by Tricia
Today is the last day if I want to put more money towards our savings account. I had wanted to get to $2,500 by the end of this month. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to happen. In fact, as the clock clicks closer to midnight, it’s become clear that I won’t be able to put any more money towards our savings for a while.
My husband’s temporary job has hit a lull and he didn’t have any work last week and he only had eight hours the week before. That was bringing in around $1,000/month when he was working the max hours/week on a project. It hurts to see it drying up. It should start back up again shortly once his boss has the time to get him going on another project. But his boss is a busy, busy man and now we are at his mercy.
I also thought we were going to get a refund this year from our taxes. I was very wrong. This is the first year where we do not qualify for the earned income credit and man…that hurt. The withholding on my job is actually taking out more than it should and I thought it would cover the smaller jobs that my husband is doing and the income from this blog. I still have to finalize the numbers and file so I’m not sure of the exact damage yet. It’s definitely in the hundreds range and thankfully not in the thousands.
Then, there is the major financial setback. Again, I am still finalizing that one and when I know more I’ll give more information. This one will add to our debt load.
There is a lot here that isn’t good news. That’s life, and there are bound to be bad times. We had a great 2006 with paying off our debt and if it means we have to take a few steps backwards before we start heading forward again, so be it. It adds to the fuel to get my idea from the other day going.
At this point, I’m not sure what else I can do.
I’ve been reading you for a few weeks and find your writing very enjoyable with a number of lessons I can use in my day to day life. Also, I’m very sorry about your miscarriage. My wife and I went through one of those about three years ago and it was quite rough.
Relying upon a tax rebate check goes against everything you’re trying to accomplish in getting out of debt. My wife and I have friends (and I have coworkers) who reduce their income in hopes of getting that big check on April 15. Reducing your exemptions is simply giving the IRS an interest free loan until you get the money back after April 15. Go onto the IRS website, use their withholding calculator and determine exactly how much you should claim to be sure you don’t over or under exempt.
My best to you.
Ohhh Tricia…
You are going to ride out this storm and do just fine, even if that means stopping debt repayment for a little while. Just take it one bill at a time till DH gets steady employment again.
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