I've Been Avoiding this Blog

It's been a rough few weeks, our spending has been pretty high and we also found out that our income tax bill will likely be even more than I'd previously thought.

We bought most of the supplies to finish out our current remodeling project, and that was $1300.

I found out that some professional expenses ($470) isn't going to get reimbursed by my employer. Unfortunately, I was already told by my supervisor that it would be covered, so we spent the money we had set aside for this (and a bit extra!) and used it to splurge on a big-screen TV. Had I known at the time that the company would take back their word, we would not have spent the money.

Another $265 in professional fees won't be reimbursed until late summer, but I had to front it last month. I'm slightly annoyed at having been told that other things will be reimbursed/taken care of, only to have someone at a higher level reverse that decision (unfortunately, it's happened a few times since I've been at the company), but at this point I'm still pretty sure that this will eventually get reimbursed (unless I get laid off first).

Because of these three things, the credit card that I use for regular monthly expenses/spending (and try to pay off each month) has a balance of around $2600 right now, FAR more than I'd like it to be. And I won't be able to pay off much over the next few months, because:

We will owe roughly $1300 to the IRS, as it appears that our tax withholdings were screwed up when the "Making Work Pay" tax credit went into effect last spring. We're still not quite sure how this happened, because I declare "0" exemptions on my W-2 & Hubby declares "1" on his, but somehow BOTH employers reduced withholdings by the full amount for a married couple. I think we'll end up getting $400-500 back from the State, but the net total is that we'll end up owing a lot of money. Have I mentioned before that situations like this are why I disagree with Dave Ramsey and think a $1000 baby emergency fund is not nearly enough?

Our semiannual car insurance payment is due in April, and will likely be $800-900. We actually have two separate policies that renew within a couple weeks of each other. We probably should set aside $150/mo so that we have the full amount when the bills come, but instead we've always just chosen to cash-flow it. Instead of paying extra to our credit cards, we just shift the money to the bills instead.

Bad News from work

My boss called me into his office today, telling me that he had some bad news. He didn't shut the office door, so I knew it wasn't going to be too serious...

But he told me that the VP of the company has denied my reimbursement request for the $469 review course I'm taking. It was previously approved by my immediate supervisor (after he double-checked with our Human Resources director about company protocol), and two other supervisors (each with a slightly higher level of authority) - and then when it went to the VP it was denied.

I had been checking the mailbox daily for the $469 check, so now I need to redo our budget and figure out how to cover the shortage. Most likely, I will carry a balance on the credit card that the class was charged, and will hopefully pay it off in late February or March instead.

Great News from Work

Not only was my bonus slightly larger than I'd hoped for ($1200 after taxes), but I also received a 1.9% raise. In this economy, I thought that was pretty darn good!

My boss also just told me that I will be able to get at least partially reimbursed for a review course that I'll be taking in the spring. It's something I wanted to take, it's entirely optional, and most of the other people at our company who have taken it have paid for it out of pocket, so I was not expecting to get any reimbursement for it. But I figured I didn't have anything to lose by asking, and I ended up being pleasantly surprised!

The course is $600 for non-members, or $525 for members (including the first year's membership fee).

I signed up for the latter, figuring it was worth it to save $75 and then I just won't renew my membership after it expires. Because of company policy, I won't be able to get the $55 membership fee reimbursed, but I will likely get either half or all of the $470 balance back.

Good news!

Last fall, when we were going through open enrollment for insurance (through work) for the 2009 calendar year, we decided to put about $500 of pre-tax income into a medical flex spending account (FSA). We estimated it based on the cost of our regular (recurring) monthly prescription co-pays and over-the-counter medicines, doctor/dentist/optometrist co-pays, plus a little bit extra to cover any additional expenses. 

We haven't had any visits to urgent care or the emergency room this year, but we did get stuck with almost $400 worth of physical therapy co-pays that we weren't expecting at the time we signed up for insurance & the FSA. 

It turns out that the information we initially received about the various insurance plans had indicated that physical therapy was supposed to be completely covered - with no copay. When we inquired about it, they found out pretty quickly that it was an error on the employer's informational packets. After months of back & forth on what could be done, they finally told us that they would deposit an extra $375 into our FSA to cover the error.  

We still owe $270 (it hasn't been billed yet, but we know it's coming), so this will cover that and also reimburse us for what we've already paid. 

Since FSA's are a "use it or lose it" account, we'll have to pay careful attention to the balance to make sure that we maximize every cent! We still have several prescriptions and over-the-counter medications to buy to cover us for the next few months, but I think we'll end up with $50-100 left... so I think one of us will be able to get a new set of glasses at Christmas!  :)  

A Raise - or Not

As I'd mentioned previously, my husband won't be getting a raise for the upcoming year. We were originally hoping that the salary freeze was temporary, perhaps only a few months - but we found out that it will stay in place for an entire year. 

Unfortunately, we also just received notice that only a nominal raise is anticipated for next year, probably around 1%. I guess I shouldn't complain much, since it's better than nothing, but 1% seems like such a tiny amount. Increases in the cost of living due to inflation are surely going to outpace that! 

Unless we can free up more money by paying off debt, we're going to have to make some big decisions about our budget. Best case scenario, it'll take us at least 4 years to pay off the credit cards, auto loans, and student loans. But we'd like to buy a bigger home, and start a family - both things that will divert a significant amount of money from our debt snowball. 

Sometimes it feels like all this debt is never going to be gone.

Pay cuts?

One of the union's at my husband's employer is currently under contract negotiations. They're arguing over a variety of issues, with insurance and salaries being some of the major items. The employer wants to freeze wages, and the unions of course are protesting.

It's very frustrating because my husband isn't a union employee, and has already had his wages frozen indefinitely. And right now, I'm grateful that we both still have jobs, and that we haven't been forced to take any pay cuts... but if the union is able to secure a raise for its members, it sort of makes me want our jobs to become unionized. I don't really like most labor unions nowadays, but it sucks if union members get a raise and nobody else does.

The worst part is that if they get a raise, then the employer will likely be forced to lay off other non-union employees, and/or to enact pay cuts for non-union employees, just to meet their operating budget. And THAT would really suck.

I think, at least given his current position, a layoff is pretty unlikely. I'm not sure whether we should be anticipating a paycut, when it would happen, or how much it would be... which makes it rather tough to plan and budget for!