AS let me know she got partial payment ($1984.66) early for a freelance job. She took a credit card payment, so there was a fee, meaning we're getting a bit less than expected. But we're getting it earlier than expected, so that's great!

The payment affects current deficit, while the fee impacts both current and future. What's really cool about this payment is that it possibly eliminates the remaining temporary shortfall in our May budget that would have required a LOC advance. We may get out of this situation not paying a cent of interest to anyone!

AS freelance payment net: $1,290.03
CC fee: -$69.61

Actual deficit: $6,772.60
Projected deficit w/ future money in: None! On paper we have a projected surplus of $1,149.38

Breakfast: coffee, soy latte (my co-worker was buying!).

Lunch: Moroccan stew and rice.

Snack: ended my cleanse a half day early to celebrate Neil's citizenship with a margarita and some chips and guacamole.

Dinner: "Buddha bowl": sweet potato, broccoli, onion, kale, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, tahini.

Exercise: walked about a mile and a half extra.

My paycheck hit the checking account with my raise reflected: $44.41 more. Not bad! I was hoping for at least $30 more.

I'd already worked out my budget through the end of May, so when I updated my April 30 and May 15 paychecks, I had a net gain of $133.23.

This helps reduce the actual deficit as well as increase the projected surplus.

I also applied the raise to the rest of my annual budget. I'd been holding $742.16 in checking to help cover maxing out the Roth IRAs July through December. Since I'm doubling up contributions the last half of the year to free up money the first half, for those months my budget is in the hole. Now with the raise, I only need $229.07 plus my June surplus to fully fund the Roths. That frees up $513.09 to apply to the tax bill!

CJ raise (3 paychecks): $133.23
Roth funding surplus: $513.09

Actual deficit: $7,993.02
Projected deficit w/ future money in: None! On paper we have a projected surplus of $1,218.99

AS got a $75 check today. It was expected money, so it only counts toward actual, not projected.

AS net payment: $48.75

Actual deficit: $8,639.34
Projected deficit w/ future money in: None! On paper we have a projected surplus of $572.67

NT got his citizenship today! Very exciting. That was already paid for, but he needs his U.S. passport now. I don't remember how much it is for a new one (not a renewal). So that'll be an expense.

Also, AS is gathering quotes for her tooth extraction/implant she'll need at some point. The total so far looks to be $2425, but the second stage needs to be estimated by her dentist office, so that could be a couple thousand more. We'll have to start saving up for this expense, because she really does need it.

On the upside, I found out that AA's yearbook is only going to be $8! That's a relief.

Another bright note: I got the first of the gift cards from the Citi ThankYou bonus. Most of them are for Target with a few for CVS. We'll use them for household expenses and hopefully be under budget for groceries, so we can put any surplus in the grocery budget toward the tax bill.

Speaking of, the checks go out tomorrow! Today I requested a transfer from savings of the $15,331 that's going to help cover them. So far it looks like I won't need to take a LOC advance, but if some of AS's checks are delayed I may have to. I'll closely monitor the situation; I can make the transfer instantaneously so I'll wait until I absolutely have to.

April 12:
Breakfast: canteloupe, honeydew, pineapple, strawberries, coffee.

Lunch: Leftover chickpeas a la king on whole wheat toast.

Dinner: Cuban black beans, rice, plantains, avocado and mango.

Snack: a bit more mango.

Extra activity: a half mile in the morning, another half mile in the evening (both with the kids, so not moving fast).

April 13:
Breakfast: 2 oranges, coffee.

Lunch: Moroccan veggie stew and rice.

Dinner: tempeh BLATs (the A is for avocado) on 12-grain bread with sugar snap peas and carrots.

Snacks: none (I had 1 and a half sandwiches and was stuffed!)

Exercise: walked a bit extra and cleaned grout off bathroom tiles for an hour.

Let's see if I can remember everything that happened today:

I got a raise! Just 2.5%, but I'll take it. I'm not counting that in my tax bill goal because I don't know the net; I'll note that on Friday.

NT got a small bonus! $135 cash, which he'll deposit tomorrow to help with our tax goal.

I signed the kids up for swim class -- well, tried to. I have to try again tomorrow, because their system was causing problems. But I know it will be $180, so I'll count that as a minus now.

AS found out that her new healthcare had a credit from a previous overpayment, somehow. I don't quite understand, but suffice it to say we're paying $171.86 less than expected this month!

I transferred $3.90 of CC rewards into checking!

AS got a future job! Estimated at $1,170, so we'll net $761.15 after tax and retirement.

So that's:
NT bonus: $135 (applies to both actual and future)
Swim class: -$180 (applies to both)
Healthcare budget surplus: $171.86 (applies to both)
CC reward: $3.90 (applies to both)
AS net payment: $761.15 (applies to future only)

Actual deficit: $8,688.09
Projected deficit w/ future money in: None! On paper we have a projected surplus of $572.67. Of course we've got expenses coming up that will eat into that, but exciting nonetheless!

Breakfast: 2 oranges, coffee.

Lunch: leftover pintos and rice.

Dinner: deconstructed sushi bowl (sushi rice, teriyaki sauce, broccoli, tofu, avocado, green onions, wasabi & pickled ginger).

No snacks that I can remember.

Only a bit of extra activity (walking half mile).

We got notice of our May gas bill and it's $26.62 less than I had set aside in the budget, so that amount can go toward the tax bill goal.

Gas bill budget surplus: $26.62

Actual deficit: $8,818.85
Projected deficit w/ future money in: $319.24

Although we've been experiencing all positive progress recently, I see some nonbudgeted expenses coming up that will cut into that progress. I need to sign our kids up for another session of swim classes (our older kid is finally moving up a level after being stuck for quite some time, so I don't want to miss the next one!), and kindergarten yearbook order forms are here. (I adored my yearbooks as a kid and think my kids will as well.) But on the whole, we're doing a good job avoiding extra expenditures.

Today we got two bits of good news in the mail: $800 of freelance checks AS was expecting (one a bit earlier than expected!) and a letter from the WV tax dept. telling us that we didn't have to pay interest on the tax owed, so we actually owe them $259 less. I haven't sent out the checks yet, so I'll write a new one.

The freelance check was already factored into projected deficit, but the WV news affects both bottom lines!

Net AS payment: $520
WV tax reduction: $259

Actual deficit: $8,845.47
Projected deficit w/ future money in: $345.86

We're very close to eliminating the temporary shortfall in April (when the tax checks hit); if we get one more good check for AS we may not have to do a LOC advance in April! Actually, too, if the contractor doesn't finish the bathroom work this week, that may be enough to eliminate the shortfall because we wouldn't have to pay him this week, and we should receive AS's freelance checks next week if they don't come in this week.

The May temporary shortfall is now less than $2K. Seems unlikely we'll be able to avoid that one completely, but even the thought of avoiding one temporary advance from the LOC is exciting!

Breakfast: 2 bananas, coffee.

Lunch: chickpeas a la king on spelt toast with margarine.

Dinner: portobello-broccoli-tofu stir fry and rice.

Snack: popcorn cooked in margarine with nutritional yeast.

Extra activity: walked to and from Hourcar (about a mile total).

I weighed in last night 0.4 lbs. lighter, so I'm at about 141 now. While I would have liked bigger results, at least I finally stopped the yo-yo from bouncing up again! I didn't feel at all hungry these past 10 days, so I think I can lighten up on portion sizes during my final 4 days of super-healthy eating, which will prepare me for portion control when I allow some processed foods back into my diet.

Breakfast: coffee.

Lunch: tofu satay, snow peas, rice.

Snack: wheat grass shot, carrot orange juice.

Dinner: tempeh ratatouille (tempeh instead of eggplant), spelt bread with margarine.

Snacks: wheat grass shot, coconut shake, pepitos.

Exercise: walked to and from a store to get my first snack, about 3 miles total.

Breakfast: Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, mango, strawberries, coffee.

Lunch: big bowl of chili, little bit of rice.

Dinner: pinto beans & rice bowl w/ avocado, tomato, onion.

Snack: apple.

No extra activity, I'm afraid. It was a weird and busy week.

A couple weeks ago, we got a free dishwasher (well, except the cost of the carshare to go get it) from Freecycle. Our current one leaks and is white (whereas the replacement appliances we've been buying are black). The free dishwasher is black and hopefully won't leak! We haven't had time to think about trying to install it yet. Still dealing with the basement bathroom, an issue that keeps creeping along. But it's nice to know we might be able to put off buying a replacement dishwasher!

Remember the possible medical issue I was worrying about and was going to get a battery of tests done to check out? Well, the soreness went away on its own, and I confirmed with my doctor it's OK to not get the tests. If the problem recurs and doesn't go away when it's "that time of month," then we'll revisit. Big relief from both a money and health standpoint!

NT is becoming a U.S. citizen next week! He's already passed the test and interview; this is just the ceremony that makes it official.

AS has two possible jobs, either of which could eliminate the tax bill deficit. One of the jobs, possibly by quite a lot. She's still waiting for confirmation and exact dollar amounts, and likely won't hear for sure on the bigger job until May. But they both sound like nearly sure things.

Of course, the spending for our upcoming Va. and NY trips haven't been accounted for. And there are other things we need to think about this year: I'm a bit short in my future budget to max out the Roths. AS needs to get a tooth removed and replaced with an implant at some point before the bone loss becomes too great and causes an even bigger problem. But it's nice to know that solving the tax bill is possible.

Breakfast: 2 clementines, coffee.

Lunch: big bowl of vegan chili, small amount of rice, couple pieces of raw cauliflower and carrots.

Dinner: red beans and quinoa, broccoli, avocado.

Snack: banana.

Extra activity: walked 7 long blocks before boarding my bus home from work.

AS accepted a small freelance job for $50. Payment will probably be sometime in May, so this only impacts the projected deficit, not the actual.

Net AS payment: $32.50

Actual deficit: $9,624.47
Projected deficit w/ future money in: $604.86

One of our credit card rewards bonuses hit, so I was able to put a $105.40 statement credit toward that card's balance. This benefits both the current and projected deficit numbers!

CC reward: $105.40

Actual deficit: $9,624.47
Projected deficit w/ future money in: $637.36

Breakfast: three clementines, coffee.

Lunch: leftover veggie burger, cacciatore sauce and brown rice.

Dinner: kale and yams with peanut sauce over millet.

Snack: big bowl of black grapes.

Only a bit of extra activity, I'm afraid. It's been an unusual week of bringing extra work home that I have to do once the kids are in bed!

Breakfast: two clementines, coffee.

Lunch: big bowl of vegan chili, couple of bell pepper strips and cucumber slices.

Dinner: sesame oil stir fry of tofu, broccoli, bell peppers and onions in garlic-ginger-hoisin-soy-mirin sauce, topped with avocado, basil and peanuts, over white basmati rice.

Snack: carrot-apple-ginger juice. (My juice habit is getting expensive, but luckily it's being offset by no spending on alcohol!)

Extra activity: took a walk to get the juice (about a mile and a half total).

Breakfast: grapes, strawberries, half a grapefruit, coffee.

Lunch: leftover hoppin' John.

Dinner: tofu cacciatore (basically veggie marinara sauce over pan fried tofu) and brown rice. (Two helpings; it was good!)

Snack: banana.

No extra activity, unfortunately; had to work right after putting the kids to bed.

AS got paid $1280 for some freelance jobs yesterday. Setting aside tax and retirement she netted $832.

This was already calculated into the projected deficit, so it only reduces the actual deficit. But at least that's under $10K for the time being!

Checks received (net): $1280

Actual deficit: $9,729.87
Projected deficit w/ future money in: $742.76

Day three breakfast was banana, apple, and coffee.

Lunch: salad with tofu, pepitos, avocados and snow peas.

Dinner: homemade veggie burger on spelt bread w/ fixins, baked yam fries.

Snacks: wheat grass shot (YUM) and lots of grapes.

I was on my feet a lot yesterday cooking, and I also walked about 1.5 miles extra.

Last night I weighed in 2.6 lbs. lighter than last week! I'm at 141.5 lbs, would love to lose another 14.5 but 10 more would make me pretty happy!

Day two breakfast was pineapple and banana, and coffee.

Lunch: holy basil tofu, rice and sugar snap peas.

Dinner: cottage pie (sweet potato, potato, pinto beans, TVP).

I ran a couple extra errands by foot, adding about 2 miles of walking to my day.

Night snacks: carrot-orange-ginger juice and a banana. I did have one bite of cupcake that Anitra is making for a contest.

I forgot to play harmonica, and I had lots of things to do that upped my screen time more than I'd want. But at least I'm more conscious when I'm watching TV and on the computer, periodically checking in to think "Are you really doing something or just zoning out?" And when I wasn't doing anything, I would quit the screen time.

Another day of multiple blog posts!

All our mortgage payments hit:

US: $669 to principal
UK1: $224
UK2: $48
UK3: $50

All told, that's $991 paid toward debt this month.

Today I got the actual paperwork from the tax guy. When I added everything up, I saw that we owe $221 more than his initial estimate to me.

Additional taxes owed: $221

Actual deficit: $10,580.22
Projected deficit w/ future money in: $760.11

EDIT: On the upside, we got an $8.35 class action settlement, and I got approved for reimbursement of a book I bought for work. I used a $10 gift card to help pay for it, so that part is free money.

Class action check: $8.35
Gift card reimburse: $10

Actual deficit: $10,561.87
Projected deficit w/ future money in: $742.76

March was busy and rather hedonistic. My April goals are all about self care, but it's the kinds I find challenging, so I may be aiming higher than I can actually go. But I'm just going to see what I can accomplish!

1. Eat super healthy for the first two weeks (including NO drinking), practice moderation the rest of the month (ie, no drinking or pigging out except for special occasions, and "I had a hard day at work" isn't a special occasion).

Here's my version of healthy eating (everyone has different goalposts, I know):
A. Breakfast will be just fresh fruit.
B. Lunch and dinner will be healthy whole foods, which for me means no fake meats & cheeses, no white flour, no pasta, no processed potato products (basically no Ore Ida or Lays products!). Whole wheat bread is OK. White rice is OK. C. Limited sugar if part of recipes, but no candy, sweetened juices, etc.
D. No alcohol and no sodas. Coffee is OK.
E. Some snacking is OK but it has to fit in the parameters of the diet.

2. Continue harmonica every day. I started this in March and only missed 5 days.

3. Do extra activity every day, and do more than I did last month. (Longer walks, more bike rides, etc.)

4. Limit screen time, and find other things to do when I feel like vegging out. I have the kids, puzzles, adult coloring books, my harmonica, books, the nice weather hopefully soon ... there is no excuse! I'll use the computer for budgeting, menu planning, scheduling, catching up on news and a bit of socializing (such as checking in here), and I'll watch TV if it's to sit down and watch a specific movie or episode, but no just having it on all the time, or surfing mindlessly. (This will be hard because I use mindless TV to get sleepy every night, and I spend a ton of time surfing the interwebs.)

Yesterday went well:
Breakfast was banana, pineapple, canteloupe, honeydew and grapes. Lunch, two pieces of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter. Dinner, hoppin John (blackeye peas & brown rice) and roasted cabbage. Snacks: pineapple, apple, and a Naked kale juice blend.
I played my harmonica and got a bit of extra exercise (walking half a mile instead of taking the second bus to daycare).
I did use my phone to surf while on buses, and I used my work downtime to go on Facebook etc. quite a bit. But once I got home, I didn't use the internet, and while the TV was on for others, I didn't watch it and worked on a 3D puzzle instead. I picked out a book to read and will also put one in my backpack so I read on the bus instead of get on my phone.

So far so good!

Today I remembered that last year AS got a property tax rebate, so I emailed my tax guy to see if she would this year too. She is getting a slightly smaller one, but it helps! This doesn't reduce the actual deficit because we don't get it until September, but it does reduce the projected deficit in our budget.

Property tax refund: $535

Actual deficit: $10,359.22
Projected deficit w/ AS future income & property tax rebate: $540.11

I checked the interest rates of all our non-0% credit cards and compared to our line of credit. The card rates range from 15.24% to 23.15%, whereas our LOC rate is 9.25%. So if we have temporary shortfalls in our account in April and May as I've predicted, it will be better to temporarily withdraw money from the LOC than to only make partial payments to one of the non-0% credit cards.

Already some movement on the new goal! Unfortunately, it's backward movement. AS has been meaning to create a website for her business, and now she has. It's a good purchase because she'll be able to up her profile and hopefully get some more business because of it.

New website: $96

Actual deficit: $10,359.22
Projected deficit w/ AS future income: $1,075.11

I haven't been able to post any progress because our funds all lost value since December. Finally they are up over the last high point, so I can report a small amount of progress on our retirement goal!

The goal: $486,000 in retirement assets by 2019

Current balance: $263,174

Dec 2015 balance: $258,118

Progress: $5,056

Pretty good progress if it were for one month, but over three months it's not that great!

To reach the goal by our birthdays in 2019, that's 35 months, so we'd need $6366 per month to reach it. Should see some big leaps the second half of the year if I'm able to max out the Roths like I hope to!

Since tracking and reporting worked so well for getting us out of consumer/education debt and other financial goals, I've decided to track paying for our giant tax bill.

I have two sets of calculations: What the current budget deficit is as a result of the tax bill, and what the estimated future debt bill is based on jobs AS has already secured and is just waiting payment on. I'll track both because one is the actual deficit, but the other shows me how close we are to eliminating the deficit. Sometimes we'll have to use AS's checks for something else, but if I see how close we are, it'll help motivate me to NOT use her checks as much.

I guess I'll try to post every time one or both of these numbers change. They have already changed a bit because AS booked another small ($50) job, plus the tax guy let me know his bill will be $775, not $700 as I estimated.

Here's where we stand right now.
Actual deficit: $10,263.22
Projected deficit w/ AS future income: $979.11

I finally got all details of taxes. Well, almost; waiting to hear what the tax guy is charging me. Right now I'm operating under assumption he'll charge $700 like last year, but our taxes were more complicated this year, so I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being more. But for now, $700.

He did decide we could claim WV money as capital gains. However, we still didn't put enough away. And I overestimated AS's state tax by a bit, but I grossly UNDERestimated her federal, so it's ugly.

Here goes:
Me and NT:
Federal owe $12,013
MN owe $2,228
WV owe $4,822

AS:
Federal owe $4,542
State overpaid -$1,201
Federal 1Q estimated 2016 tax $2,990
State 1Q estimated 2016 tax $500

Tax prep for both (est.):
$700

TOTAL OWED: $26,594

What we had saved up:
$15,331 saved from WV money + interest
$796 saved for AS federal 1Q est 2016 tax
$341 saved for AS state 1Q est 2016 tax

TOTAL IN SAVINGS: $16,468

DIFFERENCE WE NEED TO MAKE UP: $10,126

I got over my hyperventilation last night, and then got to planning. What else could I do? It was an honest mistake, I don't begrudge paying taxes, and now I just need to figure out the best way to do it where I don't pay a ton of fees or interest.

AS already has enough future payments expected to cover all but about $936 of that. And it's only March, so we expect her to book much more work. Trouble is, not all of those payments are coming in right away. The biggest one comes in 4 monthly installments starting in September when her class starts up. So how do we stay afloat in the meantime?

Interestingly, several of the cards from our recent rewards-getting churn are 0% until 2017. So we won't cancel those but will start using them as our primary cards, paying the minimum on them until we have room in the budget to pay the full balances.

That still leaves a couple of momentary shortfalls in the projected checking account balance: about $700 when tax day hits (shortfall goes away a couple days later when AS receives some checks), and $2200 when the May 1 mortgage hits (shortfall goes away May 13 when my and NT's paychecks hit).

If nothing else materializes before these two points, we may need to do a short-term line-of-credit transfer, or not pay the full balance of an interest-bearing card right away, so that would cost us a little bit in interest, but not too bad.

This all looks pretty good on paper, but there's another problem: This assumes nothing will happen that can't be folded into our regular budget categories. Things I'm not sure about: my breast evaluation, house stuff. Things I am sure about (but not sure the amount): spending during the April Va. and June NYC trips. One thing that is for sure off the table this year: AC for the house. We may not even be able to upgrade our window units this year.

But as long as we can put these things on 0% credit cards, AS's income will eventually cover the hole. It'll just take longer the more unbudgeted things we have.

This was only one of several crappy things that have happened in the past couple days, but it's the one that needs the most attention and work from me right now.

We will make it through this!

*When I say "just about worst case scenario," I mean worse than my worst-case scenario (I was thinking $8K) but not as bad as AS's worst-case scenario (she feared $20K).