Crunching numbers again...

I think I might be the only American actually grateful that the IRS pulled both my 2013 tax payment and the first installment of my 2014 taxes from my bank account yesterday.  I checked many times throughout the wee hours of the morning, before finally falling asleep.  Then, when I got up to change  icepacks, I saw that the transaction had posted around 10:00 AM.  Whew!

I will admit that I was equally worried that the check I had mailed early to the Indiana Department of Revenue had not yet posted.  I have been haunting my checking account several times a day for the past week, looking for that transaction.  Thankfully, the check posted today at 9:46 AM.  Another whew!

Though ... I am fully expecting a protest letter from the IRS regarding having to make such a large payment.  But while my past ... discussions ... with the IRS about things that cropped up were all fruitless, I am confident that the fact that I had no idea that I was going to need to think drastically about finances and decide, at the last minute, to pull a chunk of money out of retirement to pay off my mortgage would make moot any attempt to claim penalties and interest.  After all, I did not actually owe any taxes until December 28th,  and, at that time, I did make a concerted (but failed) attempt to meet my tax obligation when I took the withdrawal.  My tax math stunk.

I am also expecting a letter from Indiana, but only because I have gotten one every year that I have filed taxes here.  That puzzles me since I am using good tax software, but at least I think such a letter will not send me into a panic.  After all, I am intimately acquainted with the folks at the local Indiana tax bureau and have had positive experiences all three times I had to go there.

However, I am very much looking forward to 2015.  All this complicated tax stuff will be over and no one will have any reason to write me letters.  Of course, all the complicated tax stuff will be over because I will be out of any tax bracket.  Onward, Myrtle, in your charge to minimize your living expenses.

I totally forgot about the AC spring maintenance in my goal of reducing that $881 budget line to $750, since I actually pay for all my electrical work in cash.  So, while I did not go over my reduced goal on my credit card, I shall only be ~$43 under in that budget line item.  SIGH.  Next month.  Next month is another opportunity.

Except.  Except for the blasted water bill from flooding my own home.  It will come on the 28th.  For me, the 28th cannot get here soon enough.  I do better if I know. sooner rather than later, just what I have to face.  I am trying not to be all doom-and-gloom about having an except every darned month.  After all, I do not plan on flooding my home again.

One change that I made—under the heading of responsible—is that, this year, I used all of my annual charges on my not-in-use credit cards (to keep them active) for practical things.  Normally, I use the excuse of having to make charges to each of them as a reason for extra trips to Taco Bell.  All of them are empty.  Actually every single card I have is technically empty since I pay off the balance of the one I use each month, using it only for reward points.  But the complicated formula for credit rating means that canceling non-used cards is not actually a good financial move.  Plus, three of the cards are very low fixed-rate cards, which I doubt are even available anymore.  If ever I had to borrow money using a credit card, 4.9% is not that bad of an interest rate.

Anyway, I took care of several things, such as ordering a filter for the refrigerator water line, instead of going to Taco Bell.  And I waited until all the statements would come due next month, so the funds would come out of that which normally would go to my beloved Capital One card.  Being fiscally responsible is not much fun.

I have $2.50 left on my last Taco Bell gift card.  Since it is from Christmas, I think I did a much, much, much better job of not merely blowing through gift cards the way that I used to do so.  A trip to Taco Bell is $2.79, so I am short on that card.  But I added up the quarters in my car ash tray and discovered that there is $5.00 in there.  I decided that since it was parking meter money from when I lived in the DC Metropolitan Area, that money is not really budgeted.  Therefore, I am planning on making it Taco Bell money.

[See?  It is waaaaaaaaay too easy to make specious rationalizations when it comes to budgeting.]

The other day, I read an article (which I cannot find again) about helping friends/relatives who are in financial trouble without spending a dime.  I liked it.  I liked it because the article—though not in so many words—took the stance that it is better to teach a man to fish than to just give him a fish.  The idea is to help the person in financial trouble with budgeting, prioritizing debts to tackle first, strategizing ways to reduce spending, and accountability in sticking to new plans.

Of course, I would add giving copious amounts of encouragement, pointing out financial successes when financial missteps loom large, and reminding the person that change is rarely a straight forward march down a level path, but one of ups and downs and wanderings off the road from time to time.

That's one of the reasons I love the Psalter.  There are many, many, many verses about stumbling and crooked paths.  Many pleas to make a way straight and to hold the psalmist upright.  This is, to me, further evidence that God understands His created, understands life in a fallen world.


Hear my prayer, O LORD,
Give ear to my supplications!
Answer me in Thy faithfulness, in Thy righteousness!
And do not enter into judgment with Thy servant,
For in Thy sight no man living is righteous.
For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;
My heart is appalled within me.

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Thy doings;
I muse on the work of Thy hands.
I stretch out my hands to Thee;
My soul longs for Thee, as a parched land. Selah.
Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails;
Do not hide Thy face from me,
Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For I trust in Thee;
Teach me the way in which I should walk;
For to Thee I lift up my soul.
Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies;
I take refuge in Thee.

Teach me to do Thy will,
For Thou art my God;
Let Thy good Spirit lead me on level ground.
For the sake of Thy name, O LORD, revive me
In Thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Thy lovingkindness, cut off my enemies
And destroy all those who afflict my soul,
For I am Thy servant.

~Psalm 143 (NASB 1977)

I am Yours, Lord.  Save me!