. My 2013 Honda is due for its 30,000 mile checkup. It's impossible to overlook this since there's a message programmed to appear on the car's LCD display. I can get rid of the message with a click of a button, but everytime I start the car up, there's that message again.
So I called the dealer to find out what the 30,000 mile checkup involves. They mentioned things like rotate the tires, change oil and filter, check transmission fluids, battery, change wiper blades, brake alignment..nothing big. The cost? Over $400!!
I went to my mother's old mechanic instead. I'd already had him change the oil for me a few weeks back, and I went elsewhere to get the tires rotated. So there wasn't much left for him to do and it cost me just $90 for him to do it. Wow, what a savings.
The only drawback going to this mechanic is that it's hugely inconvenient for me. For one thing, he's basically a one man shop and he's closed on Saturdays, one of the few times I can get over there. So I went today as I had MLK Day off, but even so, he's got just a regular garage, not the upholstered chairs, TV, free beverages the dealer has. Luckily, he got it done in less than an hour.
Today (and yesterday, for that matter) has been sort of a weird day for me. Meaning, I've been uncharacteristically not very productive. I think I'm a little depressed and I've had to push myself to go out and run a few errands, and I don't really feel like doing much indoors except read, watch TV or go on the computer.
There is just a ton of stuff I could be doing, but eh.
Tomorrow a somewhat local woman is coming to hopefully buy some yarns. I'm also working at home tomorrow so I can ease back into the work week.
Today I did make a batch of black bean, corn and fresh tomato salad with fresh Italian parsley and some leftover pesto sauce I used as the dressing.
I also made some candied nuts the other day which are pretty good and which I feel like eating now.
I have a physical scheduled for Thursday. Eating mostly vegan, all the bloodwork should look pretty good.
Still waiting for probate court to approve me as executor; they were waiting for my sister to sign a form waiving the hearing for that purpose, which is supposed to speed things up. In the meantime, the money from my mother's brokerage accounts, which bypasses probate, has now been distributed evenly between me and my sister. Most of mine is already sitting in new mutual fund accounts and I don't really intend to use that money for anything right now. I probably could have taken more time to think about the tax implications of how I would take that money, and I knew I should have, but there was too much else going on. So I had them deduct 25% in taxes for some of the money and the rest of it, well, it will become taxable money in my accounts anyway. It all accounts for an extra $50,000 in my accounts, and when the other money is probated, it should come to close to another $50,000, so $100K all told that I really didn't think I'd see. I am very appreciative for this unexpected windfall inheritance.
I would like to move forward with my plan to sell this old house and buy a small 2 bedroom, 1 level condo, preferably in this town I've lived in for 20 years, but I feel "stuck" with all my mother's many possessions, her art, her yarns and everything else. I've been whittling away at it but am still tripping over things here. I just don't have the space. Problem is, I don't really have a game plan for how to dispose of certain things. I had hoped to sell some art on Etsy but they have a rule that the art sold must be by the person who opens the Etsy account. I don't feel like having to learn eBay.
All together, I sold 2 pieces to coworkers, decided to give 2 pieces (as yet undelivered) to my cousin in New Jersey, I sold one small piece through a gallery I discovered and I hope to sell something to the doctor at my mother's nursing home, who expressed an interest in something "big." All good, but that's about it as far as leads or anything.
This afternoon an art curator is returning 3 pieces of my mom's art she had in her home for private showings. One of those pieces I plan to photograph, with a few other ones, for the doctor and then email them to a nurse who will in turn forward them on to the doctor. It would be great to sell something that way because I don't have to pay a commission (typically 40%!) to a gallery or a curator like the one who is returning some art today.
But I have like over a hundred pieces of different sizes, shapes, mediums, styles here in my home. More than I could ever hope to display. Some I know I can part with.
I have some art on display at just two galleries now.
So I have things to do, in an ongoing way. I've already donated tons of stuff that held little value, like old furniture and clothing and household items I had no use for. I also gave a few things away to my handyman after he helped me multiple times last summer. But I kept most of the what I think is the more valuable stuff that I'd like to try to sell.
I have hundreds upon hundreds of slides I'd like to manually convert to digital, I still have weaving yarns to sell as well as artists equipment, cameras, special lighting stuff. It's all so time-consuming. I have to research the value of each thing I try to sell.
And I still have to get thru the probate process, which I wouldn't be surprised will go to mid-year. When that is done, I would like to update my own will.
I'm sort of putting stuff aside for a possible spring tag sale. I suppose I could put much of the stuff in that, but I still need to do the legwork to figure out the value of so much of this stuff cus I have no idea.
The monument guy said the stone should be done this week, so I'd like to pay him and get that particular bill out of the way. There are still a few more I expect to see, hopefully soon, to pay off all creditors.
Saving $$ on car maintenance
January 18th, 2016 at 08:56 pm
January 18th, 2016 at 09:15 pm 1453151736
I don't know what the dealer wanted, but I don't doubt it was more than $96.30.
It is no wonder at all you have been felling sort of bleh and unproductive. You've just been through a major loss and still have a lot of work to do with selling your mother's valuables. Be patient with yourself. Treat yourself to something nice, such as a nap or a movie or a pedicure.
January 18th, 2016 at 09:41 pm 1453153300
January 18th, 2016 at 11:06 pm 1453158384
On the state level, it depends what your state does. Here in PA (and in NJ) there is a state inheritance tax--a VERY quick google search (which you should check out more thoroughly) suggests that CT *used* to have tan inheritance tax, but abolished it in 2005, replacing it with a state Estate tax, which only applies for estates exceeding 2 million dollars. The estate will need a 1041 for 2016 as well after this year is complete, and then, if all the assets have been distributed, you can close the estate (which you need to do formally by checking the box marked "final return" on the last 1041 filed).
I know you don't like to spend money unnecessarily, but it might be worth the peace of mind to have a CPA do your mother's final tax returns to make sure that things are done right and to have someone to consult on these issues to make sure all the "i"s are dotted and the "t"s crossed. There will need to be a final 1040 as well as an estate tax return (1041) for both federal and state. I know she died near the end of the year, but since there are lots of year-end distributions and dividends that can get paid out at year-end, there is still an allocation to be done between income and the deductions that go to her return vs income and deductions that go to the estate.
I hope you enjoyed your day off--you deserved one! Don't berate yourself for being unproductive. You have a lot to process, and the only way you get to do that is when you take the time. Keeping yourself overly busy won't stop your grieving; it will only delay it.
January 19th, 2016 at 12:01 am 1453161691
Another Reader, in filling out TR Price's IRA Distribution form, you're given a choice to have federal income tax withheld; the default withholding is 10% unless you specify otherwise. It says, "Distributions are subject to federal income tax withholding unless you elect not to have withholding apply."
I believe RMDs would have been an option, spread out over a number of years, but since that amount was just about $13,000, I didn't think it was worth the trouble to do that for next 5 years.
January 19th, 2016 at 02:18 am 1453169934
January 19th, 2016 at 02:25 am 1453170327