $1039. So together it's still less. This is just using the standard deduction option. Not the itemized.
So it went from $4413 total to owing $3423 and getting $483 back.

[shanendoah]

dakota: I guess what I was trying to say is that its your in-laws who are the silly ones. As I said, I call to check on my dogs, of course parents call to check on their kids, especially when they're mini-D's age.

sheila: I guess I'll check it out. We do itemize because of the house, so if one itemizes, the other has to, too, for filing seperately. I guess I'll check it out when I do the forms and see if it makes a difference. At least I don't have to worry about state income tax.