In with the New Year and its new expenses. Of course, we won’t be doing our taxes until February at the earliest… And soon we will have to start saving for the long unpaid summer.
No, I totally don’t track these. I don’t save for them all year. I do use my emergency fund to pay for them. I am all sorts of lazy. But when you’re saving a large percentage of your income it’s ok to be all sorts of lazy. There’s slush.
- Car #2 needs new tires. $400. Much cheaper than on our bigger car! The guy said our tires were like 11 years old… we said no, only 6 years old. But we replaced our 5 year old tires last year on the other car with a different mechanic so we’re probably about due. That explains the driving funny it was doing.
- DC wants a birthday party like hir friends have had. ~$200
- Estimated taxes! $1334 Federal, $426 State
- Holiday baby sitting $200… no wait, 2nd half at the regular place got canceled so scrambling to find a second place now we’re at $300! (That’s on top of the regular daycare we’re paying even though daycare isn’t in session.)
- Annual HOA dues $350
- Our internet provider apparently hasn’t been billing us… we found out when they sent us a robocall telling us that they were going to shut us off. That sent off a flurry of checking credit card bills and not finding our internet provider on there. Apparently when our credit card switched numbers they weren’t able to handle that and didn’t send us a paper bill (AND our internet thing was hooked up to an old account so they didn’t send us an electronic communication either). Maybe we should have gone with cable instead of DSL. $200 give or take.
- Momma needs new black shoes. Hers are almost worn out.: $70-200, depending on what I get.
- A plus: We scored $900 in travel vouchers by voluntarily being bumped
- And, of course, bills from Christmas presents, end of the year donations, and all that eating out we did instead of cooking during the end of the semester madness. $amount unknown
How are you doing on end of the year/beginning of the year expenses?
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
December 31, 2010 at 2:02 am
Go for the Naot shoes. I’ve had 2 pairs and LOVE them. They last forever. My loafers were never that comfortable and I always felt like a dork wearing them.
I’m going to put off my spending goals until February. That’s when I find out what my actual bonus might be..normally I know but I changed jobs mid year and I’m sure they’ll pro rate it.
I’m actually getting sick of all our local restaurant haunts. That has been good for the wallet lately.
It’s so hard to find sitters around here so we cart the kids with us everywhere.
December 31, 2010 at 6:49 am
My brown dress shoes are currently Naot. They’re awesome. I did email Naot to get a list of stores where they’re sold. There’s a place in town that sells some Naot shoes according to Naot (but not according to the shoe store’s website). It is unlikely that they sell a lot of pairs, but it’s on the way home so we will check it out today.
December 31, 2010 at 7:53 am
Zappos.com has Naots. They also have awesome service and will ship for free and take returns for free. I’m sure you’re trying to support the local economy, but when they can’t provide what you need, then I think it’s more than fair to order off the Internet.
December 31, 2010 at 8:06 am
No, nothing about supporting the local economy (I’m equal opportunity economy supporting). I just don’t like the hassle of returns and knowing me, I would pay $200 for shoes, find they don’t fit, and then never get them back. Or not be sure that they fit and not return them. With most European shoes I’m in-between a 38 and a 39 and the shoe person will sometimes put a little thing under the sole in to make them fit perfectly. If I strike out in town and the city I will definitely head to zappos.
I really hate shoe shopping. I don’t understand why #2 loves it so much. I think she must have feet that don’t require $200 shoes for the absence of pain.
December 31, 2010 at 7:34 am
We ate out way too much the last few weeks. I would be out and about with the kids and eat here or there.
I cannot believe your tires last that long. My gosh, mine last 2 years, even with frequent rotations. (I do put close to 30k miles on my car a year though.) I would also love if my tires cost 400 dollars. I will probably need new ones within a few months too.
I am so glad I get my Amex Blue Cash rewards with my next bill, as that cuts the pain considerably.
December 31, 2010 at 7:43 am
I dunno… we don’t drive all that much. Work is like 4 miles away (sometimes we carpool) and we go into the city about once a month.
We do our rewards every $50 with citicards… I bet we hit another $50 this last time around. I should get that reimbursed. I’ve also been debating getting our daycare FSA reimbursed. It’s at 2K right now! On the one hand it makes sense to get that done now, but on the other hand it’s nice having that money in May if I’m overzealous with mortgage pre-payment and forget about an emergency payment. I should probably be rational about this. After all, there’s another 3K before the year is out.
December 31, 2010 at 8:17 am
I have no expenses for kids, but yesterday I scheduled the payment of the credit card on which I put the emergency vet bill for my dog that died. Almost $1500, and nothing satisfactory to show for it. :-(
I still managed to increase my charitable donations this year, which I consider a good thing. And I also upped the extra amount to principle when I scheduled the January mortgage payment. (Had a bit of fun with the mortgage calculators yesterday seeing how much that shortens the mortgage term. Not as good as yours, but 19 years will still be on target to get it paid off before I reach “retirement age.” Whatever that is.)
My biggest expenses in the next couple months will be a trip a Spain. I still have to buy the plane ticket, but I’m already planning additional expenses such as new walking shoes, perhaps some new pants (I may just be able to get by with the ones on hand, but we’ll see), and a Scottevest. I really want a Scottevest for this trip since I’m trying to carry on everything. I can also use some new bras and underthings in general, as well as a new pair of jeans. I try to buy quality, but there’s no getting around the fact that bras just need replacing after a year or two of heavy rotation. And jeans also wear out eventually. The pair I wear the most is starting to get holes in them.
Seems it’s time for one of my semi-annual “I have to buy clothes” excursions. *sigh* I hate to buy clothes.
December 31, 2010 at 8:21 am
Poor doggie. :(
December 31, 2010 at 8:51 am
Aha, I AM lazier than you – I don’t plan to this level of detail. I just figure about $500 or so of “stuff I didn’t think of” is going to come up every month.
December 31, 2010 at 9:40 am
Most of the time I don’t, but as you can see this month has been a bit extra. Plus it’s about the time of year to start thinking about not being paid during the summer.
December 31, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Sorry to hear about the internet snafu. Are you going to be able to work something out with them? I’ve been spending WAY TOO MUCH money for December – exercise classes, tons of restaurant meals (I’d like to think those two cancel each other out), $300+ in expenses to keep my car in running order.. hopefully once January hits I will regain some sanity of the wallet.
December 31, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Well, we got them on the phone and we paid the full amount, so I’m pretty sure the ‘net will stay on. We didn’t ask them to waive the late fee… DH said he would pay it out of his allowance. So we’re not actually worse off than we would have been… it’s just a big expense all at once. Hopefully no credit bureau has been alerted…
December does seem to be about eating out and car troubles. It’s a busy time!