Yesterday we decided to go to the Zoo, which normally could be a fairly expensive ordeal. We, however, managed to go with no cost aside from a couple small things we got the girls in the gift shop. How did we accomplish this great and wondrous feat? Let me explain :).
Now, it does help that we had free tickets to get in, but a lot of money can be spent on drinks and food. Instead of buying that $5.00 burger and $3.00 beverage for everyone, we decided to have a family picnic. The Zoo here doesn't allow you to bring in your own food, but they do give pass outs so you can go back out to your car. There, we opened up the back of the van, sat down, and ate our packed lunch. It was actually a really cool experience. We were the only ones out there, so it was quiet and we were able to sit in peace and enjoy our food and our company without distractions. I tell you what, that sure beats fighting lines and crowds of people to get overpriced food. Not dealing with other people's bratty kids is a plus to :).
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Ode to Being Busy
I apologize if I haven't been keeping up with this as much as I should, but I've actually been busy with a lot of side work to pay for the mess I'm about to describe.
A few posts back, I mentioned getting an 18 month loan at 0% for some medical expenses we've racked up at a local hospital. Well, as of right now, I've paid off just about $1000 of that bill, and have about another $1000 in forthcoming expenses. I've actually been trying to pay the loan and the extra bills in tandem, but I just can't afford to do that anymore. I'm going to try to see if I can increase the credit line a bit and tack the new ones onto my previous loan. It shouldn't raise the monthly bill TOO much, but it will still be very close on the budget. Here's to hoping nothing catastrophic happens (yes, my emergency fund is depleted now too...).
My Father-in-Law wants us to go to Texas for Christmas and is hounding us to figure out if we're coming or not, but the way things look, I don't think we can go -- and all for the sake of money. I'd basically have to start saving what I'm paying in medical bills now to have the cash to go, but since we have the bills and the budget is too tight with them, I'm not sure how that is going to happen. To anyone out there reading this who don't have debt, DON'T GET ANY. Or if you have to, keep it under 25% of your gross. When you lose one person working, it really taxes things. I went from having a few hundred extra a month to put toward debt to going in the red every month. Not a fun place to be.
Looks like I've got a lot more side work ahead of me...
A few posts back, I mentioned getting an 18 month loan at 0% for some medical expenses we've racked up at a local hospital. Well, as of right now, I've paid off just about $1000 of that bill, and have about another $1000 in forthcoming expenses. I've actually been trying to pay the loan and the extra bills in tandem, but I just can't afford to do that anymore. I'm going to try to see if I can increase the credit line a bit and tack the new ones onto my previous loan. It shouldn't raise the monthly bill TOO much, but it will still be very close on the budget. Here's to hoping nothing catastrophic happens (yes, my emergency fund is depleted now too...).
My Father-in-Law wants us to go to Texas for Christmas and is hounding us to figure out if we're coming or not, but the way things look, I don't think we can go -- and all for the sake of money. I'd basically have to start saving what I'm paying in medical bills now to have the cash to go, but since we have the bills and the budget is too tight with them, I'm not sure how that is going to happen. To anyone out there reading this who don't have debt, DON'T GET ANY. Or if you have to, keep it under 25% of your gross. When you lose one person working, it really taxes things. I went from having a few hundred extra a month to put toward debt to going in the red every month. Not a fun place to be.
Looks like I've got a lot more side work ahead of me...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Fun With Stimulus
I just got my first paycheck containing our tax cuts. Yes ladies and gets, I'm now the proud recipient of a whopping $33 more dollars a paycheck. Seriously? That's almost not worth the effort of updating Quicken and re-doing budgets. But hey, I'll take what I can get considering how we are going to be screwed later with other hidden taxes.
Things have been a bit rough around the house lately. We still have medical bills trickling in, so my monthly budget is still getting beat down. That, coupled with Terra not working anymore has made things tough. The extra $33 helps, but still doesn't mitigate the problem, just makes it a bit less of a problem.
I've actually been trying a lot harder these days to pick up side work, and finally landed a decent one last night. It involved making a co-op website for 2-4 companies so I think it will probably be a pretty stable gig worth a decent amount of billable hours. I'm going to be billing it out in chunks to hopefully help with the cash flow nightmare I keep getting caught in.
I did realize last night that I probably need to look into quarterly taxes now as well. Before, my side stuff really didn't amount to much and when I turned it in, I was never penalized. This job though, could be worth enough that I might get fined if I don't turn in some sort of taxes on it. I haven't ever had to do something like this before, so I'm not quite sure where to turn. Looks like it may be time to consult one of Dave's ELPs to figure out what to do :).
Anyhow, that's what we've been doing lately -- treading water. My main problem now is time. Working full time, and doing this side stuff is very taxing. I still have some other projects I want to do, but they won't necessarily be bringing in a lot of cash right away. Gotta concentrate my efforts on what will pay the most, even though they aren't on the top of my "this would be cool/fun" list.
Things have been a bit rough around the house lately. We still have medical bills trickling in, so my monthly budget is still getting beat down. That, coupled with Terra not working anymore has made things tough. The extra $33 helps, but still doesn't mitigate the problem, just makes it a bit less of a problem.
I've actually been trying a lot harder these days to pick up side work, and finally landed a decent one last night. It involved making a co-op website for 2-4 companies so I think it will probably be a pretty stable gig worth a decent amount of billable hours. I'm going to be billing it out in chunks to hopefully help with the cash flow nightmare I keep getting caught in.
I did realize last night that I probably need to look into quarterly taxes now as well. Before, my side stuff really didn't amount to much and when I turned it in, I was never penalized. This job though, could be worth enough that I might get fined if I don't turn in some sort of taxes on it. I haven't ever had to do something like this before, so I'm not quite sure where to turn. Looks like it may be time to consult one of Dave's ELPs to figure out what to do :).
Anyhow, that's what we've been doing lately -- treading water. My main problem now is time. Working full time, and doing this side stuff is very taxing. I still have some other projects I want to do, but they won't necessarily be bringing in a lot of cash right away. Gotta concentrate my efforts on what will pay the most, even though they aren't on the top of my "this would be cool/fun" list.
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