Good, Bad, Ugly and Funny Take 2

Let's get straight to it:

GOOD:

- Taxes are in the mail. Looking forward to the $8,800 refund.

- 3 days till the end of pay cycle and we have $56 after bills go through.  We are low on gas and cigarettes so it will be a tight few days,

- We passed our foster care inspection with flying colors. Woot Woot!

- received a $100.00 gift card for a local restaurant. We took the whole family out to dinner for the first time in 1.5 years. They got antsy the last 15 minutes while we were trying to figure out the bill but I still consider it a huge success. To give you perspective, the last time we tired to all go out as a family, the kids started going crazy and before we were even seated we decided to order to go. If you new us IRL you would know our bar for crazy is pretty high.

Bad:

- I ended up spending $10.00 on tip for our dinner out cause the waiter couldn't figure out how to take it off the gift card. We spend that amount for a homemade dinner so it was a wash.

- Summer camp is expensive!! I won't have the money for it until the tax refund so we are missing out on early enrollment discounts and we have the chance of sessions getting full. DW said we should put the small deposit down but I refuse to spend money until we have it. With all the complications we had with 2013 taxes and I am not going to risk not getting our refund in a timely manner and then having to pay for a camp we can't afford or risk losing our deposit.

Ugly:

- Due to several appointments and behavior issues at school with DS2, I missed a LOT a lot of work this pay period. My upcoming paycheck will be about $250.00 short.

- with the income loss and medical bills I will not be contributing any money to the e-fund in March and predictions look like I won't be in April either. That makes me nervous.

Funny:
- It has been a tough week and I am grumpy, so nothing funny comes to mind .

Time to Fire Our Accountant

I was annoyed when I noticed DW had forgotten all our tax paperwork this morning.  I had finally gotten the final documents together and she was supposed to mail it today. I took it to work with me, planning to get it all sorted and mailed out from my office. 

I was about to fold the documents into an envelope but wanted to make a note of the final return amount.  I noticed our bank routing and accounting number didn’t look right.  I checked it against my check book and it didn’t match at all.  At first I thought it was someone else’s checking number but realized the last 9 of my supposed account number was my social security number. WTH! I scheduled an appointment with her at 3:30 today to get it fixed, but I am seriously concerned there are other errors on here that I can’t detect.

This isn’t the first issue we have had with our accountant.  In previous posts I have explained that we are still waiting on almost $3,000 dollars of our 2013 return.  It was surrounding our Adoption tax credit so initially I thought it was issues with a particular document (which had been a HUGE issue in our 2010 taxes) and I just resent the particular document. When it was denied again I called the IRS and spent 3 hours on the phone before getting ahold of a nice lady (didn’t know the IRS hired nice people) who explained that it wasn’t the document that was causing the issues but there was something wrong with the numbers entered.  I brought this to our accountant who claimed all the numbers were correct and it was the document that was the issue, so we refaxed said document to the IRS.  When it was denied for the 3^rd time, the IRS was nice enough to respond with a detailed letter of exactly what the numbers issue was.  I brought this to our accountant once again and she said that since her system doesn’t note it as a required field that it shouldn’t be necessary and the IRS was being picky.  She took no accountability or even considered the thought that her ‘system’ could be wrong. It sounds to be that if the IRS tax form instructions say a certain number needs to be entered, IT SHOULD. 

Once I get our 2013 & 2014 taxes I am cutting ties with our accountant.  I have paid almost $1000.00 over the past 2 years to this firm and all I have gotten is a HUGE headache.



It's going....

I am hiding from our foster care home licensor at the local library. DW is at the house giving her the tour.  I spent all weekend and several hours today cleaning and triple checking to make sure we meet all requirements so I have no worries there.  Just the idea of walking someone around my house to inspect and judge my home sends my anxiety through the roof.  I had hoped to be out of the house before she stopped by but I was waiting FOREVER for our ancient laptop to boot up so I could email our budget to myself so I could work at it on the library.  She was pulling it while I was heading out the door and I lied and said I had an appointment.  I am such a dork. 


I got another email from my bank saying our funds were low. I panicked once again because I had been watching the numbers so closely.  Come to find out that we haven't received the auto deposit from one of my side jobs. I was so sure I got the funds on the 23rd of each month. I went and checked my paid confirmation emails I receive before they deposit and realize that while I get the emails on the evening of the 23rd, I usually get paid on the 24th.  IRL life I am seriously considered a detailed orientated person, why do I keep missing this stuff.  Most of the bills had cleared except a credit card I had been working to get current (so the important bill of course) it was set-up to auto pay today, I am hoping they will process it today and it will hit the bank along with my paycheck tomorrow.


DW and I discussed her trip to California in November.  Her friend is going in for major surgery and asked for DW to be there for the surgery, the inpatient recovery and then to drive her home.  Friend is also paying for hotel, food, gas etc.  I originally had though this would be for a week but with the dates of surgery, how long friend is in recovery and then the drive back from the Big City to the Small City she lives in, we are looking at 11 days. 11 DAYS!!!! The longest I have been alone with the kids was 6 days and than was when we only had 5 kids and DD1 was still living at home to help out. 

I can't say no, thought the small selfish part of me wants to. DW promised to help find ways to make the 10 days she is gone easier.  She also promised not to bitch when Lil Sis and I go on our annual sister weekend (2 nights) in September.  Since almost all expenses are paid I gave her a budget of $200.00 for food and souvenirs for the kiddos. I know Friend said she would pay for all food, but Friend is going to be spending several days recovering from major surgery and I would rather DW pay for her own food then to be in a situation to have to ask for funds.  I told DW that while we were budgeting $200.00 it would be nice if she didn't try to spend it all. I allotted another $100.00 for the trip for emergency expenses.  One more thing for me to stress over......

Tax Return

Had an appointment with or accountant today to do out 2014 taxes.  We are getting more than I expected which is AWESOME! After taking out the accountants fee we are looking at little more than $8,800. Here is how I plan to spend it:

- Pay off our Capital One card
- Fund our E-fund to $2,000
- Deposit $2,000 into our 'Savings'
- Auto/Household repairs and replacements we have been holding off on.
- Split the rest between Car loan and a splurge expense.

I am not expecting my refund until May since they always find something wrong with how our accountant processes the adoption tax credit.  I mean we are still waiting for some of our refund from 2013.

I have two financial habit goals in regards to my refund:

1.  Don't spend it until it is deposited: In previous tax seasons I would find out the expected deposit date would be and then start spending money I didn't have expecting the refund to cover it. Last year that messed up in a bad way when our refund was less than expected.

2. Stick to the plan: I know where I want my money to go and I need to follow through with it.  Knowing I have a lump some coming my way I would start spending more then budgeted.  A lunch, a household purchase, splurging on groceries, a Costco run.  When I finally sit down to allocate funds hundreds of dollars I had planned to put towards debt have magically disappeared.

What are your plans with your tax refund?

A Heaping of Finance With a Side of Rant.

So news on the money front is mostly positive:

-          I found $135.00 dollars!! I apparently was paying a month in advance on one of my bills. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I am not really in a place to do that right now.

-          I found another bill for $123.00.  With the found money I am still ahead $8.00 instead of in the hole for $123.00

-          My paycheck will be $23.00 more than expected!

-          I received an email from my bank that I was ‘Below the amount I want”. I checked my account and saw my available balance at -7.65. I panicked because I had been working so hard to stay within our means.  I clicked on my account and gave a sigh of relief. I still had a balance of $12.55. Apparently a bill that auto-pays on the 20^th, hits my account on pending status the day before so that it processes on the 20^th.  So while I can’t access the $12.55 today at least I have no overdraft charges.  Thank goodness tomorrow is payday.

-          I researched all of our utility bills to make sure I got the correct billing dates. Most of our utilities are every 2-3 months, so while I would pay them before the next bill came I would still incur late fees as it was still past the due date.

o   Found out that our gas bill is actually monthly not every two months. I was getting confused why I was always late when I felt like I was paying them all the time. Perfect example of how out of touch I was with our finances since I have been paying this gas company for 2 years and just realized it was monthly.

o   While I was staggering the utilities bills so that I wasn’t paying them all in one month ($643.00 in the winter months), I realized that all bills were due on the same month. Eventually I will get to the point where I will budget a portion to save on months I don’t have the majority of the utilities due and just set it aside for when it is due, but I am not quite there yet.

On a non-financial side rant, I had a meeting with the school district regarding DS2.  He was moved to a specialty school 30 miles away in January to help address his high level of medical/mental/behavioral/educational needs. I wasn’t included in the decision making regarding what school he went to but was PROMISED it would meet his needs.  Within a week it was quickly discovered his needs are more than they were prepared for. I finally was able to connect with an education advocate and was told about specialty schools which are part of local hospitals.  I talked with them and they seem like a great fit.  I was able to convince everyone else on the decision making team that this would be the best move for DS2 but the director of special of education for the school district isn’t on board (I think it has more to do with the cost of these schools that whether he needs the extra care).  She is now stating we need all these assessments before we can make a move even though these weren’t required for the first move. 

I think these assessments will be beneficial for DS2 but I am frustrated that:

1.       I had asked for these assessments about 8 times over the past year and was told they were either not necessary or we wouldn’t get enough information out of them to warrant the amount of stress these tests would have on DS2.

2.       That these assessments magically became requirements when the district realized they were being backed into a corner. And why was this requirement waved for the first move?

3.        If these were requirements, why didn’t she inform us at the meeting two weeks ago when we started discussing moving him? We could be two weeks into the process by now instead of just NOW starting the 2 month process.  



Discussion

After I had finished updating the budget/register, DW and I came together so I could show her, for the first time, what our budget looks like and how it all works.  By ‘came together’ I mean I found a rare moment when no kids were around and she was sitting down so I grabbed the laptop and sat in her lap so she couldn’t get up. 

DW was gracious enough about her captivity and listened as I explained our budget and even asked questions. When I was finished she admitted that 90% of what I said made no sense to her so we both agreed that DW really has NO head for numbers.  With that out in the open DW said the most wonderful thing, “Since numbers are not my thing, what can I DO to make our budget successful.”  DANG, I sure picked a good one.

Never one to be unprepared, I had a list of areas I could use her help and we discussed each. 

• Become more attune to what is takes/costs to run a household.
• Ask any competent ‘head or household’ how much toilet paper is in the house and when they expect to have to buy dish soap again and they will probably be able to tell you. In my house, I expect to be in Toilet Paper Crisis level 2 but Friday evening and the dish soap will last about 6-8 weeks as long as DS3 doesn’t attempt to do dishes… or bathe the dog…..or try to make the kitchen floor a slip and slide again….I digress.  I have a constant tally in my head of household necessities and upcoming costs and budget accordingly. But I can’t remember everything.  I need DW to pay attention and let me know when household staples are low, NOT OUT.  I need her to tell me when her oil change is coming up and not let me discover it when I borrow the Big Car and see the oil should have been done 600 miles ago. This would help us stay on budget and not have so many surprise costs.
• Search for the Savings
• I am constantly thinking about and implementing new things to help us save money. It isn’t always successful but I try. I need DW to get on board with this and try to come up with some ideas as well.   
• Don’t just ask, help plan
• This is probably my biggest pet peeve.  Any big purchase or event in our family gets researched, planned and funded by me. It is exhausting and sometimes I just give up on being prepared and we spend willy-nilly.  Currently we either come up with ideas together or she will ask if we could do something and then off she goes secure in knowing I will figure it out. It was decided that since I like the numbers I will find ways to fund these but she needs to help figure out the costs, logistics and come up with ideas to save money. She agreed to help with this and we have several events we need to plan for:
• a family trip to the zoo (May)
• A solo trip DW is taking to visit a friend in California (Airfare, lodging and most activities are paid for by said friend.) (November)
• DS1 summer camp (June/July)
• Family Day (It replaced adoption anniversary celebrations and is a day for all of us to celebrate being a family, even if temporarily)  (October)
• Camping Trip (August)
• Out of State Wedding (August)
• Sister Vacation (Little sister and I try to get out of town once a year together, last trip was to San Fran so this year is going to be a short and cheap staycation.) (Whenever)

So those are all the items we discussed. I am feeling really confident about our success.



Important Update

After a long and intense discussion with DW tonight we have come to an important decision that I would like to share with you all.  DW doesn’t complain or ask for much so when she does I try to accommodate.  That being said the following changes are officially being made to my blog:

“DW no longer stands for Dear Wife as previously states, but stands for Darkwing Duck”

Thank you, and good night.

SIDENOTE:  After this conversation DW (aka Darkwing duck) asked if I was going to blog this and I said I would.  Then she asked me if I was going to blog that she had asked if I was going to blog this and I said yes again.