Ceejay74's Personal Finance Blog

Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
#1: 13,884 pounds ($22,214)
#2: 17,268 pounds ($27,629)
#3: 3,709 pounds ($5,934)
NT's 401(k): $22,486
NT's Roth IRA: $5,294
AS's 401(k): $9,178
AS's trad. IRA: $1,682
AS's Roth IRA: $11,277
CJ's 401(k): $53,031
CJ's Roth IRA: $5,294
NT's flat: 125,000 pounds ($200,000)
CJ & AS's condo: $145,000
Emergency fund (shared asset): $15,000
House down payment/moving fund (shared): $4,044
---
Total Assets: $528,063

Total Debt: $268,179

Current Estimated Net Worth: $259,884

February 2013 estimate: $247,924

Change in net worth: +$11,960

Summary: Maybe that big Dow Jones run has already evened out, or maybe it didn't affect us much. Either way, our gains in all our retirement accounts were modest this month. However, a huge month for debt repayment made for a big increase in net worth!

I will update my "Individual Net Worth" page shortly so you can see how it breaks out per person.

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are approximate. I don't have a way to check NT's UK pensions or flat value, so their values stay static for the purpose of this update (unless I happen to get some info by chance). UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $1.60 for every British pound.

Ahh, so satisfying after a particularly hard day. The $4000 payment to NT's loan hit, and $3999 went to principal!

That takes us to $6937 of debt payment in March, exceeding our $6770 goal. And we still have AS's regular student loan payment near the end of the month!

A record month by FAR. It also takes our big-picture progress to $11,133.35, way over the $6687 benchmark.

It also takes our total household student loan debt below $30K!

It also takes the average interest rate for that loan from 5.43% to 4.9%, since I paid it all to the highest-interest portion. Still our highest interest rate, but not by as much!

It also raised my spirits after a fairly grueling day!

The payment I sent Monday hit tonight, with $1039 going to principal.

That takes us to $2938 down, $3832 to go for our March debt repayment goal. (Will hit that tomorrow .)

It also takes us past the March benchmark for our big-picture goals! As you probably recall, to achieve all three goals in 4 years we need to average $2229 per month toward them. So by end of March we should have $6687 of progress. Well, as of now, we have $7134.35 of progress! (Tomorrow will basically take us past our April and May benchmarks too!)

Forget the fact this will be a record month for us ... this WEEK we may pay off more than we ever have in a month!

Oh -- and tonight's payment takes the average interest rate for this loan from 5.52% to 5.43%!

The payment I sent Monday hit tonight, with $1039 going to principal.

That takes us to $2938 down, $3832 to go for our March debt repayment goal. (Will hit that tomorrow .)

It also takes us past the March benchmark for our big-picture goals! As you probably recall, to achieve all three goals in 4 years we need to average $2229 per month toward them. So by end of March we should have $6687 of progress. Well, as of now, we have $7134.35 of progress! (Tomorrow will basically take us past our April and May benchmarks too!)

Forget the fact this will be a record month for us ... this WEEK we may pay off more than we ever have in a month!

Oh -- and tonight's payment takes the average interest rate for this loan from 5.52% to 5.43%!

Wow, they said it would process on the 13th, but I assumed it would take a day or two to hit the account! I immediately set up a $4000 payment to the student loan. That should hit tomorrow night. With that, and the regular extra payment I sent off yesterday, the 6.8% portion of this loan is going to be down to a couple grand. I can't believe all the extra money that has appeared in such a short span of time!

Tomorrow will mark 6 weeks since I sent that $1100 Direct Loan payment right as they were transferring NT's loan to Sallie Mae. I have no idea who will be able to help me, but if the money doesn't appear by tomorrow morning, I'll start making phone calls.

Guess I should send off the tax returns we owe on now ... the non-fun part of the process.

A student loan payment hit with $238 to principal.

That takes us to $1899 down, $4871 to go on the March debt goal. And $6095.35 down, $591.65 to go on the big-picture benchmark for March.

Tomorrow night I should get another nice bump, and of course later in the week our big tax refund will take quite a bit off the amount.

I figured out a way to calculate the average interest rate of the loan (since different chunks of it have different interest rates). By paying down the higher-interest debt first, just that $238 payment took us down .02% on the interest rate. Pretty cool.

Today I saw that AS's state tax refund already hit our checking account! I was surprised because we mailed hers in the old-fashioned way. I suppose they get done pretty quickly since not that many people file that way anymore.

That's $1554 that we're going to use to pay my and NT's tax bills and to make some repairs and upgrades to our computer. We already bought a new power cord, and AS is taking it in to get the battery replaced. We're also going to upgrade the operating system. All told, a couple hundred bucks and it should be in much better condition.

Since we don't need to pay our taxes right away, I'm taking advantage of the extra money sitting in the account: I set an extra student loan payment a couple days early (I was waiting for payday on the 15th, but we can easily float the payment on AS's refund money until then).

***

I've been in kind of a weird mental place, it seems. I think it's the fatigue of wanting winter to be over, coupled with the exhaustion of having a 3-year-old and an almost-1-year-old, coupled with just not really having anyone to talk to at night. We get home, someone wrangles the kids while someone cooks dinner, we do the bedtime routine for the kids (1 after the other, since the baby gets tired a half-hour to an hour earlier than the preschooler). Then NT hits the books until bedtime and AS works on freelance jobs (or overflow from her regular full-time job). By then I just want to turn my brain off, so I usually stare at the TV or the computer or play games on the iPad.

I'm not depressed, but I just feel like I'm in a waiting period; waiting for spring, waiting for the semester to be over, waiting for this student loan to get paid off, waiting for our trip to England, waiting for AS's job to slow down at some point, waiting for the kids to hit various developmental milestones.

When I do develop an interest, it kind of obsesses me for a short period of time. After I saw Les Miz, I kept thinking about it, replaying the songs in my head and thinking about my favorite parts of the movie, over and over, for weeks. A few days ago, one of our Facebook friends let it be known that she and her husband had become polyamorous (opened their marriage). I find myself obsessing over that, wondering how it got started, what the exact setup is, how they both feel about it. I guess because they're some of the few friends we have who aren't monogamous, yet their arrangement seems completely different from ours. I wonder what the next mini-obsession will be that takes over after this one.

If I felt really bad, I'd worry about shaking myself out of this stupor, but since I just feel kind of neutral, I'm not too worried. Plus, I've gone through phases like this periodically over the years; I always liken it to a field lying fallow for a season to regain its fertility for new crops later.

What energy I have at home, I try to give to the girls. It's hard to completely enjoy my time with them because it's so scattered and demanding, but I do believe people when they say that you really miss these innocent young days when they're gone, even if you can't fully appreciate them while they're here. So I try to pay attention and enjoy all their little quirks, their developmental breakthroughs, their innocence and unconditional love and trust of me.

Life is good, but life will be much better soon, I think.

I hadn't checked my down-payment savings account in a few months since I haven't been contributing regularly to it. $6.46 of interest had accumulated, taking our down payment fund to $4044.46.

That brings our big-picture progress to $5857.35. I'll take it! Any little bit helps.

I've been quietly and obsessively checking the "Where's My Refund" tool on the IRS website at least twice a day, and today it finally said AS's refund had been approved! They estimate it will direct-deposited the 13th and will show up a couple days later. Yippee!

It's $4769, so $4000 will go to NT's student loan and I'll set the remaining $769 aside to help pay mine and NT's taxes. When AS's state refund comes in, that will cover the rest of our tax bill.

I haven't sent our taxes out yet; will wait until we get the state refund to make sure we have plenty to cover what we owe.

AS also got another freelance check in the mail; the $250 we were expecting. That one is going to the student loan too, so I already set up a $250 payment that will probably come out of the account Monday and hopefully hit Tuesday.

I'll also be sending out a little over $1000 when we get paid on the 15th. If our paycheck adjustments work out the way I want them to, may even be able to tack another $120 or so onto that!

It's going to be a very fun couple of weeks totaling all this up. I reckon NT's Sallie Mae loan could get below $10K when it's all done.

I almost forgot: AS told me yesterday that she accepted another freelance job: $1000! She said she couldn't resist because she'd read my blog post about how we were only $1800 short of paying off the Sallie Mae loan this year. So now, make that $800.

Oh, and we had AA's birthday playdate today, and her little friend who's a year older came. As always, her parents brought several big boxes of outgrown clothes for AA! NT just got a huge bag from a co-worker recently too. We'll sort through and give some away, because it'll be too much to hold onto, but this means AA will be set for clothes for another year. Not counting underwear, we've probably bought about a dozen, maybe 20 pieces of clothing for both girls combined, ever, yet they have hundreds and hundreds, sorted in boxes by size and age, and we've given hundreds away on Freecycle too. It's a GREAT system. These clothes are getting at least three uses, sometimes more. And we don't even have to factor kids' clothing into our budget at all! Probably won't until well after they're done with daycare and THAT big expense is gone.

We invited 7 kids but only 2 could come. It was a perfect amount, because with our 2 that meant 4 kids running around. You don't need more than that in a little condo! It also means we have plenty of little party favors left over that we can probably hand out at SL's party.

We had a couple expenses eat into our grocery budget, so we have a small shopping list this week and are using a lot of stuff we already have. AS and NT are out at two stores now so I don't know how much it will be, but I have high hopes we'll be coming in under budget.

I've mentioned it from time to time, but I started a discussion group, website and Facebook page called the League of Ordinary Savers.

It's mainly aimed at my friends and acquaintances at present, and the topics I'm covering are pretty basic so far -- too basic to interest most of you, I'd think. Still, some people here were curious and/or had already checked it out, so I thought I'd provide links for anyone else who's interested:

With so much exciting debt repayment this month, much of it from the surprise tax refund, I'm thinking we really do have a chance to get rid of the Firstmark-turned-Sallie Mae loan this year, AND cashflow NT's 2013 tuition.

The loan has $15,660 left, summer class will probably be about $2000 and the fall semester will cost us about $4000. So we'll need to come up with $21,660.

We have the following expected payments coming in:
$4000 (tax refund)
$1100 ("lost" payment)
$250 (AS freelance check)
$1000 (regular March extra debt repayment)

That leaves us $15,310. Once our withholding is adjusted, we should be able to put about $1500 per month toward it, so over 9 months that would be $13,500. Then, we'd be only $1800 short! If NT got a bonus at the end of the year, that could be the final nail in the Sallie Mae coffin.

That's assuming no crises come up, but it's also assuming no other windfalls, and those do seem to pop up fairly regularly in our life. So I'm feeling pretty great about making this happen!

The $600 from AS's last freelance check hit NT's student loan account. I checked the balance and it was $611 less than the last time I checked. Uh, what? I can't really think of a reason, since the last payment, all but $4 went to principal. Some weirdness with interest, I suppose; they show accumulated interest in the principal balance I believe (but am not 100% sure).

I'm happy with how fast payments hit Sallie Mae, and ecstatic about being able to choose the higher-interest portions of the loan to target first. But I'll be so glad to see the end of this confusing loan.

But anyway, I checked my math twice, and the balance is showing as $611 less, so I'm counting that.

That takes us to $1661 down, $5109 to go on the March debt goal, and to $5850.89 in big-picture goal progress. $836.11 away from hitting the March benchmark for that.

The big-picture benchmark we'll easily meet after the 3/15 paycheck, because I have a $1000+ payment scheduled to go out then. The March debt goal I'll only hit if AS's tax refund goes through without a hitch. None of us has ever had such a large one, so I'm finding it hard to be confident it will go through, even though I calculated it both manually and used TaxACT, so I'm certain the numbers are right. I check the "where's my refund?" site every day, and it always says it's being processed, not approved. It has only been a week though.

Another payment hit NT's account where it hurts. $296 went to principal.

$1050 down, $5720 to go on the March debt goal.

$5239.89 of big-picture progress, so we just need $1447.11 more to meet the March benchmark.

***

I got freaked out that we were going to be withholding too much with our recent adjustments, because the IRS calculator didn't say how much we'd actually be netting each paycheck. I found a calculator at paycheckcity.com that gave us estimates, and sure enough we'd only be bringing in about $50 more per month. I wanted more like $300 per month, so I'm going to adjust mine and NT's back down. I claimed 4 exemptions last year and had adjusted it to 0, but I'm moving it back up to 3. The only way we can come close to breaking even on taxes is for me and NT to owe a bit, since some of AS's refund is refundable credits, not actual taxes paid. Hopefully this will come out right in our next paychecks.

***

We're starting the weekend grocery spending with MORE than the budgeted amount! This is because we only dipped into March a bit last month, and then our Amex rewards hit, which I always put back into the grocery budget. So we're starting the weekend with $389 instead of $375 (or less, which is usually the case. Smarter spending + potty training are already helping the budget!

Tomorrow's my birthday, so I've got some treats and drinks on the shopping list. I've determined we should only spend $170 of the $389 if we want to stay on track through the 15th. So, if groceries go over that, I'll pay for my own treats, but otherwise I can pay for them with grocery money.

Birthday plans are pretty mellow this year. I'm having a few friends over to eat and play videogames and chat. That's all I want (or have energy for!) this year.

All our mortgage payments hit:
US: $440 to principal
UK1: $219
UK2: $46
UK3: $49

That's $754 down, $6016 to go on our huge March debt-repayment goal.

Also, I transferred the rental income left over after paying the mortgages into savings; that goes toward our house/moving fund. US$544, so that takes the fund to $4038, and big-picture progress to $4943.89.

I should have a LOT to throw at debt this coming month! A pretty conservative estimate of what we should be able to put toward it:
Standard minimum debt payments $870
Extra debt repayment from normal budget surplus $1300
AS freelance check $600
AS federal tax return $4000

So ... deep breath ... I should be able to put $6770 straight to student loan principal this month! Happy birthday to me!!

And that's assuming:
- my $1100 stays lost in the bowels of the federal government all month. If it manages to find its way out, I could get even higher!
- AS's next freelance check doesn't come. If it does, that's $250 more.
- I don't get the withholdings sorted out in time to see any gain. There is a chance we could net $140 or so more on March 15.

Holy moly! But even discounting all of that, $6770 will be an amazing month of debt repayment.

Since my big-picture progress only has to get to $6687 (and is already at $4400), we're going to get months ahead in that goal.

Wow!

The $900 I sent to NT's student loan hit, with $898 going to principal! Oh, and it DOES take the money out of the loan I choose, which means I can eliminate the higher-interest portions sooner. Yay!

That means we paid $2367 this month, surpassing the $1960 February debt repayment goal.

It also takes our big-picture progress to $4399.89, just $58.11 short of where I wanted us to be by the end of February. Not too mad at that result!

I'll record March debt goals tomorrow. Trying to get up the courage to include the $4K tax refund I'm planning to put toward debt ... that just won't seem real until I see AS's federal return is approved!

Years ago, we went to a restaurant that didn't have any vegan options. The server said she'd speak to the chef, and came back to say HE was vegan himself, and would whip up a special dish for me! He made pasta tossed in a BBQ sauce; it had veggies and may have had tofu (it's been so long I can't remember). All the meat-eaters at my table sampled it and loved it.

AS has mentioned making something similar for years, so I finally, finally tried it. And it was great! So I'm writing down what I did; otherwise I might forget. (Sauce is thanks to vegandad.blogspot.com, an inactive blog that's still up and full of great recipes.)

INGREDIENTS
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup margarine
- 1 sweet Vidalia onion, halved & thinly sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp mustard
- few dashes of hot sauce (might use 1/2 a canned chipotle next time instead for a smokier flavor)

The rest:
1 lb. pasta (we used mostaccioli)
2 T vegetable oil
1 pkg extra firm tofu, drained, pressed & cut into smallish rectangles
1 large or 2 small zucchini, halved & sliced
1 large red, yellow or orange bell pepper, or equivalent in smaller peppers, chopped into largish pieces
8 oz. pineapple chunks, drained
1 pkg cherry tomatoes

Make the sauce:
1. Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic for 15 mins, until onions have cooked down and starting to brown
2. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to bubbling. Simmer for 15-20 mins, until sauce thickens and gets a nice deep red color. Can leave on low if it finishes first, stirring occasionally.

While that's cooking, heat pasta water. Add pasta when it's boiling; cook al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup water before draining.

Meanwhile, heat 1.5 T oil in large deep pan over med-high. When hot, add tofu in a single layer; check frequently and flip when lightly golden-brown and getting crisp.

When the other side of the tofu is just about done, add zucchini and peppers to the pan. Turn heat to high and flip or stir frequently. After about 5 minutes, add tomatoes and pineapple and continue to cook until tomatoes start to soften; the skin might slip off a couple.

Pour the reserved 1/4 c. pasta water into the BBQ sauce and stir.

Put the pasta in with the vegetables and pour the sauce over the top. Toss/stir over high heat for a minute or two until everything is coated with sauce.

I've been checking at least twice a day since Saturday, so it seems like forever, but it was actually quite quick. The $675 I sent to NT's student loan this past weekend hit! $594 went to principal; not surprising so much interest had built up since my Feb. 1 payment is still in limbo somewhere.

Still, I'll take $594!

Also, AS's regular student loan payment to the same company hit, and $129 went to principal. I just noticed her total non-mortgage debt (which is just this one student loan now) is at $10,303. In three more months, it'll be under $10K!

That makes it $1469 down, $491 to go on the February debt goal.

That also takes our big-picture progress to $3501.89 for the year. The February goal is to get it to $4458, so we have $956.11 to go. I don't think we'll make it, but we'll come darn close, because ...

AS went and picked up one of her freelance checks yesterday; one had gone missing in the mail and the company cut a new one, and we deposited it right away. $900, and I sent a $900 payment to NT's student loan that very night!

That payment is pending in his account. Should hit tomorrow or Thursday, and since we just paid a bunch of interest, almost all of it will go to principal!

So, while we aren't going to hit our goal, I'm not too mad since we couldn't have known that $1100 would be stuck in the federal government all month. And who knows; maybe that will hit by Thursday and we'll make our February big-picture benchmark. (Yeah, right.)

Anyway, the thing about the big-picture goals is that it's all about meeting them in 4 years. If we fall behind one month we can always make it up later. And two things are making me very confident about making it up:

If AS's tax return goes through without a hitch, the government will give us $4000 to put us WAY ahead for the year.

And, as a result of changing our withholdings to try and avoid such a large refund next year, we'll probably have about $300 more per month. That's more than enough to cover my projected $264 monthly shortfall for meeting those goals! So if all goes well for the next four years, we could meet those goals without even breaking a sweat (or dipping into our fun money)!

The main "meh" is just that my weight drifted back up over 130 at my weigh-in tonight. So, back to calorie counting for me until I get back down. It's a bummer because we're coming up on the birthday month in my family, and we love to eat and drink to celebrate, so it's going to be difficult. I'll just try to be very good on non-festive days.

Also, although I'm looking forward to everything coming up, the next few weeks are going to be spendy, spendy, spendy, with my personal spending money taking the brunt. Since I still owe back into the checking account for my website hosting, I feel behind all the time, but with all the events coming up, it may be a while before I pay off that debt to ourselves. Just these next two weeks I have:
March 2: buy bday present for friend's son (5th bday)
March 2: buy delivery food and booze for my birthday celebration
March 4: buying brunch on my day off to celebrate my and AS's bdays
March 9: buy pizza & treats for AA's 3rd bday party (luckily we only have a handful of guests)
March 10: buy bday present for AA's friend's 3rd bday party

It's like the dieting; I'm going to have to be REALLY stingy on all other spending fronts so I can stretch my money as far as possible.

On the good front:

Apple fixed our laptop -- for free! It took over an hour, and I don't think we're on a warranty of any kind. The only things they suggested to improve performance were a new battery and new operating system. About $200 total. Since we have $975 of expected future money designated for the repairs, that leaves quite a bit we can roll toward debt instead when we get it!

To that end, I decided to send some money to Sallie Mae even though they haven't posted the Feb. 1 payment. My reasoning is that the problem with the check getting cut from Direct Loan and routed through the federal government shouldn't be an issue if I make a payment directly to Sallie Mae. I was going to wait until that other payment posted but I just couldn't stand it.

I sent $675 tonight; $375 was bonus money from last year we'd been saving for a tax preparer until we decided we didn't need it, and $300 was credit card rewards we were going to use for an immigration lawyer until we decided to put that off as well.

Supposedly this should hit in 2 to 4 days, but I'll be checking daily until it does!

One potentially great thing about the loan being transferred to Sallie Mae: They let me choose which loan I wanted to put it to! Different amounts in the total have different interest rates depending on the going rate when we borrowed that portion. I picked the highest interest debt, of course. If my payment does indeed go toward that principal, this will be so satisfying, paying down those higher interest portions and saving a few more bucks in interest! (I don't know what DL did with the extra payments; I assumed they distributed them equally, but never kept track.)

Whew, I think I'll consider hiring someone again next year! That was brutal. AS's federal could be filed for free, but all the others would cost money, so I did them myself.

The worst part is having to cross-reference different forms and pages; I felt like my eyes were bugging out of my sockets by the end.

Luckily for AS's I had TaxAct's state refund amount, so when I got her manual state return to match that amount, I felt comfortable I'd done it right.

For me and NT, I used a free-file option on IRS where you fill in the forms, they do some of the math (but you need to know which forms to file), and you e-file on the IRS site itself. I tried and was rejected three times. Each time it said there was a data error on the education credit schedule. I quadruple checked my math as well as the instructions and the info I entered about the 1099-T, and couldn't figure out what was wrong. It says you can just print out and mail, so I think I'll do that. Hopefully it's just something weird like a character you can't use, or the name of the institution not looking exactly like on the 1099.

When I did the taxes more carefully, I found that AS's refund was about $1000 more than I thought, and NT and I owed about $400 more than I thought. Still, we came out $600 more ahead, so about $4600.

This is good, because I had already put $4000 in my head toward education debt, so when our computer crashed on Friday, I said we'd have to find another way to pay for it if it needed repairs or replacement. I was determined to put at least $4000 of tax money toward debt! So now there's an extra $600 we can use to repair or replace the laptop. (I'll find out soon; AS went to the Apple store half an hour ago. I brought my work laptop home so I'd still be able to get online this weekend.) Before we found out the refund was going to be more, AS accepted a $275 freelance assignment thinking she could use that to help pay for the laptop. So we'll have $875 to put toward it.

As for student loans, I don't know if any of this will happen in February, but in the next couple of months I should be able to put the following to student loan debt:
$1100 payment (the one already sent that hasn't showed up yet)
$1600 AS freelance money
$375 money saved by doing my own taxes
$400 CC bonus rewards (from 4 separate cards)
$4000 from tax refunds
That's $7475. The loan I want to get rid of is up to $19K with accumulated interest, so when all of the above hits, I should be able to get it down to about $11,525. I could pay the rest of it off with the regular extra debt repayment in the budget for the year! Of course, I still need to cashflow NT's summer and fall tuition, so I'd need to find more money for that if I hope to pay tuition AND pay off this loan. But it feels so close! A few more random windfalls between now and Dec. 2013, and this could be doable.

Still no word on AS's freelance check that never came, nor on the payment I sent to Direct Loan that should transfer to Sallie Mae. I did hear that they cut a check and sent it to some other federal govt. department who would then transfer it to Sallie Mae, so that's why it could take 4 to 6 weeks. It's already been 3 weeks, so hopefully not much longer!

The house is so quiet; AA had her first sleepover last night and a playdate all day today! She should be back in an hour. I wish I could have used the time to relax, but I knew this would be my best chance to get the taxes done; toddlers are incredibly and persistently distracting.

Last night I stayed up late doing a rough sketch of our taxes on paper. I was rather stunned that there's a $4000 advantage to AS claiming SL on her tax return! Well, I guess that makes our decision for us. Feels a bit weird, but perfectly legal, so we'll do it! That money will go straight to the student loan when we get it.

AS will get refunds on both federal and state, and NT and I will owe on both, but we'll net about $4K all told. If we'd gone the other way, we would break even collectively.

We'll all change our withholdings so we come closer to breaking even next year.

Sometimes the terrible serendipity of Facebook has one person post this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=14&_r=2&smid=fb-share&adxnnlx=1361466188-BTxT2coC722sFd6PnGoHqw

And another post this:

http://www.nationofchange.org/40-percent-americans-now-make-less-1968-minimum-wage-1361362370

And you read them in quick succession and think wow. We're doomed, aren't we?

AS must have read yesterday's blog post because she came to my rescue on a couple of the points in it.

- Immigration lawyer. She asked what I was feeling in doubt about, then went trolling the British immigration site as well as some blogs. My main sticking point right now is about who should claim SL on their taxes, so it won't raise any red flags or cause any confusion if we eventually try to immigrate. We talked it over and AS made me see that as non-married parents, she and NT could easily explain why SL had been claimed by someone in a particular year for support reasons, and NT and I could easily explain why she might appear on our tax forms but then not be part of our immigration application (because the mother had custody. It needn't raise any particular concerns that can't be easily explained; people have complicated parenting situations all the time. Now that I feel better about that part, I think we're going to hold off speaking with a lawyer, and just go with the most beneficial way to claim SL on our taxes.

- Taxes. Now that I can start on taxes, I'm still thinking about my random thought that maybe I could save us $300 or so by doing them myself. We've had an accountant handle them for the past two years, so maybe I could just look at what he submitted to the IRS and mimic that. Other than SL being born, not much has changed.

- Freelance checks. AS checked with the company she's expecting the three checks from, and their records show one of them being mailed out 1/29! So we think that's been lost in the mail, and AS is going to ask them to cut another one. Good thing she inquired about this. The other two checks won't be sent out until the next billing cycle. At least we know where we are.

So, with deciding not to meet with a lawyer, and if I manage to do our taxes myself, we may suddenly have $675 we can put to big-picture goals! I think I'll save it until that student loan payment hits, then put it toward that loan. (I don't want to send out any more money until I verify they received that payment, though.)

Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
#1: 13,884 pounds ($22,214)
#2: 17,268 pounds ($27,629)
#3: 3,709 pounds ($5,934)
NT's 401(k): $22,072
NT's Roth IRA: $5,130
AS's 401(k): $8,868
AS's trad. IRA: $1,682
AS's Roth IRA: $10,690
CJ's 401(k): $51,818
CJ's Roth IRA: $5,130
NT's flat: 125,000 pounds ($200,000)
CJ & AS's condo: $145,000
Emergency fund (shared asset): $15,000
House down payment/moving fund (shared): $3,494
---
Total Assets: $524,661

Total Debt: $276,737

Current Estimated Net Worth: $247,924

January 2013 estimate: $243,944

Change in net worth: +$3,980

Summary: We haven't had as much progress as I would have hoped because of a student loan payment hung up in the ether somewhere, and some freelance checks we haven't received. Despite that, we had modest gains in all our retirement funds and got rid of a bit of debt, so we did all right.

I will update my "Individual Net Worth" page shortly so you can see how it breaks out per person.

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are approximate. I don't have a way to check NT's UK pensions or flat value, so their values stay static for the purpose of this update (unless I happen to get some info by chance). UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $1.60 for every British pound.

Sigh. The only progress lately has been $.28 in interest in the savings account, which goes toward our medical fund. (The other $75 I would normally put there, I sent as part of the big payment that hasn't posted.) I've been trying to be productive lately, but I'm still stuck, a bit. Remember that list of things I was waiting on? Here's an update:

- Dentist. Success! The dentist I asked to do a free consultation said no, so I changed my plan of attack. I contacted a brand new dentist, didn't say anything about the periodontal classification my last dentist gave me, and didn't give them my records. Guess what? They gave me a regular checkup. I also didn't tell them that one of my previous dentists had me going 3 times a year (one of which wouldn't be covered by insurance), and they said every 6 months was fine.

- Immigration lawyer. No real progress since the one lawyer said he wouldn't maybe be the most qualified and gave us a list of UK attorneys. I'm still hoping to get some help from AS and/or NT on how to proceed finding someone to consult with us. Haven't got it yet. They are both crazy busy, and I'm feeling burnt out and overwhelmed from thinking about our situation.

- Taxes. Still waiting until we consult with an immigration lawyer. I did have the thought that if I looked at what the accountant did the past two years, I could probably copy him and do my taxes for free this year instead of paying over $300...so that would mean I could wait pretty much until the last minute to file.

- Student loan payment. So Sallie Mae has not registered our payment that Direct Loan supposedly sent them about 12 days ago.

- Freelance checks. Still no sign of them. AS has two, maybe three that she's owed. I can't even remember the amounts she's expecting, but I think it'll be about $1800 total.

- Big-picture progress. See 28 cents above. 99% of my potential debt repayment and big-picture progress for February is tied up in the previous two items. If neither or only one happens, I may not even hit my Feb. goals.

- Credit card churn. This is going great! We did the three Barclays cards and already got credited enough for $100 per card, and made sure we charged at least $100 on each card. So I just have to get in there and claim them. I also applied AS for a Chase Freedom offer we got in the mail; the standard $100 for spending $500. I know double-dips aren't exactly allowed, but if they're going to offer, we're going to take it! I'll pay the home insurance and that'll be half of the $500 right there.

- Performance review. No progress; end of March and all. Not looking forward to it or anything, but there's always that small chance of a small raise attached to the review. I believe it won't happen until the end of March. I think of the three of us, I've got the best chance for a raise. (Meaning, I have slightly more than no chance at all.)

- League of Ordinary Savers meeting. Went well! I do need to do some more activity on my website and Facebook page; haven't done that for almost a week. But I've gotten a couple favorable comments from friends, AND a total stranger liked the Facebook page!

So, there you have it. Some progress but not much. But, the month is only 2/3 over.

You know how sometimes it seems your group of friends or loved ones get on a similar path but in seemingly unrelated ways? Well, my friends/acquaintances and I seem to be on a very creative, community-building one.

- I started my League of Ordinary Savers discussion group, and I also started a Facebook page for it, and started adding content to my ordinarysavers.com website.
- A friend started a Facebook page, to become a website, where he posts weekly short-story and novella reading recommendations.
- Another friend started a crafting group and may also start a book club soon.
- An acquaintance who's a great photographer had a recent showing at a coffee house. His sister, who lives halfway across the country, just had her first showing of jewelry she's started making.
- One friend is working on an article she hopes to publish at a magazine, about another friend's photography.

It's not like I don't have creative or socially active friends, but it seems lately we've been on FIRE! Apparently, this is the year we get off our asses and do something.

As I mentioned a while back, I initiated a discussion group among friends and Facebook acquaintances, which after some thought I christened "the League of Ordinary Savers." About 7 local people expressed interest as well as several FB friends who live far from me.

Today was the day of the in-person meeting, so of course it snowed pretty hard. But 4 people managed to make it: a fairly new but close friend, a woman I've known socially for years, and a couple whom I met through another friend but don't know very well.

I wasn't sure what to expect since everyone's finances are always so secret and can be different from their appearances, so I prepared a little "budget fitness" quiz (that I didn't end up using) and mocked up fake versions of my two main spreadsheets, as well as an old budget using a rudimentary text-file list, and printed copies out.

I was surprised when the couple and the old acquaintance both pulled out laptops and shared their budgeting systems! It's so easy to feel like no one outside of Saving Advice does ANYthing to control their finances, so it was cool to see that.

One used an Excel spreadsheet, which is what I do, but his was way different. The other uses Mvelopes. The last attendee was the youngest and also single, and didn't have a structured system. All the guests had interesting perspectives and I really loved sharing our different strategies and stories. I even pulled up my menu/grocery list spreadsheet when we were talking about meal planning. I was kind of embarrassed as I did it because I think it makes me look really anal, but the husband of the couple called it "brilliant" and everyone seemed impressed.

I had already decided that I was going to parlay the "League" name I came up with into a website and Facebook page, but I wanted to see how the group went, to see if it would bring up good topics and integrate well with an online presence. I think it will! It was refreshing and interesting to have that human connection, and I think it will lend a unique tone to the online stuff, so I'm going to try and reference the group periodically in the posts I make.

I had already created the website but hadn't done much with it. Tonight after the meeting I created the corresponding Facebook page. I jotted down ideas that the meeting had inspired and will post them periodically over the next couple of months. I vaguely discussed a second meeting for April, so hopefully this will keep going!

Following up on yesterday's productive day, we figured out how to use the Wi-Fi of our new provider last night. We tested it on laptop, iPad, iPod touch and Wii and it worked great for everything. I tried to call and cancel our Comcast internet but they said I'd have to call back in the morning.

So bright and early, I called and canceled. The rep was trying to offer me temporary sweeteners to keep me, but I told her that I wanted a stable price that wouldn't go up all the time.

I got an email confirming the cancellation and it seemed like they'd be giving me a partial credit on my next bill, though it was hard to understand what the email meant. But hopefully I'll start saving sooner than I thought. Either way, glad to stick it to Comcast.

I received a reply from the dental office about whether or not they'd give a free consultation. Nope: They'd charge $86 for it, more than probably a periodontal exam itself would cost!

I looked around at private dental insurance to see if it would be comparable in price to get my own insurance policy with someone my old dentists would accept, but it would be significantly more money to get one with any kind of decent coverage.

SO this morning I checked my insurance website and called a new dentist I haven't tried before. I made appointments for me as well as AA, who has most if not all her teeth and is almost 3, so it's about time!

My plan is to not even mention the periodontal issue, and to not provide records from my latest dentist. If this new dentist decides on their own to code as periodontal then fine, I will accept that and pay higher prices from now on.

I also received an email from the immigration lawyer saying he would be willing to help as much as he could, but felt we might want someone more versed in British immigration. He sent us a list of contacts. Tonight we're going to look them over, decide if any look promising, and if not we'll either do our own search or ask our adoption lawyer for another referral.

Checked the Sallie Mae account and the student loan payment has not posted. They have until tomorrow morning and then they're getting another call!

AND, our diaper provider mentioned that we're using about 30 cloth diapers per week, instead of the 80 we pay for. I've had a feeling we were at much less, but have been hesitant to bug him about it because he also handles the composting of our toddler's pull-ups, and because he's a really great, local business guy that we love to support. But when he sent that email, I went ahead and asked if that meant our fee would go down a bit. He said it would! Not sure how much, but any amount it decreases will go straight to our big-picture goals. Woo hoo!

In other news, for the first time in months I have spending money left over instead of owing something in! I have $40 left in my wallet, so tomorrow I'm taking $40 less of spending money and applying that amount to what I owe for the website hosting. I was only planning to pay in $10 or $20 at a time, so this is a big chunk gone! This is good, because with Valentine's Day and birthdays coming up, I'll be spending a lot more than usual.

Also, instead of leaking small amounts of grocery money over the week, we seem to have gained a bit back instead! NT put back in $3 for a snack he'd bought on the last shopping trip, and I applied a small credit for a return that finally showed up on our card, and the diapers cost slightly less than I estimated. So we're starting the weekend with $123 to spend instead of $116! Only $7 difference, but I'll take it! Usually the grocery budget gets depleted by unexpected needs or stays the same over the course of a week, so it's a nice surprise.

NT found an ideal birthday party venue and queried one of his favorite local DJs. Just those two things would cost $575, and we only have $663 budgeted. But NT said he will take fewer birthday presents so we can put some of the gift budget toward his party instead, and I decided I'll also donate $50 of the budget for MY bday gifts. I'll also kick in some spending money if necessary. We should be able to scrape together plenty for some nice food and drinks. If we can't afford to cater the food, we can always economize by preparing the party food ourselves. And we're fans of boxed wine and cheap beer, so I don't feel self-conscious about going that route if need be. Then we just need to arrange a babysitter. I think it'll be a very memorable 40th birthday party!

First off, checked NT's Sallie Mae account to see if the payment had posted -- it hadn't. I thought of Foxie25's encouragement to stay aggressive, and I called Direct Loan to see if they'd done anything yet. They said they had sent it off to Sallie Mae! So that's one step closer to this nightmare being over. I'll check the Sallie Mae account daily and if it hasn't posted by Friday, I'll call them to see if they've at least received it.

Then, I saw creditcardfree's advice to email the dentist and lawyer who haven't responded to my last emails for over a week. I thought what the heck? and sent them both very polite emails, just asking whether they'd had a chance to consider my request further, and if so whether they recommended that I look to someone else for help. This way, if they don't get back to me this week, I'll know it isn't because they forgot about my email, and I can go back to the drawing board to look for a new prospective dentist and lawyer.

Then, I saved us a bit of money for good measure! Last night we got the modem for our new internet service. I was able to get the ethernet working (hooking the laptop to the modem by cable) but couldn't figure out how to access it wirelessly. So I'll have AS try and do it tonight, and we can chat with tech support if she can't figure it out either. Once we confirm it works for us, I'll cancel Comcast.

The new service (CLEAR) sent me a welcome email, so I went online and looked at my account. I saw that my next bill will be due 3/1. Well, that kind of irritated me, because even though I signed up with them 2/1, I haven't been able to actually use their service until last night (2/5). Since I'm already facing some likely overlap of charges between my old and new providers, it bothered me that I'd pay for 4 days of the new service that I didn't actually get.

Bolstered by my aggressiveness on my other issues today, I hopped onto chat with a customer service rep and asked if they could change my billing period to start on the 5th of the month, so it would reflect the actual start date of service. They said they couldn't do that, or they could move it but service would be inactive between the 1st and the 5th if I did that.

It occurred to me then that not only would I be getting fewer days of service for my first month's fee, but that since it was February I'd only be getting about 24 days! That bugged me more and I asked the rep to escalate my complaint, explaining that $49.99 for 24 days was as (if not more) expensive as the provider I was switching from.

He went to ask someone else, and then came back with an offer: They absolutely could not change my billing cycle, but they'd give me a $4.99 credit on my next bill, to compensate for the lost days of service this month. Uh, that's way better! I said yes of course and was very pleased that I'd bothered. It took about 10 minutes, but I was able to do work in between responses from the rep, so it wasn't even 10 minutes of my time.

Isn't it funny how a small victory like that can totally make your day?

You guys know by now how antsy I get when things are up in the air. I've got tons of things I could ACtually be getting done, but I get mentally stuck on these things. I'll just complain for a bit, then go work on reviewing a manuscript for AS's press, then turn on the TV and try to turn off my brain.

Things that I'm waiting on/are up in the air:

- Dentist. The office I contacted still hasn't gotten back to me about whether they will do a free consult. Really don't want to start explaining it all over again to another office until I hear a definite No, but I have a feeling that's where they're leaning, otherwise, they should have contacted me. I mean, it's been a couple weeks!

- Immigration lawyer. Just want a "yes" or "no" on consulting with us, then a referral to someone else if "no." Haven't heard from him in over a week.

- Taxes. Don't want to get the ball rolling with the accountant until I get a consultation with an immigration lawyer. I think I have all the tax forms I need, but haven't bothered to make sure because then I'll want to start filing right away, and I shouldn't do that until we get this immigration question answered.

- Student loan payment. I'll be checking every day until I see that $1100 payment hit the Sallie Mae account!

- Freelance checks. AS has two, maybe three that she's owed. I can't even remember the amounts she's expecting, but I think it'll be about $1800 total.

- Big-picture progress. 99% of my potential debt repayment and big-picture progress for February is tied up in the previous two items. If neither or only one happens, I may not even hit my Feb. goals.

- Credit card churn. Right now we're waiting for our three Barclays cards to come in the mail so we can start earning points (which we're going to use to pay the immigration lawyer, if and when that consultation happens. Also want to get them done so we can move onto some more cards.

- Performance review. Not looking forward to it or anything, but there's always that small chance of a small raise attached to the review. I believe it won't happen until the end of March. I think of the three of us, I've got the best chance for a raise. (Meaning, I have slightly more than no chance at all.)

- League of Ordinary Savers meeting. It's this Sunday! I could be working on the companion website or starting a Facebook page, but I kind of want to wait until after the meeting. If there seems to be enthusiasm in the group, I'll probably tie the website and Facebook page in with the in-person meetings, referencing real-life questions and discussions. If it's a dud, I'll still work on the website and Facebook page but just keep them at that, with no real-life component.

So you can see why I'm useless and antsy. It all starts to pile up in my head and I can't concentrate on anything else! But now that I've written it all down, I'll try to relax and focus on other things. Manuscript review. Writing a testimonial for our adoption lawyer. The end of the deep-freeze part of winter. Longer days. Valentine's day (planning stuff for the kids and their friends as well as romantic dinner out for the adults). Birthdays (we've got all five of 'em coming up in March, with parties to plan for two big milestones: NT (40) and SL (1)!). Plus, a couple of other family members (my mom) and kids' friends having birthdays that I need to plan frugal but fun gifts for. Other gatherings. Lots of things to focus on, if I just force myself!