Save More Pay Less

The Tax Man is Playing Games

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:55:00 +0000

We had a definate suprise this year when we recieved our tax notice. With the home market falling apart in this country, along with most of the economy in general, Our property appraisals increased by almost 15%. They tried to sneak this past most people by lowering the milage rate. The lowered milage will keep the tax increase fairly low this year, but it has set the stage for huge increases in the near future. Appeals for the new appraisals must be filled before the end of 2010. I have been told that the appeals are at least 6 months behind. The higher tax rate must be paid and if the appeal process lowers my current appraisal I will recieve a refund. The county has a win-win situation here. Most people that will not take the time for the appeal and those that do will still make an interest free loan to the government while we wait for our refunds.

H&R Block does FREE eFile

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:24:00 +0000

It looks like H&R Block is doing free eFile this year. This would probably be great for anyone filing an EZ form. They promote an 8 day refund if direct deposit is used. We will probably opt for the Deluxe again this year. The state eFile is an additional charge, but it has always seemed worth the money.

Happy Tax Season!

Ask For A Discount !

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:10:00 +0000

There are many cases were people in this country appear to be to proud to ask for a better deal. We have done so well for so long that we feel it is a sign of financial weekness to haggle over price. As the economy in our country quickly declines I have decided to look for discounts in ways I would have never considered before. I found two medical bills on my desk this week. One had been lost in the shuffle and one was fairly new. I called the first doctors office and explained that I had misplaced the bill and would like to pay it over the phone. I was amazed when the representative offered a 50% discount if the bill was payed in full. That was my intention and I happily took the discount. I called the second office and jokingly asked if they were offering discounts if the bill was paid in full. I was promplt offered 20% off. In less than 5 minutes I was able save about $50. I recieved the same service that I would have at full price and everyone was happy at the end of these transactions.

Refinance is Complete ! New Rate 4.375%

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:30:00 +0000

The new mortgage is in place. The budget is happy since we will be saving $275 per month in interest. I don't have to make a house payment until May. >>>>>>>
WHAT ?
Are they crazy? Skip house payments for two months, I don't think so. I started the direct deposit for this in December. The money will be in the account and I will pay them during March and April. This will only help take time off of this mortgage.

I was a little upset this week when I discovered that the bank we are using had taken TARP money earlier this year. At least they are lending it. We had 9 people in my building at work refinance last month with them. My only concern is how Obama will take it back from me.

Refinance Woes

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:34:00 +0000

It looks like the housing market in our area has taken more of a beating than I had thought. We got the new appraisal back on our house. I was floored. We did a significant addition to our home in December of 2007. We added 2 14X14 bedrooms, a full bath, 10X10 launary room and 16x25 school room. Our home appraised for $266,000 in November 2007, before the addition. After only 13 months and the addition of over 1,200 sqr feet the value has dropped to $250,000. That will hurt your feelings in a heart beat. $100,000 addition and 1 year later it is worth less than when we started. We are going to move foward with the refinance. There is enough equity in the house to avoid PMI and the new monthly payment will still lift my spirits.

The Good and Bad in Our Finances

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:11:00 +0000

This has been a crazy week. We were able to lock in a new rate for our home mortgage @ 4.375%. I thought that was a great 30 year rate. The charges were a little high in my opinion, but it will cut almost $275 from our payment. It will take a little over a year to recoup the finance charges, but It still is the logical move. We will continue to make the original payment and cut 10.5 years from the loan.

And now the BAD.
I had my credit card declined at the grocery store last night. We had fraudulent charges and Chase locked the account. We have closed the account and are waiting for new cards to arrive in the mail. I had rather be safe than sorry. The fraudulent charges were very small. I assume they thought they would go unnoticed. A friend at work also had their card compromised last week. The person with their card was an Apple fan and tried to order $3000+ in computer hardware and iTunes.

We have to take the good with the bad and always be careful.

Great Site and Very Cool Contest

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:54:00 +0000

ChristianPF is running a giveaway promotion. You must enter by Monday Dec.29 to have a chance at an iPod Nano, iPod shuffle, audiobook, paper book, tax software, budget software and cooking utensils. Entering requires posting a link to ChristianPF on your website or faceboook, but it only takes a few minutes. Enjoy this site and a chance at some cool prizes.

I Feel Like I've Battled A Giant

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:01:00 +0000

Today I feel like I have battled a giant and I was triumphant. I don't know what the rest of you think about WalMart, but in recent months I have tried to save my grocery shopping for grocery stores. I have found that using a Super Walmart as a grocery store always gets me into trouble.

My 9 year old daughter has really gotten into Christmas this year. She has been doing extra chores around the house to earn money to buy presents for family and friends. She has taken pride in the fact that she has worked and is now able to give to others. She has been browsing the internet for days, making her list and checking it twice. After hours of virtual shopping and attention to her Christmas budget she asked to hit the stores last night and spend a little cash. We were going to make it a quick trip, grab one of her gifts and a few items like milk and bread. She was horrified when the price of her first item was $14 rather than $9. There goes her little budget. We completed our shopping. 2 Hours and $150 later we had manged to purchase milk and bread and maybe a few other items (All budgeted items). We asked our cashier about matching the web price and she referred us to customer service. That is where the attitude began. We were quickly informed that they would not match their web price, but we could go home order it online and have it shipped to the store for pickup. After about 5 minutes of discussing the efficiency of this proposal we left. We did not purchase the gift. I was almost home when I realized that this gift was the only thing we had left home for. I turned around and headed back to the store. In I went with two children in tow and asked the Customer Service Rep if she would check with a manager about the price match. I also informed her that I had no intentions of arguing about the item. I simply needed to know if they were going to match the price, If not I would need to return to the car to retrieve the 60+ small items that I had purchased that evening. The nice lady at the door could pull each one out a put a little pink sticker on it and that customer service could refund each item one at a time. This did not make the young lady happy and she replied with "You do what you got to do". This just seemed too much like a challenge for me to pass up. It only took about 5 minutes to find another employee and have the store manager at the front of the store. He agreed that this really did look like a bait and switch and he agreed to match the price. He also let the same young lady handle the transaction at the new price. I guess there are times that you have to follow the advice they give you and simply "do what you got to do". This really was not about the $5, but more about the principle and a small budget.

Save ! Save! Save!

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:46:00 +0000

When we began this journey in February, the first baby step required by Dave Ramsey was $1000 in your Emergency Fund. This is simply money that you need to have available in case Murphy shows up on your doorsteps. It takes time to implement a budget and get your basic finances in order, this money helps you survive the transition. I personally like the idea of an online account for my Emergency Fund. It takes some effort and a little time to get the money in hand and that helps insure that it is only used for an emergency. We promptly opened a new account with HSBC. They were offering one of the highest interest rates and very low opening balances ($1). We have been very pleased with the account. It has served it's purpose as well as payed interest rates higher than many CD's were at the time. My only wish would be that they transferred money a little faster. It appears to me that they may sit on the funds for a day to get a little intrest for themselves. This doesn't really bother my though. I am building this account to simply provide a safety net. My hope is to continue depositing until I have enough to cover 6 months of expenses.

Lets Get This Party Started

noreply@blogger.com (JC) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:16:00 +0000

OK. Here we are at the end of 2008. We are beginning a new December tradition in our home. We are preparing our budget for next year. In February 2008 we started Financial Peace University and we are very pleased with the progress that we have made in the past 9 months. We were not in really bad shape when you look at the fact that the average household credit card debt is $8,400 in the USA. Our problem was simply we spent what I made. There was very little savings and we never really knew where the money was going. We have made an honest effort to change that this year and look forward to progress in 2009. We have one major goal, to live debt free. There are two things that currently stand in our way. We owe about $4000 on a van that we purchased in February 2008 and $$$$$$ on our mortgage. I'll have to live with the mortgage for a while, but the van payment has to go. I hope to pay it off by January 2010. I think that this is a good starting point. We'll begin 2009 with a new budget and a new blog to document the journey.