Consistenly Inconsistent

I’m no longer hiking and back in Kansas City. There does seem to be a pattern of my making big plans and then abandoning them shortly thereafter. The hike wasn’t very enjoyable because the weather was mostly crappy and I was feeling mostly crappy. When the Census Bureau called and offered me a job that sealed my decision to return to Kansas City and abandon my hike. The Census job will only last a couple of months so I might resume my hike later but I will make those plans later.

Luckily, I was able to get my apartment back. I had already turned in my keys but since I had paid for the month of March they hadn’t cleaned it or rented it out yet. One positive from the hike is that I lost 8 pounds. I’ll probably gain that back quickly if I go back to my former eating and exercise habits but I’ll try to keep that from happening. The Census job doesn’t start until late April so I will make some plans and goals to fill the time before then.

Taxes Filed and Hopes for Hike

I just finished filing my federal taxes.  I filed online using Tax Act which is completely free for your federal taxes.  It was pretty easy to use and best of all free. Did I mention I like free? The only thing I will change next year is not selling stocks.  It is a bit of a pain filling out all the stocks I sold for possible short term capital gains tax.  My federal refund is going to be $5.  Not too bad considering I had a lot of self-employment income and didn’t have any federal tax withheld.  The EIC and Making Work Pay credits saved me from having to pay. My refund is scheduled to be deposited next week.  I am going to do my state taxes manually because I don’t want to pay to file them and I am going to have to pay the state so I’m not in a rush to get the state taxes filed.  I did manage to file my taxes and make this blog post despite being drunk.   Probably not too smart but it seems like a good idea right now.

I am starting my thru-hike March 2.  That is why I decided it would be a good idea to finish off the fifth of vodka in  the freezer.  I have a lot of hopes for this hike.  I think I lost a  lot of readers last year when I failed to complete my hike or stay abroad as I had planned.  Hopefully if I complete this hike as planned I will regain some credibility.  I also need to get in shape.  This past year I have gotten into the worst shape of my life and have been sick much more  often than usual.  I have also felt tired and unmotivated most of the time.  I have suffered from clinical depression before but I don’t think that is what is bothering me now.  I think it is just laziness.  Perhaps hiking 15 miles a day with 30 pounds on my back will cure that.   I need to get in much better shape physically.  I also need to get better mentally.  I have a pretty good life right now but I should be doing more.  There is a lot more I could do online and towards volunteer work, etc.  that would improve my quality of life and the lives of others as well.  Here is to hoping the hike will help me develop that self-discipline.

P.S.  I am watching Lost right now and it isn’t making any sense which isn’t too surprising since I have trouble following it when I am sober.  Maybe I should start smoking weed and then it would make sense.

Taxes

I spent this weekend at my mom’s house doing her and my brother’s income taxes. My brother’s was easy because he just had income from two jobs allowing me to use the 1040-EZ. It took less than ten minutes to finish his return. My mom’s taxes were a little more complicated. She no longer pays enough mortgage interest to itemize her deductions or her taxes would have been even more complicated. Since she works and draws Social Security I had to figure how much- if any – of her SS was taxable. I also had to fill forms for the Saver’s credit and the Making Work Pay credit. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t figure out from the instructions but it was time-consuming. The Missouri state income tax is perhaps more complicated than the federal return. It would seem to be easy since you are mostly transferring information from your federal return to your state return. Missouri makes you do some extra forms though to keep things from being too easy.

I was going to do my own taxes as well this weekend but I was taxed out by the time it came to do my taxes. With my self employment income my tax return will be the most complicated of all. I may not have even made enough to have to pay federal taxes but I will have to pay the self-employment taxes no matter what. I’m hoping that I will have some federal income tax credit that I can apply towards my self-employment taxes.

Getting Rid of Stuff

I don’t own a lot of stuff. Everything I own could fit in my Toyota Camry. I might not be able to safely drive with all of that stuff crammed in there but I could make it fit. That being said I still own too much stuff.

Baker of Man vs. Debt lists all of his stuff and many people participate in the 100 Things Challenge. Compared to them I have a lot of stuff.

In order to reduce my possessions I will be taking advantage of Ebay’s five free listings a month. In addition I will sell stuff locally, give stuff away, or throw stuff away as needed. Even doing that I don’t think I will get down to 100 things unless I’m loose with what I count as an item. If I counted all my books as one item and all my clothes as another item I could probably get down to 100 things but I would consider that cheating.

Instead of setting a goal of 100 items I am going to set a goal of having everything I own fit in the trunk of my Camry. That will be enough of a challenge and at that point I don’t think I will feel like I have too much stuff.

My Plans for 2010 – So Far

My plans for this year are not too definite yet. For now I am working full-time at my non-profit job. This job is one I can tolerate but it doesn’t pay much. It does at least count towards my ten years of public service that would allow my student loans to be forgiven.

I’m not looking for a more permanent job right now because I plan to hike the Appalachian Trail this year. Hiking the trail is something I feel like I need to do or it is just going to be bugging me that I haven’t done it. This year it will finally get done one way or another.

I’m not sure when I will leave for my hike since my apartment lease isn’t over until the end of May. I might leave before then and just pay rent on my vacant apartment. After my lease is over I am going to put all my stuff in storage and go without an apartment for the rest of the year. That should save me some money.

These plans will be updated and more detail provided as they get put into action. If you have any feedback on my plans I would like to hear it.