Andy Hough

I Now Have Only 2 Monthly Bills

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With the recent cancellation of my Moviepass account I now have only 2 monthly bills. My rent and my cell phone bill are the only monthly bills I have.  Of course, I still have other expenses every month such as food and gasoline, but rent and phone are the only monthly bills I have.

My rent includes utilities so that eliminates having an electric, gas, water or trash bill. The city I live in provides free internet so that is another bill I am able to avoid. I also don’t have a home phone, choosing to have just a cell phone. When I first opted to have only a cell phone and no landline about 15 years ago people thought that was weird. Now I think that having only a cell phone is pretty much the norm. My cell phone is only about $25 a month. It might be possible to save a few bucks on that bill. Since I’m happy with my service and it will work for me when I’m in SE Asia for 2 1/2 months, I don’t think it is worth the trouble of switching providers and possibly not liking the new service for a tiny savings. If you were to sign up for Project Fi cell phone service through my referral link we’d both get $20 Fi credit after you’ve had service for 20 days. That would make my cell phone bill even cheaper.

My car insurance could be paid monthly, but I choose to pay six months at a time to save a few bucks. Technically, I also have a monthly student loan bill and health insurance bill. These are both $0 right now, so I don’t count them as monthly bills. I have been making voluntary payments on my student loan since I will eventually have to pay it. Next year when my payments are based on my 2017 income rather than my low 2016 income I will have a required student loan payment. I’ve been considering not renewing the IBR plan and just letting my student loan go back to the 10-year payment plan. If I do that the student loan will be by far my biggest monthly bill. My health insurance is $0 since ACA subsidies are covering the premium. I’m hoping I will be able to resume my employer health plan once I return to my job. That would give me another monthly bill, but since it comes out of my paycheck it doesn’t really feel like another bill.

For a little while I might be able to cut down my monthly bills even more. Since my lease is up right before I leave for SE Asia I am planning on moving out of my apartment. Then my only monthly bill will be my phone and possibly a storage space for my stuff while I’m out of the country. I will have to pay to stay somewhere while I’m in SE Asia so the money I save by not having rent will be spent on that.

I’m pretty happy with my current level of expenses and won’t spend too much energy trying to get them even lower. What I need to concentrate on now is developing more sources of income.

 

Beating the Summer Doldrums

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I’ve been back from my hike for over three weeks now and the Summer Doldrums have started. I have been extremely lazy since coming back from my hike. First, I took a few days to relax and get settled. Then I went and visited a friend at his lake house for a couple of days and afterwards visited my mom for a few days. I returned home last Friday and I have not motivated myself to get much done since returning.

Some of the reasons I took a sabbatical from my job this year was to lose weight/get healthy and to work on my blog/develop other sources of income. I have managed to lose a few pounds, but that has stalled out the last couple of weeks and I know I should be doing much better. I haven’t done any work on this blog. Since returning from my hike the only posts I’ve published are my monthly income and expense posts that I publish every month. Now that I have time I should be publishing more  posts and trying to improve this blog.

Right now, since I don’t have to do anything it is very easy for me to do nothing. I have no problem filling a day with various wastes of time such as reading random articles on the internet, watching Netflix, going to the movies, reading books and magazines, watching random YouTube clips, etc. I don’t get bored with my random time wasters. However, my enjoyment of them does decrease as I spend more time doing them. These time wasters would be more fun if I did them after spending a few hours working.

There are a couple of things I’m going to try to start being reasonably productive. One is that I’m going to stop claiming unemployment. Having that steady supply of income gives me less incentive to try to develop other sources of income. I may have a temp job soon. If the temp job doesn’t happen, I will drive for Uber, do Amazon FBA, work on the blog, and work on other sources of self-employment income.

The other thing I need to do is to work as soon as I get up in the morning.  If I decide to relax in the morning with the plan of working later in the day the odds are very good that I won’t get anything done that day. If I start off the day working or otherwise being productive I usually continue working for most of the day. I need to remind myself of this every morning when I’m deciding whether I should go out for a leisurely breakfast or go for a run/drive for Uber/write a blog post. If I go out to breakfast the day is probably shot. If I do one of the other things I’ll get stuff done and still have time for a leisurely meal later in the day. This is going to be a continuing battle, but I do not want to let this summer get away from me. This time off is a great opportunity and I do not want to waste it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.  If you’re not able to leave a comment please let me know via email/Twitter/Facebook. The comments appear to be working correctly on my end, but I’ve had a lot of problems keeping them working this year and I’d like to know for sure if they are working correctly or not.

May Income – $1997.89

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Here is a breakdown of my income for May.

Interest $4.26
Amazon FBA ($18.47)
Unemployment $640
Cash Back $13.27
Credit Card Bonus $500
Credit Card Other $100
Bank Bonus $200.00
Job $558.83
Total $1997.89

 

May’s income was decent considering I only had one week of pay during the month and it wasn’t even a full 40 hour week.

I cashed out $500 of credit card rewards to cover some of my hike expenses. I also received a $200 bank bonus during the month. Since I came back from my hike early I was able to get unemployment for the last two weeks of the month. I’ll probably only collect another week or two of unemployment before I start making some money from self-employment or find a temporary job.

My FBA income was negative this month and I didn’t have any online income or expenses. This month I should make a profit from FBA and I might make some online income as well.

I’m pretty happy that I made more money than I spent for the first month of my six month mini-retirement. I’ll have a large dental bill this month so I’m unlikely to repeat that feat this month. My income will likely be down this month as well since there won’t be any paycheck at all and I won’t have a large credit card bonus like I did in May. I will be trying to make money during the month so maybe I’ll make more than I think.  If I can come close to covering my expenses for the month I will be happy.

May Expenses – $1551.11

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for May.

Household $4.12
Rent $435
Entertainment $84.49
Transportation $159.33
Food $199.59
Travel $536.22
Phone $25.28
Health $1.08
Student Loan $106
Total $1551.11

My May expenses were pretty high. This wasn’t entirely unexpected since I knew I’d be traveling during the month.

The travel expense was a bit higher than I would have preferred. The total includes 5 hotel nights, a bus ticket from Bennington, Vermont to Albany, NY, a one-way car rental from Albany, NY to Kansas City, MO, gasoline, and other miscellaneous expenses such as local public transportation and Uber. Travel hacking allowed me to receive quite a bit of value for my travel dollars spent. Still I need to keep these expenses even lower since I am six figures in debt and I’ll be taking a 2 1/2 month overseas trip later this year.

My monthly food expense was too high again. This time it was the highest it has ever been. It almost went over the $200 mark. That is way too much for one person to be spending on food. I know this sounds like a broken record, but I have got to get my food expenses under control. I’m spending way too much on fast food and junk food. This month I would like my grocery bill to be higher than my dining out bill. That seems like a reasonable goal. It will save me a little money and the food should be at least a little bit healthier.

My transportation expense was for 1 tank of gas, an oil change, and new struts. I still need to install the struts on my car. The repair place was wanting $600 to put new struts on my car. I was able to buy struts for just over $100. If I’m able to install them without any further expense I’ll save almost $500 by doing the installation myself. I’ve watched a Youtube video on the installation process and it doesn’t seem too complicated. Nevertheless, I’m waiting to see if a friend will be available soon to help me install them since I don’t have much confidence in my own car repair and maintenance abilities.

This month the travel expense should go to $0.  I’m traveling to visit my mother in southern Missouri so that will increase my gas expense. My overall transportation expense might still be down for the month if I don’t have to pay someone to install my struts. Other than that this month’s expenses should be pretty close to last months. I’m going to try to get them back under the $1000 mark again.

Maximum Tax Refund Strategies

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You work hard for your money, so why would you give it all to Uncle Sam? If you dread tax season every year because you end up owing taxes, there might be something wrong with how you figure your deductions and credits. If you love tax season because you get money back annually, you might be able to increase that refund amount. Here are some strategies to ensure you get the most out of this annual and often disputed responsibility.

Itemize Where You Can

The biggest mistake people make each year is they get lazy. Rather than itemize their tax deductions, they simply take the standard deduction because they think it’s enough. Here’s the thing, though. A deduction is just that, a deduction from the money you owe the government, and the more you can subtract, the lower your tax bill. As U.S. News and World Report says, the standard deduction is set by the IRS, and it isn’t going to give you as much leeway as you might think. Take the time to figure out all of your deductions to see if that is greater than the blanket one. You can claim casualty losses, charitable donations, job search expenses, local and state sales taxes, and more.

Claim All Dependents

You know you can claim your under-aged children as dependents on your income tax return, but did you know that you might be able to claim other relatives and even friends, as well? If you have anyone living under your roof that relies on you for his or her living, you might be able to add him or her as a dependent on your tax return. There are conditions to qualify for the dependent exemption. For example, if your college buddy has been living with you for over a year and cannot support himself, provided he doesn’t earn taxable income exceeding the IRS’ specified limit he’s a dependent. Relatives do not have to live with you to qualify as long as you are their sole provider.

Look Above the Line

You can also take above-the-line deductions, which reduce your taxable income. This is somewhat akin to itemizing. Save your receipts and claim any applicable deduction. If you’ve watched the news lately, you’ve seen teachers striking throughout the nation because they don’t have enough money to provide their students with necessary school supplies among other reasons. If you’ve bought school supplies for your child, you can claim them as a tax deduction. You can also claim your continuing education expenses for job advancement. Alimony, self-employment tax, student loan, and even your Dallas car insurance policy for any medical or business driving that you do might be deductible.

One of the two things Benjamin Franklin said was certain was taxes. Forget about the other thing. When it comes to your taxes, Uncle Sam isn’t going to offer you a helping hand. It is your responsibility to get the most out of your returns to maximize your refunds. Pay your taxes strategically throughout the year, and make certain that you claim each and every deduction and credit to which you are entitled. If you find taxes confusing, hire a CPA to prepare them. His or her fees are deductible, too.