Tax Withholdings and Interest Free Loans to the Government

If you are like most Americans, you are probably terrified of owing the government money during tax season. From the time I was 16 years old, it was ingrained in me that it was better to let the government take out the maximum amount, and hope for a huge refund at the end of the year.

Well, those days are over. I'm finally done giving the government so danged much of my paycheck. I need that money and I need it NOW.

According to The Motley Fool, the average American gets back a refund of almost $3000 a year. That's $250 a month you could be keeping for yourself and using as you see fit. If you're trying to get out of debt like we are, that $250 a month will go a LONG way.

I posted this on a message board recently, and was surprised by the FEAR of some who said they would much rather let the government take too much, rather than risk owing at the end of the year. Uh....what? First of all, you can easily calculate about what your tax liability is going to be for the year. But even if you aren't convinced, you could open a high interest savings account, change your deductions, and sock away that $250 per month to earn compound interest for the year. One, you'd have all that interest built up, but two, you wouldn't have to wait for a refund because it would already be in your account to use, and THREE, even if you miscalculated, and you did owe the government any money, it wouldn't MATTER because you had set the money aside to pay them back! The fear is simply unnecessary.

Check out this calculator. You type in your gross pay, and your current withholding, and what your withholding would be if you changed it. Based on the amount of taxes that were withheld last year, and the amount of credits we qualified for, we could have actually claimed 8, and not given the government ANY money, and we still would have gotten a refund. I'm a little uneasy going that extreme this year, since Jonny will hopefully be working full time starting this summer, and our tax liability will probably change, so instead, I'm going to claim 7 for this year, and see how we look next year, and adjust when our income situation becomes more steady.

Yay for a paycheck raise and a bigger snowball to get out of debt quicker!

End of the Year Stock Up...

I mentioned on FB a few days ago that I had some good coupons that were expiring soon, so I wanted to use them if I could find good sales to match them with. Here are the results (for simplicity i did not include sales tax - sorry):

Yeeeah. I wont be needing Toothpaste, Laundry Detergent, Toilet Paper, Dish Soap, or Mouthwash for a VERY long time. Hahah! And yes, these are all items I'll use, unlike some crazy couponers who use coupons just for the heck of it.

2010 Year In Review - Looking Ahead to 2011

2010 was a good year, financially, for us. When the year started we still had $28,513.17 in debt, which were comprised of 2 credit cards, 1 car, and a consolidation loan. Today, our debt is limited to just the car, and we owe a remaining $5,954.12 on it. In other words, we paid off $22559.05 in 2010, or an average of $1879.92 per month. WOW! As you all know if you've been following me for a while, our goal to pay the car off was going to be 2/22/11 - our 2 year anniversary since we started this plan. Unless something significant changes in the next 6-7 weeks, it doesn't appear that we're going to meet that goal, which makes me VERY sad. But, instead of looking at the negative, I must focus on the positive. We're in a much better position than we've ever been before, and 2011 is the year that we're going to knock this out - whenever that might be.

This year, Jonny is still working his part time bookkeeper position, and he's been hired on by Liberty Tax service for the tax season, which will be a little extra income as well. Now that I'm done with grad school, I'm trying to find something easy, part time to do on the side as well to earn a little extra money while Jonny finished school. I delivered pizzas while I was in the military...but I dont think I would feel safe doing that today. I could apply at Publix....my fall back to second job that I've done 4 different times now, and I always leave on good terms, but my concern with Publix is that they would schedule me hours that I didn't list on my availability. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I like having my evenings and weekends free, so I really hope I can find something I can do from home, if anything.

Well, it's time to get the house cleaned up to start the new year off right. Hope you all have a FANTASTIC new year!

OCD Coupon shoppers

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/video/extreme-couponing-saving-obsessive-compulsive-disorder-12491099

A friend at work shared this with me, and I was mortified. These folks make a full time job out of couponing, but I loved that the one guy gave alot of it to the church foodbank.

And it also makes me sad that they zeroed in on the overweight girl while she buying candy and really unhealthy stuff.

I dont have time to coupon like this. I just look for good deals on things I need. I dont see any point in buying something I'm not going to use just because it's free. If I stumble across it and I have time to get it and I can donate it to a local shelter, I certainly will, but I'm not going to get crazy in order to do it.

Ugh.

Cash Paid for Christmas

This is the second year that we've paid for Christmas completely in cash. Prior to this journey, we used credit cards for everything.....with no regard for how much anything cost. As long as there was room on the card to buy it, we did. The sad thing is, I bought for people I really didn't have any reason to, either. I got caught up in the spirit of the season, but when you can't afford it, it becomes more stressful when the credit card bill comes in, then warm fuzzies you get from the spirit of giving when you're making the purchases.

We had a total budget of probably less than a third of the crap we spent several years ago. Most of that was spent on Miss Elizabeth, our niece, and the only child currently in our family - well, close family anyway. Some of my cousins have some kids, but we're lucky if we see them once a year, considering how far apart we all live now. I think I've finally got the rest of my family onboard for doing the Secret Santa thing next year. It's just too expensive to buy for so many adults, and those that I've talked to agree that it would be easier to buy a nicer gift for one person than to try to come up with some item that's affordable that they don't really want or need for everyone. Don't get me wrong....I LOVE to give....and I cannot wait until the day I can truly afford to give and it not feel like a burden.

Tomorrow morning, hubby and I will have breakfast and open gifts from one another. I'm going to bake in the morning to take goodies to our families. We have the church service at 5 tomorrow evening, and then we'll be driving up to my parents house in Winder to spend the night, and have Christmas Morning breakfast with them. I'm hoping we'll be able to go to the IMAX at Mall of GA to see the new 3D Tron Legacy movie that afternoon.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

The 7-8 Year Student

Warning. I'm going to offend some of you with this post. If you're easily offended, you might as well stop reading now.

I have some friends who constantly whine and moan and complain about how long it's taking them to get through school. They gripe about finals and beg for a pity party about why it's going to take them another 3-4 years before they can graduate. And these are folks who have been in school 2-3, 4 years already. So why is it going to take them so long to finish?

Stupidity, that's why. These folks changed universities, or majors, or a combination of, when they were already at least a junior in college. Hello? Really. I mean if you are already THAT far into your education, does it really make sense to change your major or university to pursue something else, and basically have to start all over? The folks I have talked to about this situation always say the same thing "my previous classes didn't transfer, or they all became electives and now I need new general level classes."

Say what? Okay so if you had been SMART and took the "standard" generic level classes your freshman and sophomore years, more of those classes would have been transferable to another school or major. But I'm guessing you were too big for your britches and dove head first into those lower level major specific classes, which DO become electives when you make the SILLY choice to change majors after being 75% of the way through anyway.

Here's an idea: If you're going to put yourself in a position where you're basically starting over from scratch and are going to need another 4 years of school anyway, why not finish the degree you started, and then go to grad school for your passion?

"That's not a fair assumption, Amanda. You're just being mean." No I'm not. I'm being realistic. I learned about halfway through my junior year that I really wanted to work in finances rather than computers. But there was no way I was going to change my major or university that late in the game. So what did I do? I finished what I started, thats what. After I graduated, I worked in IT for a year and a half. It sucked. I hated it, and I went back to grad school for more education in the field I was now interested in: finance.

I spent 7 1/2 years total in school, with a 1 year break in the middle. I have a bachelors AND a masters. Why any doofus would go to school 8 years non stop for a single bachelors degree is stupid. If you're going to spend that much money on your education, you might as well make it worth it. 8 years for 1 degree is a poor financial choice.

Now, before you get all up in my case about this, I'm not saying don't change your major and or university. What i'm saying is, if you don't know for certain what you want to do with your life, play it safe and take generic classes that are probably transferable over many different types of degrees. And do some soul searching EARLY on, if you think you may want to do something else. Eventually, though, you're going to reach a point that it doesn't make sense to change your major. you might as well finish what you start and go on to grad school afterwards.

//end rant.

My mother tried to kill me

Yesterday, mom and I went on our yearly Christmas shopping trip to the north GA outlet mall in Commerce. I had my cash, I was being good. Mom had her debit card, she was being good too....Until we got to Lane Bryant. She picked out 3 or 4 outfits and the total bill was $115 or so. The cashier asked if she wanted to save an extra 15% by applying for the credit card.

I looked at my mother (who went with me to the Dave Live event in 2009) absolutely horrified. "Mother, don't you do it....." She broke eye contact with me and said "yeah, why not?"

It took every ounce of composure I had to not have a hissy fit in the store. It doesn't make it any better in my eyes, but she did turn around and pay it right off right there in the store. After we left she was like "but I saved $15!!!!" and I was like "I don't care, I don't think it was worth it, and you know that...." I also said that if the bill comes in and it has $0.01 penny of interest on it, she had better call and raise hell.

I was completely mortified by the whole situation. I think she thinks I was being a drama queen about it. I don't think she realizes just how upset I was about it...

She's a grown woman. She can do what she wants, I guess....