Property Tax Dropped over 50%!

I just got my annual notice for my property tax on my house. I had to read it several times to be sure I understood because I didn't believe it at first. It had dropped over 50%!

I checked it against last year's bill and they property value they put on my house also dropped by over half so it made sense to me. While this is not a good thing if I were wanting to sell my house I am not concerned. I will be living here a while and eventually keep it as a rental property.

This is great news since it reduces the amount I have to dedicate each month to paying the property taxes. Since I have been over saving the past 6 months I moved the surplus funds into other savings goals.

It is nice to get a tax bill in the mail well below what you expect. Doesn't happen often!

Car woes on hold

The burning grease smell from the axle has gone away. I called my dad (a mechanic) and he says as long as it drives OK then I can wait to replace the part. This is good news!

It saves me $150 today since I don't have to take it anywhere to get fixed. It can (hopefully) wait until he comes to visit again and we can do it ourselves. He comes up to Atlanta fairly regularly so it shouldn't be an issue.

It also saves me time and hassle of taking my car to the repair shop and picking it up. I will just hang onto the part just in case things get worse before he can visit again.

Win!

Sunglasses and FEDEX Account fraud

Today so far has been a day of putting out fires both at work and on a personal level.

Hertz did find my sunglasses and they will ship them back to me. Nice to know that I don't have to re-buy them at least. I will have to eat the shipping costs. Lesson learned!

I got a collections notice from FEDEX in the mail last week. Turns out the mysterious charge to my American Express a while back was actually through my FEDEX Account. I called them to investigate.

They looked into it and decided it was indeed fraud would erase the charge from my account. That is another $168 that I don't have to come up with. Another bit of relief!

Things are looking up from the events of the Baltimore trip. I hope they continue to improve!

Bad Luck came early

I arrived to work this morning to a dead server. Hard drive died and we were down. This was what I walked through the door to see.

It was a bit stressful at first as the backups weren't working. We finally get the backup to work and the server back online about 1.5 hours later. That sure beats 24+ hours of rebuilding it from zero. I created the disaster recovery plan and it worked. It was a pain to create but much needed today.

Part 2 of the bad luck is that my car needs a CV axel. It is a $60 part which is less than I expected. The killer may be the labor. I have to find someone to replace it as it is out of my scope of car repair knowledge. I am hoping for $100 in labor as my dad (a mechanic) says it should take 30 minutes. We shall see.

So it seems Friday the 13th came early for me. Maybe because of the leap year?

Water Heater fixed!

I went with my dad to Lowe's this morning to get a new water heater and related materials for installation. We decided to convert from gas to electric for safety and cost reasons. It will pay off over the long term in utilities costs and efficiency.

It took my dad most of the day to get the electrical and plumbing redone but I now am mostly back to normal again. It is nice to have a hot shower!

I spent $300 on materials and am taking my dad out for a nice dinner tonight for his help. All said and done I am looking at close to my $500 estimate. Luckily I had money saved for house repairs to pay for this.

This is the perfect example of why we all need an emergency fund!

When Disaster Strikes...

I woke up this morning to have a shower as usual. I noticed that the water was barely warm. I found it odd but went on as usual getting ready for work. As I was shaving it hit me. I knew what the problem was but finished getting ready.

I went downstairs. Broken water heater. Leaking. I was none too pleased.

Immediate call to my Dad and work begins. End up shutting the water off to the entire house since the valve for the water heater is of course not closing all the way. Drained out the water heater and started to soak up the water as best I can.

Did I mention I have a flight to Maine for work at 5:40PM? Yeah.

I get to the office around 10AM. I am late, stressed, and already had a shortened day and week due to travel and I am going to Easter Island on Friday!

Ughhh...

At least this happened now and not while I was gone for 10 days. It could always be worse.

Luckily my Dad will get time off to come for a long weekend and we will install a new water heater and get things sorted out. It will be a lot cheaper than a plumber/electrician and I will buy him a nice dinner and his gas here and back.

Now I am off to Maine!

Save Big on your Comcast Bill!

I watch my money closely and review all of my utility bills every month for mistakes and rate hikes. Today I found that Comcast jacked my rate up to $62.95 for internet only. WAY too much!

I called customer service and was on hold for quite some time. After speaking to an agent I threatened to cancel my service due to the hike. I was transferred to the retention department who has the power to discount your account to more reasonable levels.

I made my case as I had AT&T U-Verse up on my screen. They were showing a promo price of $29.95 per month for a year then $48 per month thereafter. It was the same speed as my current Comcast connection and a lot cheaper. AT&T was my bargaining chip.

After a brief hold Comcast offered me $42.95 per year. I took it since I did not want the hassle of cancelling them, install/scheduling AT&T, and having to buy a new modem. My price is good for a year and they will retroactively credit my account since the $62.95 already went on my credit card for this month.

A 15-minute phone call saved me $20 per month or $240 for the next 12 months. That is a great use of my time! I get to keep my same service and equipment with no hassle aside from the call for the next year. I did this last year also. I will continue to do this every year if I have too.

Don't pay too much! Don't site back and just accept rate hikes! Make the companies compete for your business. It costs them a lot more than $240 to acquire a new customer. They will do everything within reason to keep you as a customer. Finally there is no contract for my rate adjustment. It is a simple discount.

I got a raise FINALLY!

Today at work it was announced that we all would get a 5% raise. This is a long overdue event as we haven't had one in years. This does give some hope for the future as opposed to before when things were not looking great but we held on. Patience gets rewarded!

My plans for it are to ramp up my savings for the most part. Most of the rest of my budget will not change. I always need to save more money! I can have a small sigh of relief today.

The Difference a phone call makes!

Today I was taking care of some stuff that has been lingering on my desk for a while. One of the bigger items was a $178 medical bill from Feb 2011 that showed up in December. Something seemed a bit off but I put off calling about it. Until today!

I called the doctor's office and was about to pay the balance myself until she said the claim was denied by my insurance because they requested information. I hung up and called my insurance. Sure enough I did send the information they wanted but it never made its way to my claim. They re-opened the claim and said they have what they need and will pay the amount due.

I called back the doctor to inform them of the new case. They said they would handle it from there! While I am not 100% out of it yet I am pretty sure I won't have to worry about it any more. This is good news after a couple of rough months financially. I can breathe a little easier now.

Car got hit while parked at work

Sometimes people surprise me. I came to work today just like any other. Parked my car and went into the office. I had to run to the company storage unit for some things and found a note under my wiper blade. Someone hit my car.

There was no major damage just a scrape on the rear bumper. I called the person that left the note and we agreed to work something out without involving insurance. Works for me since it is less paperwork and hassle for both of us. I like easy!

Now I have to get an estimate and actually collect. We'll see if she pulls through on her promise!

Unexpected Money!

I got a check in the mail yesterday!

I forgot that I was party in a class action lawsuit on credit card foreign transaction fees. I finally got a payout of $18.04. While it is not a lot of money it helps to offset my $22 property tax mistake.

I know I am not alone in liking checks showing up in the mail that you forgot about or did not know were coming. I certainly welcome them during this expensive month!

Stupid mistake cost me $21.97

Being in a hurry costs money. That is why gas stations charge $5 for milk and overnight shipping versus ground is usually 10 times as much. Time is money.

My mistake was with my property tax payment. My county breaks it up into 2 installments. One is due in August and the other in November. The November payment was late. I even scheduled it to pay automatically while I was in Asia!

The problem was I skimmed my tax bill and set my payment to arrive on November 30. It was due on November 15th. I did this in a hurry one evening while getting ready to leave on my trip. A simple reading/comprehension error on my part.

This certainly will not happen again! $22 is a big enough lesson for me to be more careful from now on. The last thing I needed was an extra expense in this already pricey month. We live and learn I guess. Moral of the story: Double check all of your bill payments to be sure you are not late!

Keeping the grocery costs low: I have a system!

This time of year has me paying extra special attention to my normal expenses. I switch to bare bones grocery shopping and utilize what I have in the pantry already first if I can. It has worked well this month and I am staying under budget.

I am starting to be able to purchase what I need at the lowest price. Splitting my grocery shopping between the farmer's market and grocery store is allowing me the best of both worlds. All of my produce, spices, and juice come from the farmer's market. I tend to get dry products, meat, and packaged items at the grocery store. Add in coupons and sales and I come out well!

I am getting into the habit of having fresh fruits and eating more salads on a regular basis. Not only is this healthier but it tastes better too. I have almost no canned vegetables around unless I have a specific recipe. I do get canned tomatoes and anything that is really good sale for quick needs. Mostly I use fresh these days and have better meals as a result!

Finally I am working on my bulk cooking skills a bit. I currently make my own chicken noodle soup, spaghetti sauce, and sometimes chilli in big batches. I freeze and use them over the next month or two. It takes me 1 weekend afternoon to cook all 3 at once if I need them. I always find they taste great when reheated later and it takes very little time!

I tend to go shopping more often when using fresh ingredients but I am better off money wise even with the extra trips. Both stores are close to my house and the gas cost is negligible. I try to go to both on the same day if possible. Even still sometimes you still just need butter, milk, or bread. Such is life.

Can Christmas be over yet?

It is no secret amongst my friends that December has to be my least favorite month of the year. It is expensive, stressful, and I always seem to get large, unexpected bills in December. This year is no exception.

Work has been crazy lately but is finally starting to let up now. I am still trying to figure out my Christmas gifts (and I despise Christmas shopping!) for a couple of people. I got some medical and other bills that are also helping to wipe out some more money which annoys me.

I am ready for 2012. Three more weeks to go and it is over with. I like seeing my family over Christmas but all the other crap seems to cast a shadow over it. At least I have some awesome food to look forward too!

Fixing Mistakes: I goofed my math on my money tracking.

I am very careful about tracking my money since I maintain a relatively tight budget. I use a combination of mint.com and Excel spreadsheets to keep my stuff straight. I have just discovered that I have some pretty large errors in my numbers and I have less than my spreadsheet says I do.

Luckily I got a bonus from work that more or less covered the errors. It is pretty much as if I did not get a bonus at all mathematically. It could be worse!

It basically boiled down to me forgetting to do some transfers and recording of transactions. It also was partially the result of me working out my spreadsheet tracking system for items that I do not budget for. It developed over the past year and is now fine tuned to be correct. The earlier months are incorrect and thus created bad numbers.

I have a solution!

I am going to Asia for a month and will almost exclusively use cash while there. This will let all of my credit card balances clear off for the most part so I can start clean in December. I will have a better idea of what I "really have" in terms of disposable cash. I am pretty close now but probably still a bit off.

I will start the day I get back with a clean slate spreadsheet and continue to track it very carefully. Having my work expenses reimbursed does complicate things a little but is well worth it to get all of the extra points that allow me to travel more often! I am just glad I have not added on more debt!

More car trouble!

My car strikes again. This week I went to go to work. Battery is dead. Great...

In the end I had to buy a new battery. I bought jumper cables first just in case but it was dead. I took it to Auto Zone where they test batteries for free. Once I got the bad news I bought a new battery and changed it myself in the parking lot. In the end I was 1.5 hours late for work.

I had to fork over around $150 to get my car running again. I guess I am happy that it was only the battery and not something more serious. Just seems like I have poured a lot of money into it recently. I am learning the costs of owning and older vehicle versus when it was now is a lot more!

Thankfully I have an repair fund for my car to cover smaller items like this one. It is never fun to deal with car problems but when you have a plan and savings in place it is a bit easier.

Computer Woes: I hope this is a blip!

So recently I have noticed some funny video problems with my Macbook Pro. I did some searching online and it seems that it is a common problem with my particular video card and Apple even did a recall/free repair for it. Even if it is out of warranty!

The problem I face is that I have opened up the case of my Macbook Pro a couple of times to upgrade parts. This may technically void my warranty and they could just say "sorry" and be done with it. I plan to talk to Apple and see what, if anything, they will do.

Assuming the worst I will sell it on eBay and buy a new laptop. This is about a year ahead of when I planned to replace it but I am stuck. It is just too valuable of a tool not to have and I travel a lot so I need a laptop. Overall it will set me back at least $1,000 for a suitable replacement.

I guess this is why we have emergency funds but it is still a frustrating mess in the end. Oh well life will go on no matter what. I do like the idea of having a shiny newer, faster Macbook Pro!

A phone call will save me $400 in the next year!

Today I got a call from State Farm who insures my home. They have called me several times in the past wanting me get a quote for auto insurance. Today I finally had time to entertain the idea so I had them do it. I was expecting it to me a lot more than my already low $400 per year through my Dad.

I was surprised to hear that they were $100 less per year and on top of that I would get a multi-line discount with them bringing down the cost of my homeowner's insurance as well. Between the 2 savings I will get my car insurance at no additional cost than my original homeowner's insurance premium. That pays off nicely!

As I learned on this call is still pays to shop around no matter how good of a deal you think you have. There could be a better deal out their to be gotten!

Mass Transit: A Better Way of Life

Today was my first day at work in our new office. I am already happier with the new setting with nicer things all around.

I took the train to get to work and I must admit I much prefer it to driving. While it is nice to have my car sometimes I like not dealing with traffic and being able to do whatever I want during my commute. I just wish the Atlanta train system was more reliable and extensive.

It actually takes me a little longer to get to work but it is also further than my old office from my house. It will take some adjustment but I will learn all of the little tricks to make it easier. The last time I regularly used the train was back in college and it saved me a lot of money and time. It appears this will be the case once again.

As an added bonus I also get to walk 1 mile per day. I could change trains and go directly to my building but the time to transfer and the long escalator make it a wash. I decided that I may as well get some exercise if the weather is good and hopefully drop a couple pounds while I am at it. I have options!

At the same time I also had a job responsibility shift so now I will get to travel more. I am excited about this as I like my road time. Keeps things different and interesting and I am doing work that interests me more. And to boot I get to earn a lot more miles!

It is yet to be seen how much my commuting costs will drop as a result of using the trains. The company will reimburse half the cost of the train pass and I will certainly spend a lot less on gas and car maintenance. It will take a couple months to see the real results!

Car Troubles Part 2: back on track!

I went to the Honda dealer this morning and I must say it was definitely worth the 45 minutes in traffic and 2 hour wait. I finally got a firm answer on my car. A hose was loose and leaking lots of coolant. They tightened the strap and now that has stopped.

A little bit of possible bad news is that I may have a blown head gasket. They showed me a test where air was getting into the system. This worries me but they said drive it a bit and see if it leaks out anymore. It could be a very minor hole and not an issue. So I will do that and see what happens.

I checked my coolant before leaving the office today and it looked full still. So far, so good. I will continue monitoring it daily for a week or so and go from there. If the gasket is an issue my dad said he will come up and fix it for me (he is a mechanic, 40 years in the biz). This saves me hundreds!

It is nice to have this finally figured out. Being on the side of the road putting in coolant every few days is not what I consider fun. 90% out of this mess!