First things first: savings
$25 went toward savings today. I'm putting it into the birthdays fund. So far, that's $50 saved this month, with $1500 needed to reach my goal. It sounds like a long way to go, but I actually have most of the money needed in checking right now. But I don't feel comfortable putting it into savings until we know if or when AS will be getting regular unemployment, so for now it's parked in the checking account. I don't want to call it my emergency fund only to have to use it right away, so right now it's nothing.

Unemployment, health insurance and severance pay
So what progress have we made on the "three-legged stool" that will make AS's temporary unemployment manageable? Some, but the outcome is the same as it was last time I wrote: We still have no unemployment pay coming in, no health insurance (AS is uninsured as of 12/31/08), and no severance pay. She did get compensated for unused vacation time this week, which I hadn't figured into my budget, so at least we're no longer looking to be in the red due to the severance problem. But the three main matters remain unresolved.

Tomorrow marks the end of the fifth week in the "3 to 5 weeks" unemployment is supposed to take to get straightened out. AS has been applying every week, and theoretically she has about three weeks of pay waiting for the red tape to go away. If there isn't a direct deposit tomorrow, she's going to call them again. There are some confusing elements involved that I won't go into, but I'm hoping the only issue is a backlog of new applicants and that we'll see the money tomorrow.

We sent a new application for health insurance and got confirmation they received it the first week of January. They could take "up to 30 days" to approve it, so we're looking at early February being the soonest we can start to bug them. Sigh. This really stresses me out. She's got enough prescription refills to last, but I'm not sure how much that medicine is going to cost without insurance. I'm kind of glad AS has been staying in most days, because it's icy and cold and crazy out there and I could just imagine some accident setting us back, well, our whole lives with a whopping hospital bill. But if we sign up for COBRA it's just going to complicate the application that's out there, so we're leaving as is for now.

And the severance pay? Well, she e-mailed her boss pleading not to deny her severance because she'd missed one tiny little line requiring her to go get an extra form that she was not readily provided. Her boss e-mailed back that she wasn't aware AS was even eligible for severance pay. The next step is going to be e-mailing central HR and explaining that, with her boss not knowing she was getting any, she was not given any guidance about the extra form and thus shouldn't be penalized. But NT and I are basically going to have to write that e-mail for her because she has pretty much given up and decided nothing is going to work. NT and I will write it tonight, hopefully, and get AS to send it out.

Bills that have gone up
We got off pretty easy this year, with cable going up about $1.50 and condo assocation dues about $40. I was hoping our mortgage bill would go down because of a reduction in property tax, but no dice. Well, at least it didn't go up.

Sales on half.com
We've been selling NT's books from last semester and making some pretty good money: nearly $200. I took DisneySteve's advice and repriced some stuff that had been hanging around for a while, and a couple things actually sold! If AS's unemployment works out like we hope, I will put all the half.com profits into savings to cover fall '09 semester textbooks.

Survey checks
Just got a $5 check from Synovate, and there should be $10 and $31 in the mail, eventually. These things take so long that I always forget about them before they actually get here. The big check is for Inbox Dollars, but as soon as I get the check I'm canceling that account. It took me over 2 years of clicking on 3-cent e-mails (plus 1 or 2 surveys and some bonus money for joining) to reach that amount. Not worth it.

Suze's book
I haven't read very far in Suze's free ebook yet, but I uploaded it to my Google Documents so I can access it from anywhere. I doubt I'll be able to act on much of what she says since I'm still in the paying-down-CC-debt stage, but I've never read a money advice book, so I'm looking forward to it.

Free advice day Jan. 30
I missed the first one Tuesday, but there is one more chance that I hope I don't forget about!

"On Friday, January 30th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time, NAPFA members across the country will be standing by to answer your financial questions. Normally these Fee-Only planners, well versed in investments, taxes, insurance, estate planning, and saving for college and retirement, charge clients $150 to $300 an hour. But, during Jump-Start Days, their expertise is free.
"Just dial toll-free 888-919-2345 or log on to www.kiplinger.com/links/jumpstart/ anytime from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time on January 30th to participate in an online discussion with an advisor."

I'm dying to ask someone (for free) where the best place to park my retirement contributions is, considering I'm likely to retire in England.

Thinking about taxes
I have no idea what taxes are going to look like. Last year NT and I owed and AS had a refund coming, and we pretty much broke even. But I didn't like owing so I altered my withholding, but didn't have AS alter hers because with all this free tuition, some of it taxable income, and knowing she would be quitting (which turned into a layoff), I didn't know what her taxes were going to look like. I just hope we at least break even. I feel like too many things are variable from year to year to really fine-tune my taxes so I don't owe but don't withhold too much.

This year on the UK condo, we actually posted a tiny net profit (last year was a loss), but it was below the taxable threshold after the standard deduction (or whatever the equivalent is in UK terms), so I think I don't have to worry about declaring it on my U.S. taxes. I think. I hope. Mostly because it's mind-bogglingly complicated and I will have to hire a pro when that income finally grows to the point where I have to declare it on my U.S. taxes. If anyone knows that I should be declaring it this year, let me know. It's very hard to find layman's advice on these subjects.

Phew! Felt good to unload all the random money subjects that have been on my mind lately.