August 27, 2006
Size-mic Silliness
2 inches. That’s my magic number. However much poundage that translates into, I don’t care. I just want to put on 2 inches. In diameter.
Size 0 just doesn’t work for me anymore, because ladies’ sizes continue to shift upwards, and in stores where clothes in size 0 are too small, you can bet that size 2 will be too big. When, as in the majority of stores, size 0 is too BIG, I’m just SOL!
Thusly, I am embarking on my two-inch plan. I want to put on two inches, all around. Magically, waistlines will fit, hips in dresses, skirts and pants will fit, tops will fit. In addition to the party I get to throw when I hit 100 pounds, I will be allowed a new outfit when I gain those two inches.
And if I also manage to grow taller by two inches, well, I’ll entirely eliminate that tailor’s bill of $65 for hemming lengths, and trimming waistlines. Or will that just incur extra charges to try to let out waistlines and hemlines of existing clothes? Hmmm …..
Perhaps I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a tendency to just naturally screw things up. I compensate by trying to keep meticulous records and keep due diligence, but I inevitably make mistakes that cost me money. I’m sure you all have experienced something of the sort? Please feel free to share, I’m feeling particularly foolish today, as I attempt to plow through all the necessary paperwork to clear things off my desktop.
Foolishness #1: Car Troubles
When I bought my car 3 years ago, I was silly enough to not have really done my homework. Big mistake. I bought, in addition to my car, the useless GAP insurance and the Road Hazard warranty because Toyota does not insure tire damage. *sigh* I cringe, every time I say that out loud. Yes, folks, I was SO unsavvy that I thought getting my tires covered by this road hazard insurance was a good idea. Ok, in theory it’s a good idea. BUT I should have asked to see all the claim paperwork to see how many millions of hoops you have to jump through, which judges you have to bark at, and in what order the above must be done. Years down the road, I’m determined to recoup that loss by USING the insurance, because MaDucky got a record 3 flats in a row driving my little car to and from work. Theoretically each of those flats should have been covered fully because she ran over nails. In practice? I’d never used the road hazard insurance before, so I had no idea who I had to call first, what I had to fill out, and I don’t know how much more information I needed to have before the claim authorization was considered complete.
I’m going to make one last final effort to put all this information together to get just ONE of the tires covered, but haven’t got very high hopes for this at all. You may have won this one, Beacon, but I’ll know better next time!
Moral of the story? You’re MUCH better off just saving $20 a month, or even $10 to cover any road hazard tire problems you encounter. That and have a good, trustworthy, reliable mechanic to go to for any other car problems.
If you really want to use their insurance? You’ve have about ten flat tires in the last two-three years? ASK QUESTIONS. Ask for the claims forms. Ask for the authorization requirements. Ask for the administrating company’s contact information: name, address, phone number, hours. Heck, as for the selling company’s point person who will help you submit any claims you need.
As for me, I’m going to look into the other “services” that this company offers: Dent & Ding Protection to repair the dings or dents that Celeste has collected over the years, and see what little I can recoup from there.
Foolishness #2: Failure to maximize rewards, assuming you can get it next time around
I have had the Citi Driver’s Edge card since September of last year, and I’m coming up on the last month of 6% rebate goodness [gas, grocery, drugstore]. I should have immediately enrolled in the Drive Rebates Program the instant I got the card to make sure that I had both Drive Rebates AND regular purchase rebates to help pay off the bills from Foolishness #1.
One reason I let things slide was because Citi did NOT make their enrollment form available online. I searched, I called, I emailed and kept getting the same Miles Submission forms that I could get online. Finally I was worn down and just used that form to submit. Lo and behold, both “submissions” were rejected because I had not yet enrolled. This is after calling FOUR TIMES to ask for enrollment forms and getting the wrong ones. Extra moral: The more I do business with Citi, the less I like their lack of customer service.
Moral of the story? Don’t become the victim of attrition. Time and the credit card companies are not your friends, they are depending on you to drop the ball so they don’t have to pay you the rebates they offer.
Just after twelve and I’ve FINALLY cleared off part of my desk having organized all sixteen Pending Resolution issues into a nice accordion folder. That leaves:
1. the great Cable/Internet/Phone debate [I’m trying to research SingleMa’s Verizon experience because the AT&T Yahoo that I posted about may not pan out],
2. the lovely T-Mobile, Please remove BroDucky from the family plan campaign,
3. and the Road Hazards, Blown tire insurance shouldn’t be this much trouble to collect on debacle.
Things are heating up in here, and I haven’t even tackled the remainder of my work-work that has to be completed before I get into the office tomorrow.
I’m determined to get all this done today and start the week off right because I’ve only got 3 working days with the boss in the office and we need to Get. Things. DONE.
The end of this week, I’m going to leave ALL these worries behind – they shouldn’t even be worries by Friday – and go see BoyDucky for the weekend. Real relaxation, here I come!!
Disclaimer: Last year was the first time I’d qualified for and filed as head of household status on my tax returns.
Prologue
The players:
Protagonist. MsMiniducky
Antagonist. Faceless Tax Franchise Board
The scene: Imagine my utter horrified dismay to see an envelope from the Tax Franchise Board!! Now, I’ve seen them before. And the last time, I ended up writing a check for $800 to cover a horrendously expensive, boneheaded mistake made by none other than BroDucky! He did have to pay me back for that, of course, but we all know how much I hate paying for his mistakes while he has all the time in the world to repay me. AND wasting one of my checks? Tsk, all around.
My first thought was oh Lordy, what [did he do] now? Then I realized it was actually addressed to ME! I frantically tore open the envelope and just sat down when I saw that it was a Head of Household Audit Letter.
Act 1
While gathering my paperwork to file my tax return, I DID do my homework and go over the numbers very carefully before deciding to tell my parents that we were going to do our taxes a little differently this year. What I didn’t know, and didn’t find while researching this particular tax status, was that HOH filings are very closely scrutinized by the IRS because there are about a dozen very specific rules you must answer to determine true qualification and many people file when they don’t actually qualify.
In reading over the enclosed table of qualifications, I see that I still DO qualify, but I’m not sure that I understand what I need to submit as “proof.” Perhaps the W-2 forms would suffice? However, since I didn’t think ahead last year, I didn’t think to make sure that the rent payments were made from my checking account instead of simply giving Ma/Pa Duckies the money to cover the rent. I’m not sure what properly constitutes sufficient proof!
Item Number 11 on the FAQs is vaguely reassuring, though:
11. Q. Can I provide the head of household information when I file my tax return?
A. Yes. If you e-file your tax return and use the head of household filing status, you can provide the head of household information with your tax return by submitting the completed Schedule HOH/FTB 4803e at the time your return is filed. The Schedule HOH FTB/4803e will allow us to determine if you qualify for the filing status without later having to issue you an audit letter.
So I get the impression that if I can honestly answer the questions correctly, this may not actually lead to a real audit. Or maybe that providing the W-2 is all the proof I need. I don’t know, I’m just nervous about not being able to provide what the IRS would consider sufficient evidence of my supporting the household, despite making 80% of the total household income.
The last page of the rather imposing packet states that “At the end of this process, we will tell you in writing that:
We are accepting this return as you filed it, or
You have additional tax due, or
You have overpaid your tax and are entitled to a refund, or
We have not changed your tax amount, but you may be entitled to a refund if you correctly recomputed your tax and file a claim for refund before the end of the statue of limitations expires.
to be continued . . .
August 25, 2006
What’s the color for PF blogger shame?
The statement closes on one of my Citibank balance transfer cards today and … well, I goofed. I think I admitted to this some time ago when I mentioned that I wasn’t playing with the Credit Protector stuff on my BT cards anymore because I’d missed a date or something and somehow was charged a CP fee. [gr!]
I still have time, thanks to the handy-dandy “transfer” option on my Citibank account that’ll process a payment right now as though it were an instantaneous payment, but there’s something in me balking about the thought of giving up the interest on about 2500 dollars.
BUT I sh0uld shush up and cut my losses now, after all, I still have another BT left on another card that would have come up free in a month or so anyway. That’s the Driver’s Edge that’ll be out of the 12 month 6% promotional period.
Right?
August 22, 2006
I was feeling lonely over here because the site meter showed 0 visits since last week. Turns out I forgot to add the site meter html to my new template.
I’ve been watching various bloggers talking about Prosper and wondering if I could or should try my hand at it. The fact that there’s no real guarantee is unsettling, though why it’s more unsettling when it’s a loan to a real person rather than money I invest in mutual funds doesn’t make much sense.
I’ve not made any further moves towards Prosper because I have two “loans” outstanding already through family connections that are a traditional sort of Prosper. To be honest, I think that this informal but monitored set-up we have is very similar to what Prosper is based upon.
One is an outright loan with a family friend who needed cash capital. He offered 3% interest monthly and since it’s an anonymous loan he uses PaDucky to facilitate the interest payments, and he subtracts that amount from the total that PaDucky owes him. Essentially, his paying on my loan to him is forgiving a business loan he extended to PaDucky at a much higher percentage than I could earn anywhere else. Previously, when he was able, PaDucky did pay that cash to me, but since it just got paid into the household bills anyway I didn’t worry about it when he wasn’t able to any longer. Not only do I not have to help pay back that debt in cash, it’s still slowly being “paid down.” And no, he’s never asked me to help, I just feel obligated when we still do business with this person. I’m rather proud of that one.
The second is the pre-Prosper family loan community that I’ve just started with this year. PadresDuckies have apparently used this system to raise large amounts of cash on short notice for business capital for years.
Basically, a large group of people (approximately 40+) decide they’re in. The same person is always the banker in this very odd game of banking. She holds the cash and guarantees that no one is going to cut and run with the money. Everyone makes a first payment of say, 200, which she uses to begin funding the whole process. The first payment is collected from everyone and that sum goes to the first winner of the bidding process. Basically, it means that (40 times 200 equals 8000) $8000+27% is the pot every month, and traditionally, whoever wanted the pot typically bid the amount of interest they were willing to pay. This interest rate has varied greatly in the past, but this particular banker has set the interest rate at 27%: she won’t allow it to go so high as to financially cripple the eventual winner but it’s definitely lucrative if you wait it out. [I think my numbers are right.]
Because this is a family/community sort of thing, everyone can have different rules, but I’ve been told never to do this outside of this particular group because she’s very trustworthy and it’s nearly impossible to verify anyone else’s trustworthiness. Each “play” goes for as many months as there are people. In this case, there are 40 people, so 40 months. Every month someone takes the pot, and then they’re only in the game to pay their 200 plus 27%. You either pay your 200 until the end and then take your pot, gaining the whole 27%, or at some point in the game you decide to bid for it and take the pot and pay your remaining portion at 27% interest. You can still profit if you wait it out longer than half of the total time involved. There’s a slight variation of putting up a pot of your own to buy someone’s stake, and then they pay you the interest money directly, and you still get a pot in the end. Obviously, you have to decide that you’re willing to invest your money in this investment model rather than another.
It’s basically risk-free because you’re going to get your money back when you want it, depending on how long you can afford to pay and if you decide you want an infusion of cash for any reason. I found it very intriguing that there’s always someone who wants the pot so you’re never forced to cash out early as I’d feared, or so PadresDuckies reassured me. I decided to give it a whirl, and managed to buy someone’s stake but it’s definitely a long wait for the payoff.
Trading the lump sum is worth it to me because I will be able to bank the monthly interest for MaDucky without taking it out of my own paycheck, and when I get the total pot, I’ll keep the interest and reinvest the principal.
This is a rather unique investing opportunity that sort of musses up my net worth assessments. I don’t include those two loan amounts in my net worth because I really don’t know how they’d fit in. I don’t consider them touchable assets, I generally just track them monthly and forget about it. It’s like the ultimate game of hiding money from yourself, but just because it involves absolutely no effort on my part and I’ll just unnecessarily fuss over it. I guess they’ll just have to sit out for now!