Sandi's 2019: Wow This Is A Challenge!

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Dgflorida
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Re: Sandi's 2019: Wow This Is A Challenge!

Post by Dgflorida »

Yes, planning for the change in itemization rules caught many people by surprise this year. There were warnings, but there are so many warnings these days, it is hard to know when it is really something to pay attention to and when to ignore as click bait.
SandiSAHM
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Re: Sandi's 2019: Wow This Is A Challenge!

Post by SandiSAHM »

February.... :( Where did it GO? I know it's short but still...

Lost count of the days. MOSTLY, expenses have been low. That said, we were on the lookout for a laptop for the boy, and last night we found it. Cha-ching.

So. Onward to March. There is rumor DH will be gone a full 10-14 days, details are being ironed out. New project in Europe with a brand new (to them) 6-month government-contracted engineer - and it should be mentioned here that employment contracts in the EU are really weird to those of us who have only worked 'normal' non-gov jobs in the US - and the full scope of the project for which he was brought on board needs to be laid out for him with a diagram of How to Proceed. The guy who hired the newbie has. No. Clue. and needs DH. DH's boss is not sure he can be diverted to there without 'here' getting messy. I vote for a shorter visit, because we'd miss him at home :D What all this means is that March may be chock full of no-spend days as I rarely shop and DH might not be here to do so. Lowe's may see a dive in their March profits :lol:

The 6-month premium for our car insurance is due at the end of March, so its a good time for other expenditures to be low ;)
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LWolfT
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Re: Sandi's 2019: Wow This Is A Challenge!

Post by LWolfT »

SandiSAHM wrote: Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:37 pm DH and I decided, after initial funk... "Meh," LOL. He's going to bump his 401(k) contribution some, which we probably should have done when I got contract work, but neither one of us thought of it then. Its not that his company did a bad job calculating withholding or anything. It's that magic $24K that we were unable to exceed, in charitable contributions and expenses, that would have allowed us to itemize. That, apparently, is a thing of the past, and was amazingly beneficial to us in the 'old days' (a period defined as 2003-2017 :lol: ). Weirdly, we may actually exceed the 24k for 2019, but that's a "may exceed," there's no certainty to it.

Another reason to stay off the boss's payroll came up - I can't deduct the cost of anything I purchase for use on the job, or some $ for the 'cost' of the office I use in the house, if I'm an employee.
A thought ... can you do an IRA or Roth IRA contribution? There's that Saver's Credit, plus you'd get the deduction if you did the regular IRA ... and you can still make the contribution for 2018. (We ended up doing the regular IRA, or our tax bill would have been hair-raising ... this year certainly has been an adventure.)
SandiSAHM
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Re: Sandi's 2019: Wow This Is A Challenge!

Post by SandiSAHM »

LWolfT wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:27 am A thought ... can you do an IRA or Roth IRA contribution? There's that Saver's Credit, plus you'd get the deduction if you did the regular IRA ... and you can still make the contribution for 2018. (We ended up doing the regular IRA, or our tax bill would have been hair-raising ... this year certainly has been an adventure.)
You and my DH and tax guy think alike - I maxed out for this year, and he came pretty close.

Doing the same thing for 2019, paying attention to what I pay quarterly, he made adjustments at work...

We'll see in a year, I guess.
SandiSAHM
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Location: Oklahoma

Re: Sandi's 2019: Wow This Is A Challenge!

Post by SandiSAHM »

March! I am... 0 for 1 :lol:

Predictions are that come Sunday night, we'll be 1 for 3, 33.3%

Monday should be a no spend, but I have to go to the FedEx drop off thing and that's close to a health food store, so... maybe. Depends on what the man is in the mood for when it comes to dinners next week.
SandiSAHM
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Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Sandi's 2019: Wow This Is A Challenge!

Post by SandiSAHM »

2 of 4... 50% :lol:

A little snow again last night. Temps were so cold they canceled school. DH was scheduled to teach for a Junior Achievement thing but that's been pushed back. To when? No one knows.

Made Moroccan soup; cut my finger open on a spice jar that appears to have been damaged during the fill and cap process.

Went out in the 15-degree cold. Didn't enjoy that one bit. I'm a wuss. ;)
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