In better news

I took a look last night at the spreadsheet I created to track our financial progress.

Since I've started tracking, in Jan 2008, we have paid off 25% of our total debt!

And remember, that's with me missing some work for a surgery, and Dad's illness and death, as well as Grumps being unemployed for the last 10 months.

That right there gives me reason to WOOFUCKINGHOO!!!!

Puppy Crisis Averted

at least for now. I still want one - really really want one - but I have myself talked out of it for the time being.

Just a quick update style post:

• I get my LAST Lupron injection today! WOO-FREAKIN-HOO!!!! And thank the Lord, because our new insurance wasn't going to cover it the same way (if at all). The amazing staff at Dr. N's office happened upon a sample from a drug rep, and its MINE ALL MINE! 4 weeks from today, I will be OFF THE MED! (I think... I suppose I'll have to wait & see how it all works its way out of my system.) November will usher in some good ol' fashion TTC in our house (possibly accompanied by either BBT charting or OPKs, but nothing more involved than that).
• Grumps has had bunches of side work come in, so we're doing remarkably well financially. Not high on the hog by any stretch of the imagination - but things are flowing in a way that has allowed us to leave our savings in tact, and to even continue making some progress on the BIG UGLY DEBT.
• Dad is still in rehab. He asked Sis1 yesterday to take him to his apartment, and then got mad when she wouldn't. She & I discussed the possibility of taking him there for a while this weekend, but the more I think about it, the less comfortable I am with it. There are a whole lot of unknowns in a situation like that, and they all scare the holy bejeebus outta me.

And, to close with my Perfect Moment of last week:

Grumps had a former co-worker stop by Sunday morning (to pick up the car repair FROM HELL). Because of this, we were delayed for our normal Sunday breakfast date with friends, so I brewed a pot of coffee. I poured Grumps a travel mug full & took it out for him (like I do quite often), but this morning, his eyes LIT UP, and he said "Thank You SO MUCH Honey! I love you!".

Made me all warm & fuzzy!

Thank You!

To the 2 of you that signed up for MySurvery using the link on my sidebar... THANK YOU! You pushed me over the 1,000 point mark, so I can request another check! Wahoo!

WFMW - Date Night, the Frugal Way

We swear by date nights. The Grumps & I both recognize the importance of designating time that is ours, and ours alone. As tough as it is to do in today's hectic life - balancing 2 full time jobs, a side business, house chores, family obligations, friends, and finances - we've managed to schedule, and pretty well keep to, 2 date nights a month.



Sometimes, date nights involve big things - a fancy dinner out, drinks & dancing at our favorite bar, a concert, etc. But MOST times, we keep it low key, and low cost. Some of our favorite, and most frugal, date nights have been:

• fishing at the local pier (we already have all the gear, and bait is REALLY cheap)
• cooking together and eating on our patio, with the phones turned OFF
• watching a movie from netflix, or catching up on some of our favorite shows on the DVR
• grabbing a $5 pizza & eating it on the patio while chatting about our plans, dreams, etc
• pouring a couple of cocktails and spending an evening in front of a bonfire
  
  

That's what Works For Us. Head on over to Rocks in My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday ideas.

Growing up

I've done it, people! I actually.... created..... a BUDGET!

Well, kind of.

It's not so much a budget as it is spreadsheet (of course, cuz I love me some excel formulas!) for tracking income & expenses. More or less an activity log. BUT, I'm thinking that after a couple of months of logged activity, it might actually lend itself to becoming a budget!

"Why is she excited about this?" you're probably asking yourself. I'll tell you why... I work for a CPA, as a bookkeeper, and I do some bookkeeping/review of a few clients. The dichotomy of helping OTHER PEOPLE get their shit together, and me not even knowing how much shit I HAVE to get together... well, it finally got to be too much. And see, I've been wanting to do something like this for oh - about forEVAH! Wahoo procrastination!

Anywho, I put the fancy schmancy lil spreadsheet together on Saturday, and started entering activity in it as of June 1. I've got all the income & expenses categorized (or lord, I'm even following GAAP....). I've planned it so that I have monthly activity separated in different sheets (and I can even balance bank accounts), and I'll have an ongoing summary sheet that will show monthly totals. I may even do some fancy net worth kind of thing with it, too.

My plan (cuz I've always got to have a plan) is that understanding where we REALLY stand financially will help me to panic less about the BIG GIANT DEBT that I want paid off, like yesterday. I know it's going to take time, and I know it's going to take sacrifice. But my recurring method of "panic and eat mac & cheese for a month so we can send ALL OF OUR PENNIES to the debt" followed immediately by "that month REALLY FUCKING SUCKED, so let's go on a vacation, and then eat at restaurants every night for a week, and then buy some new clothes, and shoes, and tools, and crap crap CRAP"... well, it's not all that fun now.

I want to live "normally" for a couple of months, and see where we really are spending our money. Then we can see where we might be able to make a few cuts to pay down that debt some more. Or, maybe I'll have to finally face up to spending ridiculous amounts of money on absolutely nothing (do I really need to buy a pop or coffee EVERY TIME I stop & get gas?), and put a stop to some of that. OR, maybe I'll see that we don't have to live as tightly as I've been pushing for, and that we can have some fun while still paying down our debt and NOT FEEL GUILTY about it.

So, that's how I grew up this weekend.

Financial Update - On the Up Swing!

My 3 week medical leave is fortunately (Thank GOD) covered by our short-term disability insurance. I'm fairly certain that between the STD (that acronym is so wrong, no matter what you're using it for), and my AFLAC coverage (seriously, BEST-THING-EVER! I love me my AFLAC!), I don't think we're going to be behind at all.

The downside is that our cash flow is all wonky. Grumps & I both get paid weekly, he on Tue, and me on Fri. Yes, we live paycheck to paycheck right now (trying to slam as much $ as we can towards our debt), but paycheck to paycheck when they're only 3 days apart isn't bad at all.

At this point, I'm not getting any more checks from work until I've been back for a week, and we're waiting on both the AFLAC check and the hospital bill to arrive. I know what our max payout for all surgery related stuff will be, but I'm not sure how it will be billed - or when. I have a general idea of what our AFLAC check will be, but no idea when it will come in.

Bottom line, we have all this financial stuff up in the air right now, because there's all of these known income & expense situations, but the timing remains unknown. Frustrating for a bookkeeper (me) that runs as tight a financial ship as I can (at least timing wise), both at home, and at work.

Anyway, after that long & winding road of a verbal detour - we got our tax rebate today! WOOHOO!!!! It's already mentally spent of course, but, it's nice to see it there, and to have it's friendly little cushion in place!

NOW, if all the rest of that stuff would just GET HERE (AFLAC check, hospital bill), I could have everything all straightened out. I'm pretty sure that even with the hospital bill and some home improvement stuff we've earmarked out of the rebate, I'll be able to put a nice little chunk of change towards our debt.

Jeeze that got wordy - and ridiculously cumbersome. My apologies. Let me sum up: There is a light at the end of our financial tunnel, at least in the short term!

WFMW - Self Employment & Rental Income Organization

With the popularity of online, consulting, and work-from-home jobs, as well as the slump in the housing market (and thus homeowners becoming landlords), many people are going to need a new tax form or 2, and a way to track the new income and expenses.


Grumpy & I found ourselves in that very situation in 2007, with the "opening" of his repair business. That man, I swear, can fix anything. He developed an invoice template using Excel, and I developed a very simple income & expense tracking system.


The income side of it is pretty easy. Just a list of the money he made, the date he received payment, a small description of the job, and a reference to the customer. The expense sheet is just as straightforward, but with a little more detail. I'm still tracking the date & a description of the expenditure, but instead of simply listing the money spent, I've added in some columns to my sheet to categorize the expenses.


For a self-employment or business in the home situation, you can check out Federal Tax Form Schedule C, and create columns for the expenses that pertain to your business. You can do the same thing for a rental property, but use the expenses from Schedule E. Simply create a totalling formula for each of your columns, and you've got a handy-dandy summary to transfer to your tax return.


The key (for me), is to enter transactions into the spreadsheet as they occur. It helps us to stay aware of how well we're doing with the business, and it saves me 3 or 4 solid hours of work at tax time.


I'd also recommend printing a copy of your spreadsheet at the end of the year, and keeping it with all of your backup documentation, with your tax return. If you have a CPA prepare your taxes, you can also give them your printed spreadsheet to work from.


Finally, don't forget to create a new spreadsheet for each tax year. I do mine all in the same file, so that it's easy to reference prior year's activity. Simply use the copy function (right click on the tab name at the bottom of the Excel file) to add a new, pre-formatted sheet. Delete the prior year's info, and you're ready to go!

For more handy Works for Me Wednesday tips, head over to Rocks in my Dryer.

Paid Online Surveys?

Full disclosure first: should you do this, I will benefit. If you choose not to, that's totally ok with me. That's why I'm posting about it here, rather than sending an email... I figure this is less personal, and therefore easier to say no to (for those that aren't interested).

I'm a member of a few online survey sites. Some of them "pay" with sweepstakes entries (you know the type.... "enter here for your chance to win $10,000" small print saying you'd have to fuck a monkey's uncle to win), some of them give away free samples of products, and some actually pay you... Cash!

Survey Savvy is one that pays cash, and is therefore my favorite. They also have a referral program, which is just like your typical pyramid scheme... "you refer people to us, and we will pay YOU if they do something, whether you do anything else or not" blah blah blah.

So, in my continued effort to be more financially responsible, and to find more creative ways of bringing in little bits of extra cash here & there... I'm posting my personal referral link. If you're interested, click. If not, don't. I have no way of knowing who clicked & who didn't.

For those of you that stuck it out and read this whole post (so far), thank you! Your bonus for reading this far is...... I won't whine & bitch that I'm now on cd54, with still no AF in sight. And I won't even mention that this freaking cold sore has errupted on my lip in such a way that I can't smile, it hurts to eat or drink, and well.... it looks like Grumpy belted me a good one (which OF COURSE he would NEVER do). Yep, your reward is that I won't complain about any of that!

Do your own taxes, or pay a professional?

Those of you that know me in real life, know that I work for a CPA. Although I'm not a "certified tax preparer", I prepare 200 or more of the 450 or so individual tax returns our firm prepares each year.

I often get asked advice on how to handle tax situations. Sometimes I have an answer, sometimes I have to find one, and sometimes... the only answer I can give is that you need to hire a professional.

One of the main questions I find in some of the frugal lifestyle forums I frequent is whether you should prepare your own return, or hire a professional. I thought I'd share my opinion here.

First and foremost, I think that *most* people are perfectly capable of preparing their own return. I personally think it comes down to comfort level, and what value each person places on their own time and sanity. There are very few situations that I would absolutely tell someone in no uncertain terms that they NEED a professional. Those would include 1 time only changes like inheritance, lottery winnings, death of a spouse, adoption, divorce... major life changing events. Also included would be starting your own business (and perhaps maintaining that business), bankruptcy, and other largely financial based life changes.

Here are MY recommendations for deciding between doing your own taxes using a software (there's no way I think anyone should be preparing their own taxes by hand, especially with the broad availability of e-file), using a tax prep service (like H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt), or engaging the services of a CPA.

• If you have a straightforward return (W2, investment or bank interest/dividends, home ownership or renter), do your taxes yourself. Use whatever software you are comfortable with.
• If you work from your home, sell any real property or investments, work as a consultant paid via 1099 (like BlogHer income, if you have a high-traffic), etc… find yourself a CPA. That person will know what you can and can’t deduct (work out of your home? did you know that you *might* be able to deduct part of your utility bills, mortgage, and home owners or renters insurance?)
• If you usually have a straightforward return, but run into something more complex (high medical bills from IF treatments, bankruptcy or foreclosure, dependent in college, inheritance, adoption, etc), use a CPA.

I would strongly recommend NOT using places like H&R block or Jackson Hewitt.

• Their employees are simply trained on the software, NOT on tax law.
• Last year one of the major tax prep firms faced charges of fraud, creating a potential nightmare for taxpayers that used their services.
• If they mishandle your return, causing an audit or notice to be generated, you’re on your own. Good luck finding your H&R Block preparer in July.

I think the best way to find a CPA is to ask people you trust. Family and friends are our greatest source of referrals, and if they are referring a professional, it’s because they have been satisfied with the service they have received. Some important things to ask:

• Do they offer a free consultation? A professional should be willing to meet with you, look over your most recent tax return, and give you a general idea of what the current year’s tax return prep will cost.
• Will they charge you for phone calls? The idea at our firm is that we’d MUCH rather a client contact us with a question in June, getting GOOD advice on how to handle something that will impact their tax return, rather than have to “clean up a mess” come year end.
• Are they willing to review prior returns for accuracy? If so, what will they charge you to amend them if they find mistakes?

Finally, here are some things to remember:

• Most firms can’t give you an exact prep fee until the return is completed. When I quote, I give the potential new client a range, with the understanding that the quote is based on the information they provide me with at that time. If things are looking to fall beyond that range, a quick phone call to get the client’s approval only takes a few moments. If they fall under the range… I just get to surprise them with a smaller bill!
• If you go to a large firm, prepare to pay a large fee. The firm I work for has 1 CPA and 1 tax preparer (me!). Our bills are at least a third less than many of our competitors. Why? Less overhead.
• The more organized your information, the more reasonable your fee should be. If a client brings me a shoebox full of all of their receipts for the year (and yes, we have a few of those clients), they are going to pay significantly more for our services than the client that gives me a summarized spreadsheet of all the information. Even the client that hands me that same shoebox, full of those same receipts, but has them organized and sub-totalled by category will pay less. Remember, my time (at least during tax season), is ALWAYS billable. Either I'm spending that time organizing your receipts, or I'm spending it on another client's tax return.
• You are trusting this person with your finances, be sure you trust them. Have a few consultations until you find someone that you are comfortable with.
• Do NOT wait until April to find a professional. Even if you don’t yet have all the information you’ll need to prepare your 07 return, you can still make phone calls and set up consultations. Have your 06 return ready, and start the search!

My bottom line is this... My firm charges around $200 for an "average" return. (This includes Federal & Michigan Forms 1040, Schedule A for itemized deductions, Schedule B (with fewer than 5 transactions) for interest & dividend income, and Michigan Form 1040-CR for a homestead property tax credit. I would say that approximately 35% of the returns we do fall into this "average", and many more have only minor additions to it (selling a stock or 2, or maybe a dependent or taxpayer in college). These are returns that I believe those clients would be capable of doing themselves. But, they think the $200 is worth the time, energy, and stress they would put into preparing the return.

I'm debating about making "tax time" a more regular feature on my blog. Please, let me know if you'd like to see this, or if you have some specific questions or issues you would like me to address.