Sunday, January 28, 2007
Random thoughts on a January afternoon....
Don't know if I mentioned this before, but a few weeks ago while unpacking, I discovered that I wasn't gonna have enough closet space for all my stuff. We'd been quite spoiled at the house in Denver with its gi-normous master bedroom walk-in closet, and we'd ended up taking up all three bedroom closets in the new house with what had previously fit in the master. So I had to figure out a way to make more room.
I got my answer when perusing a flyer for a local office supply store. They had filing cabinets on sale. So I bought a full-size, legal width four-drawer black cabinet.
I've always engaged in the shoebox method of accounting -- you know, put all the year's receipts in a shoebox and stuff it into a closet? Well, now I can put everything into nice tidy file folders once I clear out each shoebox. It's taking me a lot longer than anticipated, but I've discovered already that once I put something in there, it's wayyy easier to find it again.
I'm also putting into the file cabinet all my medical records, all my warranties/instruction manuals and most of the paperwork that was languishing in the command center. When I finally finish, it should cut down on the clutter drastically. And I've organized the receipt folders so that I only keep the amount required by the IRS, meaning that whenever I need to add a new year's worth of stuff, I'll shred the oldest stuff to make room for more.
My progress on the unpacking kinda came to a standstill when I decided to get my tax stuff together since I was already sorting through that particular paperwork. I now have everything I'm gonna need with the exception of four items I have yet to receive in the mail: forms for my Social Security benefits, Colorado tax refund, the Denver credit union's interest income and a 1099-R from the retirement fund we had to cash out. Once I receive those, I'm gonna contact a local tax preparer and get this shit over with.
One thing that was really a shocker was the discovery of how much we'd had to spend on medical care this year: approximately 20 PERCENT of our income! This includes only one ER visit and one outpatient surgery, and we had insurance coverage the whole time, so the meds and doc visits were all covered. But those damned COBRA payments about killed us off; no wonder our savings ran dry in November!
I've been getting a lot of financial debacles resolved over the past few weeks. Social Security started sending my benefits to my South Dakota account, my long term disability insurance company should follow suit soon, and I FINALLY got my disability pension yesterday, five months late! I also got reimbursed for my medical bills for the fender bender last June, and my second mortgage company returned the amount they had debited from my checking account after I'd already paid them off.
I have decided I'm gonna forego the cell phone thing. After I finally got out of the contract with the last company that doesn't even service Sioux Falls, I looked at the rates for the two companies that do work here and discovered that their lowest prices were either twice as much or a third as much as I was paying! I refuse to shell out that much money for something I would only use in an emergency, so I just hope I never have an emergency, heh heh.
Did two more clothes shopping excursions, the last for 2007: one to Penney's for half-price bras, and one to Target for undies. I know it's weird that I spend about four times as much on the bras as I do the undies, but, hey, I pretty much need the equivalent of a forklift on top, and the ones that are actually comfortable cost money. I found out the undies I normally wear have been phased out in favor of low-rise, which I don't care for, so I gambled and bought some other new styles that I hope will fit.
At one point this week, Dan got tired of my lack of progress on the unpacking and threatened to start putting my stuff away himself, which I would rather didn't happen because he usually can't remember where he puts things. So I stopped filing paperwork for awhile and unpacked the books that go downstairs in the lawyer bookcase. That seemed to satisfy him, and I went back to gathering tax receipts.
There was more I was gonna say, but my hands are tired, and I'm broiling pork chops for lunch, so I'd better get to it.
Later.
I got my answer when perusing a flyer for a local office supply store. They had filing cabinets on sale. So I bought a full-size, legal width four-drawer black cabinet.
I've always engaged in the shoebox method of accounting -- you know, put all the year's receipts in a shoebox and stuff it into a closet? Well, now I can put everything into nice tidy file folders once I clear out each shoebox. It's taking me a lot longer than anticipated, but I've discovered already that once I put something in there, it's wayyy easier to find it again.
I'm also putting into the file cabinet all my medical records, all my warranties/instruction manuals and most of the paperwork that was languishing in the command center. When I finally finish, it should cut down on the clutter drastically. And I've organized the receipt folders so that I only keep the amount required by the IRS, meaning that whenever I need to add a new year's worth of stuff, I'll shred the oldest stuff to make room for more.
My progress on the unpacking kinda came to a standstill when I decided to get my tax stuff together since I was already sorting through that particular paperwork. I now have everything I'm gonna need with the exception of four items I have yet to receive in the mail: forms for my Social Security benefits, Colorado tax refund, the Denver credit union's interest income and a 1099-R from the retirement fund we had to cash out. Once I receive those, I'm gonna contact a local tax preparer and get this shit over with.
One thing that was really a shocker was the discovery of how much we'd had to spend on medical care this year: approximately 20 PERCENT of our income! This includes only one ER visit and one outpatient surgery, and we had insurance coverage the whole time, so the meds and doc visits were all covered. But those damned COBRA payments about killed us off; no wonder our savings ran dry in November!
I've been getting a lot of financial debacles resolved over the past few weeks. Social Security started sending my benefits to my South Dakota account, my long term disability insurance company should follow suit soon, and I FINALLY got my disability pension yesterday, five months late! I also got reimbursed for my medical bills for the fender bender last June, and my second mortgage company returned the amount they had debited from my checking account after I'd already paid them off.
I have decided I'm gonna forego the cell phone thing. After I finally got out of the contract with the last company that doesn't even service Sioux Falls, I looked at the rates for the two companies that do work here and discovered that their lowest prices were either twice as much or a third as much as I was paying! I refuse to shell out that much money for something I would only use in an emergency, so I just hope I never have an emergency, heh heh.
Did two more clothes shopping excursions, the last for 2007: one to Penney's for half-price bras, and one to Target for undies. I know it's weird that I spend about four times as much on the bras as I do the undies, but, hey, I pretty much need the equivalent of a forklift on top, and the ones that are actually comfortable cost money. I found out the undies I normally wear have been phased out in favor of low-rise, which I don't care for, so I gambled and bought some other new styles that I hope will fit.
At one point this week, Dan got tired of my lack of progress on the unpacking and threatened to start putting my stuff away himself, which I would rather didn't happen because he usually can't remember where he puts things. So I stopped filing paperwork for awhile and unpacked the books that go downstairs in the lawyer bookcase. That seemed to satisfy him, and I went back to gathering tax receipts.
There was more I was gonna say, but my hands are tired, and I'm broiling pork chops for lunch, so I'd better get to it.
Later.
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