August 9, 2010
My high school service award was a $500 savings bond for college.
Our lovely Kiwanians, however, hadn’t really looked carefully at the terms of the bond, or the kind of bond they were buying, and 10 years later, the Series EE bond has only appreciated to a grand total of $374. It’s the sort of bond that takes thirty years to accrue to full value, you see, and so was probably the worst choice for a college fund.
I can’t really decide if it’s worth waiting another 20 years for that bond to mature. Why not cash it out at $374 now and invest it or just put it toward one of my mid-term savings goals?
June 28, 2010
It’s time. It’s more than time. Given all my health spasms, the delay makes absolutely no sense but it should. Going to a new doctor to explain all my issues (pronounce: “iss-seeuuwws”) from the last 15 years transports me into the state of denial and aggro.
It’s dumb. Absolutely dumb. I know it but there’s something that’s balked at having to start that Find a New Doctor and Start Over nonsense. That would be the memory of 10 years of being bounced from doctor to doctor who all told me it was in my head, that my pain was imaginary, that no one my age could be experiencing what I was, in fact, experiencing. Jerks.
Anyway, no more delaying tactics – I’m going to start going to the doctor so I can find a good doctor. As much as I hate the rigamarole, I have to start somewhere and at least I’m not a confused, shy, teenager in too much pain to stand up for herself.
I’m compiling a single page document to summarize the past 15 years of tests, meds and exams and bringing it with me – that’ll save time.
And the bigger pain is the literal one in my neck and shoulders that tighten up to iron-rod strength every time I get stressed or something else hurts. It’s just foolish to not try and fix *that.*
Wish me luck!
{————Carnivals————}
My thanks …..
to Suburban Dollar for hosting this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance.
May 23, 2010
This is the clearest, possibly best round of chicken stock cooked up yet!
As I write this, I’m watching people on the water with my feet hiked up on a deck chair, squinting in the sun. Max brightness setting has nothing on the direct sunlight! I’ve been firmly scolded that weekends are not for working. Luckily, I did bust my butt to finish up a major project two weeks early just so I could invoice it out and claim that income for this challenge, so I can cooperate with my “orders” to rest and relax.
The reports on the challenge for last week:
Ciawy saved $215 of the intended $250 per week, brought lunch and snacks to work every day and fell to the siren call of the farmers’ market. But she bought fruit so I can’t really argue with that!
Candace of Cody and Candace saved another $124 which brings her to 57% of the goal.
The Fit Lounge committed to saving at least $1000.
Anyone else out there? @ConvertingMe? @tiredofbeingbroke? Frugal Scholar? Funny about Money? I know you’re working at it, and I’d love to hear about your progress!
My progress this week was incremental again: $2,179.18 [43%]
Not so incidentally: Single Ma is tearing up the Fitness part of this challenge, blogging about it every day AND experiencing all the glorious ups and downs of training.
May 16, 2010
Sound off!
Because my freelance income is irregular, I didn’t set increments of earning but I AM working like gangbusters to finish up the other half of a major project early. Say, two weeks early just so I can log the income for this challenge. (Not cheating!) While it means my eyeballs may fall out, that means I’ll have more time for other things like working on my Carnival of Personal Finance theme, or dogsitting toward the end of the month.
You know what would be really cool? If Adsense came through this month too. It won’t ’cause I’m still a ways away from the payout threshold, but it’d be a cool confluence of events if it did.
This week my progress was incremental so the total now stands at $1,969.18 [39%]
{————Carnivals and Link Love————}
Check them out ….
Little Miss Moneybags‘ Combined Finances post contained a gem that I’d never really considered before when mentally debating the joint versus separate finances issue (bold emphasis mine):
Peanut is paying off his student loans aggressively and as soon as I’m out of the grace period, I will too. By pooling our money and aggressively paying all of our loans in order of highest interest rate, we will ultimately pay less interest. We may only save a few hundred bucks, but hey, that’s something. Also, I’m benefiting from the education those loans got him. And he’s benefiting from the education my loans got me.
May 9, 2010
Did I say I’d set up updates on Saturday? I’m all discombobulated!
Cody and Candace reported: $164 of $500, reaching 33% of the goal
Danielle hopped on board with a goal of $1500 in debt reduction
The Lost Goat has joined the Fitness side planning to job 45 minutes, 3 times a week, with a 5K on June 6th.
Ciawy reports her plan to save $250/week and bring lunches to work
I have received three payments for invoices and logged $2030 of $5000 this week.
Notes: It’s a great start, but the rest of the way is going to be quite a bit more challenging. I’m traveling next weekend so I won’t have nearly any time to spend on freelancing.
{————Carnivals and Link Love————}
Weddings in the Blogosphere
Stacking Pennies is back from her mini-moon and raised her rent.
Red is getting married TODAY.
My Thanks…
Thanks to Frugal Scholar for sharing a book review of Possom Living, a book about living frugally in a pretty extreme situation, and noting my attempts to occasionally be possum.
December 28, 2009
It’s the end of December, which means tax preparation time! Well, prepping for tax prep, anyway. I like to start pulling together my records early in December to make sure things are all set for this tax year.
This is the first year since 2004 that I can claim Education Credits because I took a couple classes this last quarter. I should also be able to claim the money paid towards next quarter’s tuition since that’ll be paid before December 31st.
The usual two choices are the Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits. This and next year, however, a new player is in town: The American opportunity tax credit (AOC), a modification of the Hope Credit.
Here’s a quick comparison of the credits:
AOC, a modification of the Hope credit:
— The maximum amount of the AOC is $2,500 per student. The credit is phased out (gradually reduced) if your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) is between $80,000 and $90,000 ($160,000 and $180,000 if you file a joint return). Exception. For 2009, if you claim a Hope credit for a student who attended a school in a Midwestern disaster area, you can choose to figure the amount of the credit using the previous rules. However, you must use the previous rules in figuring the credit for all students for which you claim the credit.
— The credit can be claimed for the first four years of post-secondary education. Previously the credit could be claimed for only the first two years of post-secondary education.
— Generally, 40% of the AOC is now a refundable credit for most taxpayers, which means that you can receive up to $1,000 even if you owe no taxes.
— The term “qualified tuition and related expenses” has been expanded to include expenditures for “course materials.” For this purpose, the term “course materials” means books, supplies, and equipment needed for a course of study whether or not the materials must be purchased from the educational institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance.
After all is said and done, the Lifetime Learning Credit remains my best friend. This gives a 20% of the first $10,000 of qualified education expenses you paid. Quick calculations say that I’m looking at a credit between $400 and $500. Of course, these are just rough numbers right now — there’s still a lot of income crunching to be done before I’m ready to file my tax returns for 2009.
______________________________________________
Carnavale!
The last Carnival of Personal Finance for 2009 is up at Gather Little By Little. Mike included my update on investing.
December 21, 2009
This weekend was a social whirlwind. I had the pleasure/pain of organizing lunches with former colleagues and college classmates.
On Saturday, we had BBQ with the former colleague, and the nutty one is as hilariously offbeat as usual. As is her new husband. We got greedy ordering, between the four of us we had 4 full slabs of babyback ribs, an order of tri-tip, 2 orders of mac’n’cheese, french fries, mashed potatoes, and baked beans. I didn’t finish my entire slab as intended, but that just makes for delicious leftovers!
The best part of lunch conversation: inventing zany, improbable uses for a monocle.
Cost: $32, with tip
On Sunday, our group of 7 was incomplete as the Dynamic Darling of the group had family matters to attend, but we still managed to have fun. Three of our group are teachers (middle school and high school), so teacher talk dominated the conversation.
The best parts of lunch conversation:
Lulu turning to me saying, oh! Are you a teacher, too?
Me: No, I’m just mean.
When Sarah recited the whole of Invictus, without batting an eye. And then was awarded a gold star by Sander, the other teacher, at the table.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
—William Ernest Henley
When Sander, a notorious jokester, seated himself next to Kayla, the quietest, shyest of the bunch, to convince her that he’d reformed. After an hour of not picking on her, she laughed out loud at his mockery of someone else and he turned to her with a sly wink, “See? It’s always funny when it happens to someone else, isn’t it?”
At the end of the meal, the bill immediately got stuffed with bills and credit cards and handed to me for the final math. “I’m an English major!” they chorused.
“Guys,” I retorted, “we’re ALL English majors!”
Cost: $14, with tip
Carnavale!
Mighty Bargain Hunter hosts this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance: the Parts of Speech Abuse Edition.
My post on Holiday Traditions was included.
Nominations!
The Plutus award nominations are now open! The nominations will remain open for three weeks.
