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I'm so grateful for another Friday...sort of

August 9th, 2014 at 12:36 am

I'm so grateful for another Friday...although when the weekend comes around, I feel like it's just another kind of work I've got to do. Frown

Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for lunch in town at a new restaurant. That's the only really "fun" thing I'll be doing.

Yesterday I worked at home becus my landline was not working and i had to let the AT&T guy in. When I got home Wed. night, however, I discovered the phone was again working, but I decided since I'd already arranged it, to still work at home, which is rare for me during the summer months unless I have a doc appointment or something.

So I was able to make some much-needed phone calls which is incredibly difficult at work since I work at a cube and there's NO privacy.

So I scheduled my physical for September, after my new health insurance kicks in, so I can earn $50 I think it is just by doing a "wellness" thing and getting that physical. There are a bunch of other things like that you can also do to earn money, up to a max of $250 a year, and I intend to try to do every one of them! As you can see, I'm still thinking frugally, even after getting the big new job, and I doubt that will ever change.

I still haven't restarted Netflix. I am so busy with yardwork and that kind of thing now, so I may wait until late fall to renew since I'll have more indoor time then. I've gotten used to free Hulu's very limited selection of shows.

I called 2 home health aide agencies to get help for my mother. Both were recommended by 2 people I know. The next step would be interviewing the 2 aides one of the agencies would send to meet me and my mother. This all takes so much time, considering I can't do this during the week. While I worry about my mother being alone so much, at her age, I also worry about the proclivity of any aide we might hire to possibly steal small items (of which there are a lot) from my mother's place. Or worse, I could see my mother asking them to help her with the computer, which she often has problems with, and the aide gets a hold of her email password. From there, she could eventually get her credit card numbers, bank account number or who knows what. I'm hoping to feel more motivated and energetic about it to schedule something for next weekend.

So, here's some financial news....Earlier this year I contributed $6500 to a traditional IRA, not knowing I would get a perm job at the bank. I'm realizing in hindsight that with my $80K gross salary, my Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) for 2014 might exceed $70K, and that would mean that the traditional IRA I contributed to earlier in the year would not be tax deductible.

I recently started contributing (the max) to my new 401k at work. Thinking about how disappointing it would be not to be able to deduct that IRA, I decided to sign up for the $5500 catch-up contribution for those age 50+.

I checked the gross I made at the bank while still employed by the agency, and it was actually a lot less than I thought, what with my mandatory week-long furlough and all those unpaid holidays. So I calculate that my gross income from the agency and the bank will be just $63,140, and after subtracting my 401k contribution ($4,264 for a partial year) ad the catch-up contribution but then add back in about $1400 in taxable interest from investments, I figure my MAGI will be just $54,776, well below the $60,000 threshold to be eligible for a full deduction on the IRA contribution.

At the same time, I'm still working on earning a 2.5% bonus on my taxable contributions I've been making into my Barclay dream account. I figure it's worth about $114 to me. I should have already earned it (you have to contribute any amount up to $1,000 for 6 consecutive months to get a 2.5% bonus on the total interest earned on the money in the account) except that either I or they screwed up one month when I could have SWORN I contributed to the Dream account but apparently contributed to my OTHER Barclay money market account. Anyway, I have 3 more months of contributions to go and then I should earn it.

Garden news:
I've begun picking small cherry tomatoes and a few smallish tomatoes from my bushes, and I've pulled up a number of small yellow onions, too. Also occasionally picking beets and there's a cucumber that's almost ready. The wineberries, at least the ones I can reach, are pretty well spent. I was able to freeze at least 4 bags holding about 2 cups each. I'm satisfied with that and would rather stay Lyme-free than diving into the brambles for more berries.

It's been a fairly cool summer(no, not complaining at all), and so my tomato plants are holding onto the green tomatoes longer, I think.

For my birthday, my sister gave me a cute little thistle feeder and the birds have discovered it. Some goldfinches and also chickadees. I enjoy watching them. And she gave me a dozen or so oranges expressly for the Baltimore Oriole feeder she gave me last Christmas. I've hung it out and have seen Orioles in early spring, but haven't seen any at the feeder.

Possible home maintenance projects on this weekend's list which I likely won't get to but have listed anyway include:
*Paint Thoro Plug over patched areas of concrete wall in basement so it's all a uniform white
* Finish painting the trim in my office (will take 5 minutes, but the clean-up is a pain)
* Pull vines off the toolshed

I'd also like to get a haircut and figure out what I'll wear to the work picnic up in Massachusetts next week. I may buy something new. I'm not really looking forward to it becus it's ALWAYS an incredibly long day, having to drive 3 hours up and 3 hours back in the same day. In addition, becus the employee who usually rents a van/SUV and drives everyone is on vacation, that leaves just me and my boss as the only employees going, with 4 different contractors. Since a contractor isn't allowed to rent the vehicle and drive, that leaves me and my boss, and my boss has already told me she doesn't want to drive. I can't blame her since she goes up there every other week, but the difference is that she stays 3 or 4 nights, while when the rest of us go, it's up and back same day. I have never driven a van or SUV before, so now I'll be driving 5 women in a van on this long drive. I can think of so many other things I'd rather be doing, believe me.

3 Responses to “I'm so grateful for another Friday...sort of”

  1. SecretarySaving Says:
    1407610769

    I enjoyed reading your post!

  2. Rachael777 Says:
    1407610835

    It is so fun to 'calculate' savings and investmnets. you are doing real well and I enjoy reading your blog. keep it up. Smile

  3. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1407640072

    I hope the van trip goes well. I'd feel *very* uncomfortable doing that myself - I hate driving up high.

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