$1400 made from Craigslist

I have made close to $1400 from selling items on Craigslist and will make another $10 tonight or tomorrow selling a huge bag of lincoln logs the baby does not want to play with anymore. Well, $750 of that total was my faithful gun Woodrow, but still. That's a good amount of $ made in the past 2 years selling shit around the house.

Thank God I'm a LEO

A local tax preparer is doing all returns for cops for only $39. S said we needed a pro to look at our return since my TurboTax draft said we owe the KGB I mean IRS over $2600!!! We went this past Saturday and he managed to knock it down to $2200 and change. His fee is $175 but again we paid him only $39. Lots of $ saved there, all b/c I'm a cop. Wow.

Now, time to change my W-4. Stat!

The Roth IRA

I've gotta open up one of these things...and so should you! Once S graduates in May and gets his job, we are both going to open up Roth's. I am going to leave my retirement contribution low at Job #1--say at around the 3% level--and contribute the rest to a Roth. Learn about it. Know it. Do it. Love it!

I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick

I did the first draft of our taxes. It appears that we are going to owe over $2,600. I can't fucking believe it. Last year we only owed $700 and change. We worked our asses off last year and made a lot more $ so I guess that's what the difference is, no matter that I contributed a ton more to my retirement and we paid property taxes and we had lots of mortgage interest that was all deductible. Incredible. Almost makes me want to vote Republican (lower taxes, less government). I want to puke.

10% Off at Target

With our Target Red card we get a 10% off shopping spree every time we charge $1,000. This has happened twice in the year+ we've had the card. The trick, you see, is to PAY OFF the card after you make a charge so you do not incur finance charges. I am always careful to do exactly that. Only then is this a halfway good deal.

Big Bucks

S and I have finally received all our W4's. Together we both made a lot of $ last year, or at least what in my opinion is a lot of $. I certainly made more than I've ever made due to all my jobs! Once S graduates from the police academy in May and gets a good-paying job, we should really be sitting pretty, even with all the custody battle debt. When I get down about $ I just have to try and remember that.

Found Money

I recently came into some money through a most fortuitous way. You could say a relative gave me an advance on my inheritance! Anyway, this is so wonderful and so timely. S and I can breathe a little easier now. Half of it I'm putting away for next year's property taxes. Another portion is going into savings, natch. Another portion will go to a credit card, and finally I have a little bit left over to do something fun with. Because you have to have balance in life!