The Weight of Money

We’re all set to start round two of orthodontia for the daughter. First order of business is to use up the funds in our 2007 FSA ($600). I’ll just apply it to the orthodontic treatment and not worry about the piddly prescriptions and copays that we had earlier this year — from a paperwork standpoint, this is easier. I’ll also need to pull $468 from the daughter’s child support fund to make the first payment. Oh what fun.

Here is where I threw the financial secretary for a loop. We’re basically just doing monthly payments of about $133 — but because I’ve decided to apply $1,000 of next years FSA to her treatment, I’ll be making a $1,000 payment in January and then just make $50/month payments for the remainder of the year. It took a lot of discussion to finally get her to realize that this is exactly the same thing as paying $133/month (well, actually, it’s about $4 more for the year) and that I’m doing it that way because then I can put in an FSA claim in January for the $1,000 instead of putting in monthly claims for $133. Again, I like making the paperwork easy and I love that you can file a claim before the full amount is in the account. Woot!

Simple, right? It certainly didn’t feel like it after being on the phone for way too long. Of course, even with all this hoop jumping, the daughter won’t be getting her new appliance until after the new year as it’ll take a few weeks to get it made. I know she’s awfully disappointed about that (note of sarcasm).

But, to make financial matters worse, the same day I’m working out all of these details, I get an email from the daughter’s summer camp that registration is now open. A quick glance at the rate confirms my fear that prices have gone up again - only $50 this year, compared to a $100 increase last year. But I guess when you’re looking at almost a thousand dollars for summer camp, whats another $10, $50, $100?!? Come next year, when I imagine rates will hit (and hopefully not cross) that $1,000 threshold, I’m going to have a very hard time getting my hand to stroke that check. Fortunately, the child support fund has enough to cover the application fee and deposit and should have enough deposits to make the final payments on time.

Side note on sumer camp: not attending summer camp is simply not an option; while paying for it is a major strain, I continue to firmly believe that it is worth even (painful) cent. But for parents just now considering summer camp, be sure to pick one that is affordable before you fall in love with it and vow that it is indeed an experience your children must have each year. At times I wish that I didn’t know about this camp, but it’s too late now.

2007 is basically over in my book, time keeps rushing past and there is no slowing down in sight. As I start thinking about 2008, I’m starting to panic — just a little. I feel like we’re teetering on some major financial obstacles that I don’t think we’ll be able to skirt around as we have this year. Basically, there are five major expenses simmering under the surface and 2008 looks like the boiling point. As I reflect on the goals that did or did not happen this year, I need to get a very thorough action plan in place for what we are going to do about next year. Time to get off the procrastination wagon.

• Buy a family/commuting car. We need a vehicle that is better suited for commuting than the small SUV the partner is currently driving or my stick shift vehicle. The mpg on the SUV isn’t the greatest, but the issue is mostly that it’s falling apart, slowly and surely — I’m pretty sure I said this last year too and the new commute is hastening it’s demise. Also, it’s a two door family car and we’re finding that just isn’t enough any more. So, we need a new (to us), four-door, family/commuting car. The reason my car doesn’t fit this bill is that its two-doors, manual transmission, and has no a/c. The manual transmission doesn’t lend itself to low-stress, stop and go commute driving, and while the lack of a/c has been a standard in all of our vehicles (and our home), the partner has reached the end of the line for putting up with that.
• Buy a truck. We both need new vehicles (partially explained above and left somewhat vague intentionally) and the truck is to replace my car. We need to be able to haul stuff and my car can’t do it and the SUV is dying. We do have a utility van, but we often need to haul stuff and people and the van only seats two. Now, it may end up being another SUV type vehicle, even though I don’t care for those very much, as long as it has a hitch and the ability to pull a trailer. Whatever it is, it’ll be my new get-around-town vehicle, as the new car should be more suitable for commuting. Despite my long-stated reluctance to get a larger vehicle, I’m starting to accept this idea; though I’ll still mourn the lost off my little compact car.
• Build a shop. Even though this big-ticket item fell off my fall agenda, the need for it hasn’t decreased. It’s not an optional choice, though the need for two new vehicles makes it a financially more painful one. Now, I can ramble on about the differences between needs and want, but the end result is that a shop is a must have and another year without one is not acceptable. Hopefully the partner and I will find time to evaluate our outdoor space a bit more and figure out what the bare minimum is for the initial structure (with plans to build on more as finances allow). We already have a few required elements that are already having a pretty serious impact on the price — as in the need for a two story shop (not just one with some attic space) — and we need to figure out how to get the minimum erected and hope to do more on our own as time and resources allow.
• Orthodontia for the daughter. I’ve been putting this off for the past two months, but we’ll need to get started. I’ve finally decided to continue with our current providers, versus finding someone new, and just need to bite the bullet and sign the agreement to part with several thousand dollars over the next year or so. Maybe we’ll be able to drag it out a bit longer than usual to make it a little more manageable.
• Medical Expenses. Looks like there are some upcoming medical expenses that we probably won’t be able to avoid next year. The non-insured amounts are still somewhat vague, but it’ll still be significant compared to the less than $100 we spent on medical expenses this year.

Oh boy, looks like I’ve got some work cut out for me in making these things happen. Winning the lottery looks more and more appealing every day as I struggle to figure out how to make these things happen. Luckily, my business is expanding rapidly at the moment and next year looks even more promising for new avenues of income.

I’ve been so overwhelmed with a million projects, that the finances keep falling further and further down my todo list. Managing the monthly budget is basically not happening but bills are getting paid. There are a few major money items that have been looming that I’m finally getting to today. If only I hadn’t waited, we’d be in a much better position.

Procrastinating on the purchase of oil has been the biggest mistake lately. We knew it would be cheaper to get moving on this in the summer, but we let project after project get in the way. Now, we’re looking at a price of more than 60 cents a gallon higher than we were this summer. But, at least I’ve finally made the calls and didn’t go with the person who had the contract before because their price is much higher per gallon than the other places I’ve called today. Yes, making the call still pays off, but I sure haven’t felt like doing it. We still haven’t turned the heat on, but we are getting down to just a month or so of oil left for hotwater usage.

The other big kicker is following up on a problem with our escrow account. I waited a couple weeks too late to contact our closing company about funds that went missing. They were supposed to pay our first tax bill but didn’t. So our mortgage company politely paid it, but our escrow account didn’t cover it because a tax payment wasn’t supposed to leave there until December. Then they politely jacked up our monthly escrow payments to compensate for this. Of course, this is the first indication that something was amiss, because I knew we paid for months of taxes at closing and had assumed it’d gone into escrow, obviously it didn’t. If I’d called the closing company right after receiving the notice, I would have found the money sooner (they were still holding it and never did tell me why). So, now I need to get off to the post office to send the mortgage company the money I just got from the closing company. Sigh.

Last but not least is that it’s time to get the daughter’s second round of orthodontia started and only a few weeks left in the year for the FSA thats still holding several hundred dollars in it. Of course, that isn’t anything in comparison to the treatment costs, but I need to get moving before we end up losing that cash for this year. Next year should be pretty interesting for FSA costs, looks like we’ll be taking the maximum allowance to cover the rest of treatment and some other upcoming medical expenses.

Maybe if I’d get back to posting more often, I’d be more intune with my money status and wouldn’t let stuff slip as far as it has.

The cooler weather caught us unprepared, the daughter needed warm weather clothes. A quick 30-minute trip to my favorite thrift store was all we needed to stock up for winter.

I’m a big advocate of having just enough clothes for kids and no more. Anything extra just means more things strewn across the floor and more laundry to wash. Also, having too many clothes means extra time folding and more space needed to put things away. I buy enough clothes that she can wear a different top every day of the week and about four pairs of pants — we buy a couple extra items for days that it rains or the clothes just get messy. I don’t believe in school clothes and play clothes, thats too much space and laundry for me. Shopping at thrift stores means I don’t freak out when she wears her “new” pants to play in the mud (though, I do fuss a little) and I don’t mind (too much) if things get holes in them.

All of our thrift store clothes are in great shape — I don’t buy anything that is worn or has stains on it. The price on the like-new items is the same as the well-worn items, so I like to get my money’s worth. Also, I often end up reselling the items after she’s grown out of them, sometimes for more than I paid. I visit thrift stores where they have 50% off specials; at my favorite store, each items has a different color tag and certain colors will be 50% off that day. If I see something that’s perfect, but not 50% off that day, I pass. I know that I’ll find something else just as wonderful for half the price.

I find it helpful to know your local thrift stores and stick to the ones that are easiest to shop at. There are three near the partner’s work that have good prices. However, I primarily shop at one because they are always clean, everything is hung up according to color, and the racks are not jammed tight. If I feel like I really have to dig to find what I want, it’s not worth it. Today I scored 5 pairs of pants, 5 tops, 1 light weight jacket, and 2 pairs of pyjamas for $30, all within 30 minutes - for me, this is shopping at it’s finest. The daughter tried everything on and it all fits, we’re lucky that she’s pretty easy going in terms of fashions and is usually happy with anything I pick out.

We need doctors that are closer to our home. The daughter has seen the same pediatrician since we first moved to Maryland, which sounds wonderful except for the fact that she was local for less than 2 of the 5 years we’ve lived here. Since then, she’s been more than 30 miles from where we’ve lived. But, I really like the doctor, value the continuity of care, and don’t want to leave her practice. About two years ago, the daughter started seeing an orthodontist which was then less than 15 miles away, now the distance is almost twice a far. Again, I really like the care we receive and am not interested in finding a new doctor.

For the most part, this isn’t a major issue except when I get the clever idea of scheduling appointments with each office on the same day, today. School was closed for some reason or another and I figure this would be the best time to take care of some standard appointments. This would have worked out fine if the pediatrician and orthodontist were nearby, instead they are both 30+ miles from us, in opposite directions. And, of course, it had to be wet and rainy today and traffic was slow and tedious. So we drove the 30+ miles to the orthodontists, just to learn that it is now time for phase II of her treatment (aka time to fork over $4,200), then 60+ miles to the doctor where all is well (but we need to come back in 6 months instead of 12), and then 30+ miles home.

I’m exhausted from all the driving and waiting around for appointments. The daughter is happy though because the appliance that is in her mouth gets to stay in for a few more weeks and she got to eat at one of her favorite places for lunch. While I don’t plan to change doctors any time soon, I will be wise enough to not schedule both appointments for the same day again. As for future children, a more local pediatricians is a must — but so far, the mummer about local doctors isn’t very promising (at least not for parents interested in altered or delayed vaccination schedules).

We are spending more than $500/month on gasoline, ouch. I drive somewhere almost every single day and I don’t work outside the home. Instead, I get frustrated with the house being a mess and I try to run away from it. There is no reason that I should be contributing almost $100 to our monthly gas bill. Yes, everything around here is a 10-15 minute drive, but that doesn’t mean that I need to make that trip daily.

So, I need to combine my trips into one or two days a week. Of course, I’m not sure how I’ll balance that with the choice to get back to the gym since the gym I selected has the worst biking path available. Of course, if I was biking all the time, I probably wouldn’t need the gym membership, now would I.

I spent yesterday checking out 3 local gyms because I need to get back to my exercise routine. I was prepared to write up my findings when I discovered two more local fitness clubs that I should probably consider as well. I didn’t get anything productive done and the partner teased that I just spent the day figuring out more ways to spend money - and he is right. sigh.

I feel very confident in managing spreadsheet data for my personal finances. I’m also comfortable generating reports and date for my personal business, as well. How come I can feel so comfortable manipulating my personal and business finances, but draw a blank when faced with the financial reporting for a non-profit organization that I serve on?

I’ve been trying to read more and more books on business accounting and reporting and it just isn’t sinking in. We had a retreat this past weekend and I was certain that I would have budget reports compiled and new templates created for future use before the retreat. Each time I sat down with the data, my mind drew a blank. Every time I read something, it made sense but I couldn’t figure out where to start.

Perhaps it has something to do with how hard it is to overcome the status quo - we’ve got almost 8 years of financial data that needs better management and reports for. We have to scrap the current system and start fresh, but that seems so hard to do when you have 8 years of data tied up in the old methods. Honestly, we need a professional adviser/accountant/bookkeeper.

The retreat was successful (even without the reports I wanted to create) and we are at least moving forward with getting these issues worked out. Yes, it’s long over due, but thats what happens when can happen when you’re a volunteer run organization. Luckily, we’ve established a new committee to get these details sorted out. I look forward to those meetings and saying that we need professional help and letting go of the fact that I think I should be able to understand every single financial concept out there.

Of course, I’m going to keep trying the best I can in the meantime to understand this stuff.

Each year I get a sizable check of back child support thanks to the wonderful income tax refund intercept program. Typically it shows up in October or November and I’m always happy to get a deposit of $3,000 - $5,000. This year’s came a bit early and it has caught me off guard. This year isn’t much different from last. Again I’m weighing options such as putting it into savings or paying off debt. Since we’ve got a large purchase also sitting on the horizon, I’ll need to take that into consideration as well.

Money is such a juggling act, at times. There are so many choices we can make, all with varying degrees of financial righteousness and responsibility and (maybe) ridiculousness. There are the simple, knee jerk reactions of paying off debt because $4,000 would make a pretty decent dent in our current debt load - but I don’t make many rash decisions and this will need mulling over.

Last week my mind started to consider the possibilities of use and hopefully we’ll have an actual plan within the next week for what we’re going to do. In the meantime, it gets shipped off the some high interest savings account while we count our chickens. However, warning to those loyal readers - we may end up utilizing it in ways that doesn’t coincide with “practical financial advice”. I’ve got to call some pole building companies this week to discuss our options for getting a shop built and call some foundation companies for getting a slab poured as well. Once we have that information, we should be able to move forward with what we’re going to do.

While our move was pretty seamless, running the budget numbers for August exposed 2 missing credit card payments. I searched through all of the mail we’ve received and those bills had not arrived - looks like we missed updating the addresses for those in time. Sometimes things like this happen and you shouldn’t just sit back and let it slide. The astronomical late fees are the least of your credit worries because late payments can raise the interest rate on your current card and subsequently all of your other credit cards as well.

Having noticed the error, I immediately sent payments through our billpayment service and called the two credit card companies to discuss the problem. Each company listened to the situation and had no problem removing the derogatory entry/late fee and resetting our interest rates. Each company is different, so make the call and don’t be afraid to ask.

After hearing the situation, the first credit card company volunteered to remove the late fee (they had not automatically increase the interest rate) and was very focused on keeping us a happy customer. The second company didn’t offer any assistance but was willing to make the adjustments when I requested it. Be sure to ask about the interest rate, the second company was willing to remove the fee when I mentioned it, but didn’t inform me that my interest rate had increased as well. I knew to ask and they were willing to reset that as well.

Had I not called them, I would have lost about $80.00 in late fees and much more in increased interest rates. Having a perfect payment history is worth keeping - don’t let one little slip-up get passed you. Plus, you can make this call more than once. Last time we moved, we also missed a due date and I made the same call then (I think to one of the same companies too).